Men’s course record
2:03:30
Geoffrey Toroitich Kipchumba · 2025
- Average pace
- 2:56 / km
- Terrain-adjusted
- +0.06 %
Amsterdam Marathon
Amsterdam, Netherlands The third Sunday in October Founded 1975
From the 1928 Olympic Stadium, through the Rijksmuseum and twelve kilometres out along the Amstel.
Overview
Amsterdam starts and finishes inside the Olympic Stadium built for the 1928 Games, and in between it shows you the city runners come for. In the first 4.0 km it crosses the Vondelpark and runs through the passage beneath the Rijksmuseum. Then it heads south and follows the Amstel out to Ouderkerk and back, past windmills and houseboats, for twelve kilometres of river.
The whole course sits within 8 m of vertical range, the smallest of the 28 courses compared, narrowly ahead of the Gold Coast and Chicago. Nearly a third of it runs below sea level, and the low point is a drained lake at 31.0 km, four metres below sea level.
It's fast, too. The men's record has fallen three times since 2018, to 2:03:30 in 2025, and 23,328 people finished that year. For 2026 it sold out at 32,000.
The whole course sits within 8 m of vertical range, the smallest of the 28 courses compared, narrowly ahead of the Gold Coast and Chicago. Nearly a third of it runs below sea level, and the low point is a drained lake at 31.0 km, four metres below sea level.
It's fast, too. The men's record has fallen three times since 2018, to 2:03:30 in 2025, and 23,328 people finished that year. For 2026 it sold out at 32,000.
- When
- The 2026 Amsterdam Marathon is on Sunday, 18 October 2026, starting at 9:00am local time on Olympic Stadium, and Stadionweg outside it.
- Course
- Amsterdam's course climbs 73 m in all, with its lowest point at -4 m and its highest at 4 m.
- Entry
- Entry to Amsterdam is first come, first served (sold out for 2026), and costs €145 for 2026.
- Field
- The 2026 Amsterdam Marathon has a marathon field of 32,000.
- Weather
- Across 30 years, Amsterdam's race-day temperature has a median of 12.2 °C.
- Records
- The Amsterdam Marathon course records are 2:03:30 (Geoffrey Toroitich Kipchumba, 2025) and 2:16:52 (Yalemzerf Yehualaw, 2024).
- Time limit
- Amsterdam's time limit is 6 hours.
Marathon Course · every marathon course, measured the same way
Amsterdam Marathon
From the 1928 Olympic Stadium, through the Rijksmuseum and twelve kilometres out along the Amstel. Olympic Stadium → Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Distance
- 42.2 km
- Ascent
- 73 m
- Descent
- 73 m
- Net
- +1 m
Course map and elevation
5 km splits marked · hover or drag the profile below to move along the courseElevation · measured on the course line published for the 2025 edition · AHN dtm_05m — 0.5 m bare-earth lidar (PDOK, CC BY 4.0) · smoothed 100 m -4–4 m
—
0.08.517.025.534.142.6
kmmi — elev — grade — hover or drag the profile
Sea level runs through the middle of this course. It spans 8 m of height, from -4 m to 4 m, so every bump in the line is a bridge, a dyke or an underpass, drawn large.
The first 13.0 km wander within a few metres of sea level through the Vondelpark, the museum quarter and the Zuidas. The Amstel stretch, from about 14.0 km to 26.0 km, is the calmest part of the course. It's twelve kilometres beside the river that climb 10 m in total, with the turn at Ouderkerk at 19.4 km.
The only feature with a name comes after it. At 30.4 km the course drops 7 m in a kilometre into the Watergraafsmeer, a drained lake and the lowest ground of the day: -4 m at 31.1 km. It stays below -3 m until 33.5 km. Then the steepest climbing kilometre on the course, which gains under 5 m, brings you back up to the level of the city. The last 9.0 km run home through the east and back through the Vondelpark to finish less than a metre above the start. Add up the energy cost of every gradient and the course comes out about level with a flat 42.195 km.
Take it with you
Course GPX Organiser's course map
The GPX is ours: our resampled line, a point every 25 m, carrying AHN dtm_05m — 0.5 m bare-earth lidar (PDOK, CC BY 4.0) elevation rather than the GPS noise a watch file usually holds.
