The Amsterdam Marathon starts and finishes at the 1928 Olympic Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 18, with the elite runners and the first wave away at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET). About 32,000 people are entered in the marathon alone, split across two start areas, and around 65,000 will run something over the weekend once the half-marathon, the 7.5K and the children’s races are counted. The 2026 marathon sold out within a week of entries opening in December.
Kenya’s Geofry Kipchumba won last year’s 50th edition in 2:03:30, taking nine seconds off Tamirat Tola’s course record and running the fastest marathon ever recorded in the Netherlands. He is back as defending champion, with Haymanot Alew of Ethiopia only a second slower on paper and 11 men in the field who have broken 2:05. Aynalem Desta defends the women’s title after cutting more than four minutes from her personal best here last October.
Key Race Day Information
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026
- Start and finish: Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam
- Elite and Wave 1 start: 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. ET)
- Field: about 32,000 marathon runners
- Time limit: six hours, with the stadium finish closing at 5 p.m.
- Course records: 2:03:30 (Geofry Kipchumba, 2025) and 2:16:52 (Yalemzerf Yehualaw, 2024)
- Defending champions: Geofry Kipchumba (Kenya) and Aynalem Desta (Ethiopia)
Start Times
Runners start from one of two areas, each holding about 16,000 people. Area A is on the stadium infield, and Area B sits outside on Stadionweg. Both areas release their waves at the same times, and the wave is the color printed on the bib. Moving back to a later wave is allowed; jumping forward is not.
- 9 a.m.: Wave 1 (White), invited athletes and runners expecting to finish under 2:40
- 9:02 a.m.: Wave 2 (Yellow), 2:40 to 3:15
- 9:11 a.m.: Wave 3 (Pink), 3:15 to 3:45
- 9:24 a.m.: Wave 4 (Orange), 3:45 to 4:00
- 9:34 a.m.: Wave 5 (Green), 4:00 to 4:30
- 9:43 a.m.: Wave 6 (Blue), 4:30 to 6:00
In Area A, the Athletes Only Zone opens at 7 a.m. and the corrals at 7:45 a.m., and runners in Waves 1 and 2 need to be on the infield by 8:50 a.m. Area B opens its wave entrances at 8 a.m. Bag drop is free in both areas: inside the Athletes Only Zone for Area A, and in tents on IJsbaanpad for Area B.
A sweeper vehicle follows the last runners, and anyone it overtakes has to leave the course and will not get a medal. The cutoffs are 10:31 a.m. at 5K, 11:13 a.m. at 10K, 12:36 p.m. at 20K and 1:18 p.m. at 25K, according to the organizers’ race information page. The half-marathon goes off from Stadionweg later in the day, at 1:20 p.m., with a three-hour limit.
How to Watch the Amsterdam Marathon
Dutch public broadcaster NOS carries the race live on NPO 1 from 8:50 a.m. to 11:50 a.m., with the same coverage streaming on nos.nl and the NOS app. The regional broadcasters NH and AT5 come on air at 9 a.m.
Outside the Netherlands, organizer Le Champion lists Eurosport 1, Discovery+, SuperSport and beIN Sports among the channels showing the race live. For viewers in North America, the gun goes at 3 a.m. ET and midnight PT, so the women’s finish should land a little after 5:15 a.m. ET.
How to Track a Runner
The free TCS Amsterdam Marathon app, which sits inside Le Champion’s app and is available on iOS and Android, has live tracking that shows where a runner is on the course and when they are expected to finish. Runners need it before race day anyway: it holds the personal QR code used to collect a bib at the expo, along with the start times, course maps and travel advice.
The Course
The course is a single loop from the Olympic Stadium, built for the 1928 Games, and it is flat enough that the men’s record has come down twice in the past five editions. Runners go through Vondelpark at about 2K, run through the passage beneath the Rijksmuseum around 4K, and then make two passes of the Zuidas business district between 6K and 9K.
The longest single stretch follows the Amstel River for about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), from 14K to 26K, along part of the 1928 Olympic marathon route. It runs past windmills and riverside mansions out to a turn at the Oranjebaan bridge in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel before heading back toward the city. Amstel Business Park, from 26K to 31K, is where the music and the biggest crowds tend to be. On the way home the field drops through the Wibaustraat underpass at 37K, crosses the Torontobrug, and comes back along the Stadhouderskade past the Rijksmuseum at 38K and through Vondelpark a second time near 40K, before the finish in front of the stadium’s main grandstand.
New this year is a painted blue line marking the shortest route through the corners. It covers about 20 percent of the course, or 7 to 8 kilometers, and was laid down overnight earlier this week, NH Nieuws reported. “Last year a good course record was already run, but we do think that can be better,” Nienke Slobbe, the event manager at Le Champion, told the broadcaster (translated from Dutch).
