Just as runners crossed the finish line at the New York City Marathon on Sunday, completing a 26.2-mile trek across all five boroughs, some were already setting their sights on a new major race.
The Sydney Marathon will join the ranks of New York, London and Berlin to become the seventh worldmajor marathon, a designation reserved for the most elite races, its organizers announced on Sunday. The designation came after a three-year review process that included the city’s marathon surpassing 20,000 finishers during its 2024 race, held in September.
“The team in Sydney has been working towards this day, every day, for more than three years, and to see the improvement in their operations and event experience to the point where we can now call them a Major has been deeply impressive,” Dawn Stone, the chief executive of Abbott World Marathon Majors, the organization that manages the races, said in a statement.
Sydney is the first marathon to be added to the roster since the addition of Tokyo in 2013. The original five cities are New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Berlin.
All seven will be part of what the world majors call its star program — Six Star finishers are marathoners who have completed all six world marathon majors. Sydney will make it a Seven Star program, with eyes toward a Nine Star program eventually; Cape Town and Shanghai are also under consideration.
Participation in the Sydney Marathon has skyrocketed in recent years: According to the New South Wales government, which includes Sydney, entries increased to 25,000 in 2024 from 5,000 runners in 2022. The state government said it expected 33,000 runners to register for the race, which will be held on Aug. 31, 2025, in Australia.
The New York Times
