The 2026 London Marathon, a historic one-off two-day edition of one of the world’s most prestigious distance running events, will see its elite men’s and women’s races split across separate days after an unexpected, playful twist: a game of rock-paper-scissors that determined the final schedule.
Next year’s race made headlines earlier when organisers confirmed the new two-day format after receiving a staggering 1.33 million public ballot entries, an all-time record for the event. The change was designed to accommodate far more participants than the traditional single-day format could support, opening the door for thousands more recreational runners to chase their marathon goals alongside the sport’s elite. For 2027, the event will expand even further, hosting a historic 100,000 total participants and projecting that participants will raise more than £150 million for charitable causes across the United Kingdom.
To settle which elite division would get the historic traditional Sunday race slot, two of the event’s confirmed 2026 champions-to-be faced off in the lighthearted contest: Catherine Debrunner, the women’s wheelchair marathon world record holder, and Sebastian Sawe, the men’s world record holder who recently made history by breaking the elusive sub-two-hour marathon barrier in London. Debrunner claimed victory in the rock-paper-scissors match-up, securing the elite women’s and women’s wheelchair divisions their place on Sunday, 25 April. As a result, the elite men’s open and men’s wheelchair races will move to the opening day of the event, Saturday 24 April.
Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events, framed the playful decision-making process as a fitting way to kick off the historic edition, noting that the unexpected contest added fun to the schedule announcement. “Splitting the elite races will allow us to shine an even brighter spotlight on the extraordinary athletes taking part,” Brasher said in a statement following the decision.
The 2026 edition will also bring a landmark change to the mass participation race structure for women’s events: for the first time in London Marathon history, all women’s championship waves will start immediately behind the elite women’s open field, with the elite women’s wheelchair field stepping onto the course just ahead of the open elite group. Brasher explained that the re-seeding will create a standalone, focused celebration of women’s marathon running, putting the achievements of female and female wheelchair athletes front and center.
On both days of the 2026 event, the mass participation waves will follow the elite races, featuring mixed open fields that welcome male, female, and non-binary runners of all abilities.