Maurten gels are handed out at 18K and 30K, the only two official gel stops, and Maurten’s drink mix is served at most aid stations. Bananas appear at several stations from 11K onward, along with water, sponges, toilets and first aid. Runners cannot have their own nutrition delivered to the course, so anything beyond that has to be carried.
Weather
The forecast is for a cool morning with a chance of rain. Weeronline has 48 F (9 C) for Sunday morning, rising to a high of 54 F (12 C), with sunshine for part of the day and a 50 percent chance of a light shower. The wind is expected from the east-northeast at force 4 on the Beaufort scale, which is a moderate breeze.
That is slightly colder than the 57 F (14 C) the same forecaster gave on Tuesday, and close to last year, when the temperature was just over 55 F (13 C) with a moderate to fairly strong wind. Forecasts still move in the last few days, so check again on Saturday.
Where to Watch
Spectators get the most for their effort in Vondelpark, where the runners come through twice, and along the Stadhouderskade, which sees the field at 4K and again at 38K. The Amstel stretch can be reached from the RAI metro station, and the Amstel Business Park section from Overamstel or Van der Madeweg. The Zuidas, near Amsterdam Zuid station, is another double-pass spot early in the race.
The organizers point everyone toward public transport, since much of the south and east of the city is closed to traffic and there is no parking at the stadium. Metro riders should get off at Amsterdam Zuid and walk. Amstelveenseweg metro station shuts completely from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, and the code Marathon2026 takes 20 percent off GVB day tickets.
The Expo and Race Weekend
Bibs are collected only at the Marathon Expo at RAI Amsterdam, and the expo is closed on Sunday, so there is no race-morning pickup:
- Thursday, Oct. 15: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 16: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 17: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Bring the QR code from the app. Someone else can collect a bib on a runner’s behalf with that code. Last year’s queues were long, so earlier in the weekend is better.
Saturday has the rest of the program. The Good Morning City Run, a guided easy run of 3.5K or 6.5K with stops along the way, leaves Museumplein from 9 a.m. The 7.5K, the 1K Heroes Run and the children’s races are in the afternoon around the stadium, and the pasta party runs in two sittings in the stadium’s VIP tent, from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. and from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Finishers can have their medal engraved with their name and time at a stand in Sporthallen Zuid after the race.
Prize Money
Le Champion has not published its 2026 prize schedule. Last year’s elite purse came to €248,000, Runner’s World Netherlands reported from organizer figures, and payouts were tied to finishing times. A men’s winner under 2:06:30 or a women’s winner under 2:22:00 earned €50,000. Slower winning times paid half that.
| Place | Men under 2:06:30 / Women under 2:22:00 | Slower than those marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | €50,000 | €25,000 |
| 2nd | €25,000 | €12,500 |
| 3rd | €15,000 | €7,500 |
| 4th | €10,000 | €5,000 |
| 5th | €8,000 | €4,000 |
A course record was worth another €25,000, and a winner who broke 2:04:00 or 2:17:00 picked up a €10,000 time bonus on top. Kipchumba qualified for both last year. Dutch runners had a separate national prize table.
Amsterdam’s Fastest Times
The organizers’ statistics list the three fastest times run on the course:
Men
- 2:03:30, Geofry Kipchumba (Kenya), 2025
- 2:03:39, Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia), 2021
- 2:04:06, Lawrence Cherono (Kenya), 2018
Women
- 2:16:52, Yalemzerf Yehualaw (Ethiopia), 2024
- 2:17:20, Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia), 2022
- 2:17:37, Aynalem Desta (Ethiopia), 2025
Ethiopian women have won the last four editions, and Desta’s winning time was the third fastest in the race’s history. The 2023 men’s title is listed as Cybrian Kotut’s (2:04:32), with an asterisk referring to Joshua Belet’s suspension for a biological passport violation.
The Men’s Race
Kipchumba’s win last year came against a field that included Olympic 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei. The lead group went through halfway on record pace behind a single pacemaker, Gabriel Geay pushed at 33K, and Kipchumba then went clear alone to take the course record. “I felt strong and thought, let’s push. I was hoping for 2:04, so this is even better,” he said afterward.
He came close to a major title in the spring. In Tokyo in March he crossed the line in 2:03:37, the same time as Tadese Takele, and lost the title in a sprint finish. It was only the third marathon of his career. Organizers have lined up Mike Foppen, the Dutch 5,000m and 10,000m champion, to pace the lead group alongside Edwin Kiptoo and Jonathan Kamosong, with the record as the target.
Alew, whose 2:03:31 came in third place at Berlin in 2024, is the nearest rival on paper and ran 2:05:19 for fifth in Rotterdam in April. Tsegaye Getachew knows the course better than anyone in the field. He won here in 2022 and 2024, then ran his personal best of 2:04:18 while finishing second to Kipchumba last year, and he was fourth in Seoul in March in 2:04:32.
