World Athletics Sets the Marathon Dates for the Beijing World Championships

Marathoners hoping to race at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing next year now have their dates. The women’s marathon will be run on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 12, 2027, the third day of the championships, and the men will race on the final morning a week later, Sunday, Sept. 19. Both start at 7:30 a.m. local time, according to the full timetable World Athletics published on Thursday.

The championships run for 10 days, Sept. 10 to 19, across 13 sessions at Beijing’s National Stadium, the Bird’s Nest. Beijing was awarded the event in 2024 after Rome withdrew its bid, and in September World Athletics added a day at the front of the program so the opening ceremony on Friday, Sept. 10 could share the evening with the first competition session. Every one of the 10 days now has an evening session, and every track and field final is held at night.

That 7:30 a.m. start is something Tokyo only arrived at late. The road races at the 2025 World Championships were scheduled for 8 a.m. until two days before the meet began, when organizers pulled them forward by half an hour because of heat; Tokyo had averaged 33 C (91 F) through the first part of September, Reuters reported. Alphonce Simbu won the men’s race there on Sept. 15 in a photo finish over Amanal Petros, with both men given 2:09:48.

Beijing’s last world championships, in 2015, were held in late August. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea won the men’s marathon on the opening morning, Aug. 22, in hot and humid conditions, running 2:12:27 at just 19 years old. Mare Dibaba took the women’s title on the final day in 2:27:35, only one second ahead of Kenya’s Helah Kiprop. The 2027 edition sits about three weeks later in the calendar.

Room for the Distance Doubles

Anyone going for one of the usual doubles, the 5,000m and 10,000m or the 1,500m and 5,000m among them, will never have two individual races on the same morning or evening. For the women, the 5,000m heats are on the opening night and the final is on Monday, Sept. 13, five days before the 10,000m final on Sept. 18. Their 1,500m starts on Sept. 15 and finishes on the last night, Sept. 19, with the 3,000m steeplechase final on that same evening.

The men’s distance program runs the other way. Their 10,000m final is at 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 12, the same day as the women’s marathon, and the 5,000m final closes the championships on Sept. 19, about 13 hours after the men’s marathon starts. A man trying the 1,500m and 5,000m would run the 1,500m final on Sept. 15 and be back on the track for the 5,000m heats the next night. The men’s steeplechase final is on Sept. 14.

The race walks open the road program on Saturday, Sept. 11, with the half-marathon race walk (women at 7 a.m., men at 9 a.m.), and both marathon race walks start at 7 a.m. on Sept. 18. The mixed 4x100m relay makes its world championship debut on Sept. 13, bringing the program to 50 events. World Athletics said times could still shift slightly before September.

The Road to Beijing

The marathon qualifying window is already open and closes on May 2, 2027. The entry standards are 2:06:00 for men and 2:23:20 for women, a full minute slower than the 2:05:00 and 2:22:20 World Athletics set for the LA28 Olympics on Nov. 10. A top-five finish at any Platinum Label marathon in the window counts the same as running the time, and Britain will use the 2027 London Marathon to pick its team for Beijing.

Beijing is one of only two world championships left with a marathon on the program. The marathon stays at the 2027 and 2029 editions, and from 2030 World Athletics plans to hold a standalone World Marathon Championships every year, with Athens in talks to host the first one. Tickets for Beijing go on sale in early 2027.