The Paris Marathon 2026 goes off on April 12, with the race starting on the Champs-Élysées and about 60,000 runners expected to take part. The men’s field is built for speed, led by Kinde Atanaw, whose personal best of 2:03:51 makes him the clear benchmark in a lineup that also includes Leul Gebresilase, Hillary Kipkoech and world champion Victor Kiplangat.
Atanaw arrives with the fastest mark in the field, but he is hardly alone. Gebresilase has run 2:04:02 and Kipkoech 2:04:45, while about 20 athletes in the men’s race have gone under 2:10, a sign that the early pace is likely to be hard from the start. Organizers and race watchers are projecting a winning time in the 2:04 to 2:06 range, a window that reflects how deep the front of the field has become.
Magdalyne Masai heads the women’s race with a personal best of 2:18:58, and Sharon Chelimo and Yebrgual Melese also come in as major contenders. The expected winning time in that race is around 2:18 to 2:20, putting the women’s contest on a similarly demanding clock as the men’s event.
The marathon course runs along the Seine and through parks, with rolling sections and tunnels that can shape rhythm over the full 26.2 miles. That profile matters because this is not just a mass-participation race; it is a deep marathon with enough quality in both elite fields to turn early pace into a real separator.
For viewers, the race will be shown live through official broadcasters and online streaming platforms. In France, France TV is listed as a free stream. In the United States, Peacock and FloTrack are listed, while FloTrack is also listed for viewers in Australia. The scheduled start times are 7 a.m. BST, 2 a.m. ET, 11 a.m. PT and 4 p.m. AEST.
What happens next is straightforward: on April 12, the field hits the Champs-Élysées and the first mile will tell whether the men’s race really turns into the fast early run the numbers suggest.