Several others arrive with big titles behind them. Maru Teferi won silver at the 2023 World Championships and holds the Israeli record of 2:04:44 from Valencia in 2024. Stephen Kissa of Uganda was fifth at those same championships, Lemi Berhanu won the Boston Marathon in 2016, and Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea was world champion in 2015. Nicholas Kipkorir took silver at the World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen last month and is running his second marathon after a 2:06:07 at the Boston Marathon in April.
Isaia Lasoi is the debutant to watch. The Kenyan has a 58:10 half-marathon best and won the Antrim Coast Half in 58:26 in August.
Khalid Choukoud leads the Dutch men. He is 40, it is his eighth Amsterdam Marathon, and he won the fourth of his four national titles here last year in 2:08:00. His personal best is 2:07:37.
The Women’s Race
Desta ran 2:17:37 to win last year, a personal best by more than four minutes, and finished just 45 seconds short of Yehualaw’s course record. Bertukan Welde, who was only 19 seconds behind her, is not in this year’s field. This spring Desta was third in Nagoya in March in 2:22:37.
Three other Ethiopians in the field have broken 2:20. Meseret Belete set her personal best of 2:18:21 winning here in 2023. Mestawut Fikir was second in Berlin in 2024 in 2:18:48 and seventh in Tokyo in March in 2:20:00, and Buze Diriba, the Frankfurt champion last October in 2:19:34, was second in Daegu in February in 2:19:54.
Evaline Chirchir of Kenya comes in on a heavy schedule. She ran 2:20:51 in Daegu earlier this year and 2:21:32 at the Berlin Marathon only three weeks ago, which makes Amsterdam her third marathon of 2026. Abeba Aregawi, the former world 1500m champion who now runs for Sweden, won the Ottawa Marathon in May on her debut in 2:23:12, a Swedish record.
Mikky Keetels is the leading Dutch woman. She ran 2:30:42 in Rotterdam in April and has since spent 12 weeks training at altitude, including a stretch in Kenya, with Frank Futselaar set to pace her. “At the very least, I’m hoping for a personal best under 2:30,” she said in the organizers’ announcement of her entry (translated from Dutch).
Men’s and Women’s Elite Fields
The leading entries below are from the start list published this week, ordered by personal best.
Men
- Geofry Kipchumba (KEN), 2:03:30
- Haymanot Alew (ETH), 2:03:31
- Tsegaye Getachew (ETH), 2:04:18
- Lemi Berhanu (ETH), 2:04:33
- Maru Teferi (ISR), 2:04:44
- Stephen Kissa (UGA), 2:04:48
- Bute Gemechu (ETH), 2:04:51
- Justus Limo (KEN), 2:04:55
- Bazezew Asmare (ETH), 2:04:57
- Yihunilign Adane (ETH), 2:04:59
- Patrick Mosin (KEN), 2:04:59
- Kalipus Lomwai (KEN), 2:05:06
- Yohei Ikeda (JPN), 2:05:12
- Bayelign Teshager (ETH), 2:05:23
- Jonathan Korir (KEN), 2:05:27
- Sila Kiptoo (KEN), 2:05:28
- Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (ERI), 2:05:34
- Mehdi Frère (FRA), 2:05:43
- Victor Kipchirchir (KEN), 2:05:43
- Tsedat Abeje (ETH), 2:05:47
- Justus Kangogo (KEN), 2:05:57
- Nicholas Kipkorir (KEN), 2:06:07
- Khalid Choukoud (NED), 2:07:37
- Noah Schutte (NED), 2:09:28
- Marc Scott (GBR), 2:11:19
- Isaia Lasoi (KEN), debut
Women
- Aynalem Desta (ETH), 2:17:37
- Meseret Belete (ETH), 2:18:21
- Mestawut Fikir (ETH), 2:18:48
- Buze Diriba (ETH), 2:19:34
- Desi Mokonin (BRN), 2:20:07
- Yeshi Chekole (ETH), 2:20:15
- Nazret Weldu (ERI), 2:20:29
- Evaline Chirchir (KEN), 2:20:33
- Tiringo Mulu (ETH), 2:21:12
- Abeba Aregawi (SWE), 2:23:12
- Stacey Ndiwa (KEN), 2:23:42
- Adanech Anbesa (ETH), 2:24:07
- Girmawit Gebrzihair (ETH), 2:24:20
- Rebecca Chepkwemoi (KEN), 2:24:52
- Kena Girma (ETH), 2:25:56
- Selamawit Teferi (ISR), 2:26:58
- Mikky Keetels (NED), 2:30:42
- Lindsey Bradley (USA), 2:31:49
- Chelsea Stokes (GBR), 2:32:31
- Gete Alemayehu (ETH), debut
Getting Into the 2027 Race
Next year’s race moves to the last weekend of October, with the marathon on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2027. Registration has not opened yet. For this year’s edition it opened on Dec. 20, and the race filled within a week, so anyone planning on 2027 should watch for the date to be announced.
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