AHN dtm_05m — 0.5 m bare-earth lidar (PDOK, CC BY 4.0), measured on the course line published for the 2025 edition, smoothed 100 m · marathoncourse.com/marathons/amsterdam/ · checked 2026-09-24
How to enter: dates and fees
There's no ballot in Amsterdam: places go first come, first served. Registration for 2026 opened at noon on 20 December 2025, a day after a presale for the organiser's members, and the marathon has since sold out at its cap of 32,000. The fee was €145.
With the direct route closed, three remain: the organiser's own ticket resale, a tour-operator package, or a charity place through the Dutch Cancer Society's Run Against Cancer, which asks for at least €750 in sponsorship.
You collect your number in person at the expo in the RAI, from Thursday to Saturday before the race. Nothing is posted, including to runners from abroad.
With the direct route closed, three remain: the organiser's own ticket resale, a tour-operator package, or a charity place through the Dutch Cancer Society's Run Against Cancer, which asks for at least €750 in sponsorship.
You collect your number in person at the expo in the RAI, from Thursday to Saturday before the race. Nothing is posted, including to runners from abroad.
History
Amsterdam's first marathon was the Olympic one. The stadium the race now starts and finishes in was built for the 1928 Games, and that year's marathon ran out along the Amstel on some of the same road the course uses today. Boughèra El Ouafi won it, from 69 runners from 23 countries.
The city race began on 3 May 1975, part of Amsterdam's 700th birthday, with about 300 runners. In 1979 it moved from the stadium to the Dam because the stadium was falling apart, and it didn't come back for good until 2000, after the building was saved and restored. In between it produced Gerard Nijboer's 2:09:01 in 1980, a Dutch record for twenty-three years and, at the time, the second-fastest marathon ever run.
A plan to send the race through the historic centre, past the Dam, the Rokin and Centraal Station, was studied for two years and dropped in April 2026 because it couldn't be done safely.
The city race began on 3 May 1975, part of Amsterdam's 700th birthday, with about 300 runners. In 1979 it moved from the stadium to the Dam because the stadium was falling apart, and it didn't come back for good until 2000, after the building was saved and restored. In between it produced Gerard Nijboer's 2:09:01 in 1980, a Dutch record for twenty-three years and, at the time, the second-fastest marathon ever run.
A plan to send the race through the historic centre, past the Dam, the Rokin and Centraal Station, was studied for two years and dropped in April 2026 because it couldn't be done safely.
- 1975First edition, 3 May, for the city's 700th birthday — about 300 runners, won by Jørgen Jensen in 2:16:51
- 1977Bill Rodgers wins in 2:12:47, a course record
- 1978No race — the sponsor withdraws
- 1979The stadium is too run-down to use, and start and finish move to the Dam, where they stay until 1996
- 1980Gerard Nijboer runs 2:09:01, a Dutch record for 23 years and then the second-fastest marathon ever
- 1989Nijboer wins for the fourth time, still the most by anyone
- 2000Start and finish return for good to the restored Olympic Stadium
- 2005Haile Gebrselassie wins in 2:06:20, the fastest marathon of the year, into a strong wind in the second half
- 2013The course runs through the passage beneath the Rijksmuseum for the first time
- 2018Lawrence Cherono sets a course record of 2:04:06
- 2020Cancelled for the pandemic
- 2021Tamirat Tola and Angela Tanui break both course records — then the fastest times ever run in the Netherlands
- 2022Almaz Ayana runs 2:17:20 on her marathon debut, then the fastest women's debut ever
- 2023A second start opens on Stadionweg as the stadium field fills; the race starts after a downpour
- 2024Yalemzerf Yehualaw runs 2:16:52, the women's course record
- 2025Fifty years on, Geoffrey Toroitich Kipchumba runs 2:03:30, and 23,328 finish
- 202618 October, sold out at 32,000
19801990200020102020
Course records
Pace is derived from the certified distance. Terrain-adjusted figures come from the same model that ranks every course on this site.
Women’s course record
2:16:52
Yalemzerf Yehualaw · 2024
- Average pace
- 3:15 / km
- Terrain-adjusted
- +0.06 %
Race day: start times and cut-offs
- 9:00am
- 5:00pm
- Time limit
- 6h
- Fourteen
There are two starts, and they run to the same clock. Half the field, 16,000 runners, starts on the grass inside the Olympic Stadium; the other half starts on Stadionweg just outside, and the two streams merge within the first kilometre. The stadium gates open at 7:45am, and the first two waves must be on the field by 8:50.
