Eliud Kipchoge has confirmed the New Balance 42k Porto Alegre as the South American destination on his Eliud’s Running World tour. He’ll race on July 19, 2026 in Porto Alegre, Brazil — eight weeks after his African opener in Cape Town — adding another stop to a project that’s shaping up to be one of the most ambitious things a marathon runner has ever attempted.
The tour, announced last November, will see Kipchoge run a marathon on all seven continents over two years, raising funds for the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation along the way. South America is continent number two. The rest are still to be announced.
The Race
The New Balance 42k Porto Alegre is in its third edition in 2026, and it’s built a reputation as one of Brazil’s most serious road races. The course is genuinely flat — just 20 meters of total elevation gain across the full 42.2km — and certified by both AIMS and World Athletics. For runners chasing a fast time, it’s the kind of course that cooperates.
The event covers all distances: 5k, 10k, half marathon, and the full marathon, so Kipchoge will be sharing the roads with everyone from first-timers to competitive athletes. There’s a prize pool of R$549,000 ($105,000 USD) on the line, and the race draws runners from across Brazil and beyond.
One thing worth flagging: July is winter in Porto Alegre. Brazil’s southernmost state runs cold — race day temperatures typically sit between 3°C and 12°C. Not the Brazil most people picture. For marathon purposes though, cold and flat is a very good combination.
The Brazil Connection
Kipchoge won his first Olympic marathon gold at the 2016 Rio Games, running 2:08:44 in one of the most controlled performances in Olympic marathon history. It was the race that announced him to the wider world as something genuinely different. He hasn’t raced on South American soil since.
Returning to Brazil as part of a tour explicitly built around inspiring people to run gives this stop a resonance that the others don’t quite have. Cape Town is about writing new history. Porto Alegre is about coming back to where it all began.
Two Down, Five to Go
With Cape Town on May 24 and Porto Alegre on July 19 now confirmed, the world tour has its first real shape. The Cape Town leg carries its own historic stakes — as Africa’s potential first World Marathon Major, a finish there could make Kipchoge the first eight-star finisher in history. Porto Alegre is a different kind of stop: South America, on a fast flat course, in a country that watched him become the best marathon runner on earth.
Kipchoge has already confirmed Antarctica is on the list, and has floated a 50km race in Saudi Arabia. Five continents still to come. “I want to inspire, give back, and remind everyone that no human is limited,” he said when announcing the tour. He’s been doing exactly that for a decade. This is just the next chapter.
