More than 4,000 runners crossed the finish line at the Journal Sentinel Milwaukee Marathon on Sunday, April 12. They trained for months, ran through the streets of Milwaukee, and earned their hardware. Then they looked at their medal and noticed something was off.
The top banner on every single finisher medal reads “Milwaukee Marthon.” The second “a” in marathon is missing.
The error spread quickly on social media, where runners shared close-up photos and piled on with jokes. One Threads user wrote simply: “They misspelled marathon on the Milwaukee Marathon medals today.” Another runner replied: “I CAN CONFIRM THIS.” On Reddit, one finisher posted a photo of their medal with the caption: “That makes it a collector’s edition, right?”
MARATHON MEDAL MISSPELLING: A spokesperson for the Journal Sentinel Milwaukee Marathon said all of the medals given to marathon runners on April 11 had a misspelling.
— Kathryn Merck TV (@KathrynMerckTV) April 12, 2026
You can see ‘marthon’ was spelled without a second ‘a’ on the back of the medals.
“A letter clearly went… pic.twitter.com/Sm6hza3XVk
A Typo in Plain Sight
The mistake appears only on the top line of text. The bottom of the medal—which reads “Marathon Finisher”—is spelled correctly. The center of the medal features “MKE,” a common shorthand for Milwaukee.
A spokesperson for the Journal Sentinel Milwaukee Marathon acknowledged the error with a statement that leaned into the humor: “A letter clearly went missing somewhere between the start and the finish line of production, making these medals unintended collector’s editions.”
The medals will not be reissued with a corrected spelling.
It’s not the first time a major race has had a medal mishap. The Great North Run faced its own medal gaffe in 2025, when finisher medals depicted the wrong city and river entirely. The Edinburgh Marathon also drew criticism after running out of finisher medals at the finish line.
Runners Take It in Stride
Ana Andrade, a five-time marathon finisher who completed Sunday’s race, said her first reaction was disbelief—quickly followed by a laugh. She did spare a thought for first-timers.
“At first I was wondering if maybe they did it to get people to talk about it,” Andrade said. “It’s just funny, I’ve never seen this before at previous marathons.”
Some runners joked in the comments that the medals looked “counterfeit,” though most seemed to treat the whole thing as part of the race-day story they’ll tell for years. For many runners, the finisher medal is one of the most meaningful parts of race day—a physical reminder of months of hard training.
About the Race
The Milwaukee Marathon is certified by USA Track and Field and serves as a Boston Marathon qualifier, drawing serious runners from across the region. For those chasing a BQ, check out exactly what you need to qualify for Boston here.
Sunday’s full marathon attracted approximately 1,450 participants, with another 3,500 taking on the half marathon. David Vannucchi won the men’s full marathon in 2:30:24, finishing at Humboldt Park. Carly Schrom, a 26-year-old endurance athlete from Oconomowoc, topped the women’s field in 2:52:41. In the half marathon, Trevor Wenzel led the men in 1:08:32 and Madeleine Davison was the top women’s finisher in 1:19:29.
For most of those finishers, the medal will still go on the wall. Typo and all.
