Shanghai Marathon

2026 confirmed details

Each entry window belongs to the edition shown above. Unlisted dates are not confirmed here.

In the news

Dispatches on the Shanghai Marathon ballot, results, and race updates, most recent first.

How to get into the Shanghai Marathon

Four routes to the start line. The open lottery is the default and the longest odds. Series-race direct entry is the most reliable if you are fast, and international tour operators sell guaranteed bibs to overseas runners.

Register and check current details at the official site: www.shang-ma.com ↗

Places and selection

The Shanghai Marathon caps the full marathon at about 23,000 places and draws far more applicants than spots every year. There is no published acceptance rate, so the honest picture is simple: the open lottery is heavily oversubscribed and entry is not guaranteed. Better odds come from the direct-entry route. Finish near the top of a Shanghai Marathon Series half marathon and you skip the draw entirely: the top 200 of the Shanghai Women's Half, the top 200 men and top 100 women of the Shanghai Half, and the top 150 men and top 100 women of the Suzhou Creek Half all earn direct entry by finishing position.

Is the Shanghai Marathon a World Marathon Major?

Shanghai is the next race on the path to expanding the Majors. Cape Town was confirmed as the eighth Abbott World Marathon Major in June 2026. Shanghai is the candidate behind it, and if it passes its final assessment at the December 6, 2026 race, it would become the ninth Major in 2027.

• Candidate since 2024, when it replaced the Chengdu Marathon as China's entry to the program.
• Passed its first assessment after the November 2025 evaluation.
• Needs a second consecutive pass at the December 6, 2026 edition to qualify.
• If it joins, Abbott introduces a Nine Star medal and finishers earn provisional stars toward it.

Point to point from the Bund along the Huangpu River to Shanghai Stadium

The course is flat, fast, and World Athletics certified, one of the quickest in Asia. It starts at the Bund Bull on the Huangpu River waterfront, runs through central Shanghai past Nanjing Road, People's Square, and Jing'an Temple with the Pudong skyline across the water, and finishes at Shanghai Stadium. The December date usually brings cool, dry racing weather. The 2026 time limit is six hours thirty minutes, from a 7:00 am start to a 1:30 pm finish cutoff.

Course · 2025 View full route →

Explore the course

SHANGHAI 42.195KM · FLAT AND FAST

Course profile

No official elevation figure is published. The Shanghai Marathon is one of the flattest and fastest courses in Asia, World Athletics certified, with no significant climbs. The route stays along the Huangpu River and through central Shanghai at near sea level, which, with the cool December air, is why the course produces quick times.

Common questions