Six waves go between 9:00 and 9:43am, by expected finish time, and it can be 9:50 before the last runner crosses the start line. Bag drop is free, in tents around the stadium for the inside start and on Stadionplein for the outside one.
There are fourteen refreshment points, at km 5, 8, 11, 16, 18, 20, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 35, 38 and 40; the ones at 18 and 30 hand out gels only. You can't leave personal bottles on the course. Headphones and hydration vests are allowed. The half marathon goes off from Stadionweg at 1:20pm, well after the marathon field has passed.
Six waves go between 9:00 and 9:43am, by expected finish time, and it can be 9:50 before the last runner crosses the start line. Bag drop is free, in tents around the stadium for the inside start and on Stadionplein for the outside one.
There are fourteen refreshment points, at km 5, 8, 11, 16, 18, 20, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 35, 38 and 40; the ones at 18 and 30 hand out gels only. You can't leave personal bottles on the course. Headphones and hydration vests are allowed. The half marathon goes off from Stadionweg at 1:20pm, well after the marathon field has passed.
The morning, hour by hour
- 7:45am
- Stadium gates open
- 9:00am
- Wave 1 · white · invited athletes and up to 2:35
- 9:03am
- Wave 2 · yellow · 2:35–3:00
- 9:07am
- Wave 3 · pink · 3:00–3:30
- 9:17am
- Wave 4 · orange · 3:30–4:00
- 9:31am
- Wave 5 · green · 4:00–4:30
- 9:43am
- Wave 6 · blue · 4:30–6:00
- 5:00pm
- Finish closes
Cut-offs
- 5 km · 5.0 km
- 10:31am
- 10 km · 10.0 km
- 11:13am
- 15 km · 15.0 km
- 11:55am
- 20 km · 20.0 km
- 12:36pm
- 25 km · 25.0 km
- 1:18pm
- Finish · 42.2 km
- 5:00pm
The organiser's 2026 marathon page. Waves start at the same times in both start areas. The organiser publishes cut-offs to 25 km and then the finish. Runners passed by the sweeper vehicle are asked to leave the course, and the road reopens behind it. The time limit is six hours.
Race-day weather, 1995–2025
- Median
- 12.2 °C
- Warm years
- 2 of 30
- Wet years
- 1 of 30
Race-day mean temperature, 1995-2025. Lime marks the hottest edition; the coldest and wettest carry a label only, so the colour still means one thing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amsterdam the flattest marathon?
By vertical range, yes, of the 28 courses we've measured: every point sits between -4 m and 4 m, a range of 8 m. The Gold Coast and Chicago are within half a metre of it. Total climb is another matter. Amsterdam's bridges and underpasses add up to 73 m over the distance, about the same as Berlin, and Rotterdam and Seville both climb less.
AHN 0.5 m lidar, sampled every 25 m, smoothed over 100 m. Raw-to-smoothed ratio 1.45.
Does the course really go below sea level?
Nearly a third of it does. The lowest stretch is the Watergraafsmeer, a lake drained in the seventeenth century, where the course sits more than 3 m below sea level for about 2.7 km. It bottoms out at -4 m at 31.1 km. You won't feel it; the descent in is spread over a kilometre.
AHN heights against NAP, the Dutch sea-level datum.
Do you really run through the Rijksmuseum?
Through it, underneath the building. The museum has a public passage through its centre, used by the course since 2013, at about 4.0 km. It comes early and the field is still dense, so enjoy the acoustics rather than looking for space.
The organiser's course map; the passage was first used in 2013.
How do I get a place now it has sold out?
The direct route is closed for 2026. What's left is the organiser's official ticket resale, a tour-operator package, or a charity place with the Dutch Cancer Society's Run Against Cancer, which asks for at least €750 in sponsorship. For 2027, registration last opened in the week before Christmas; watch for it then.
The organiser's registration page, checked September 2026.
Is it a fast course?
Fast enough that its records keep falling: the men's three times since 2018, to 2:03:30, and the women's four times since 2019, to 2:16:52. The course barely climbs, race-day temperatures have a median of 12 °C, and it starts and finishes in the same stadium.
Race results; weather from ERA5, 1995–2025.
What are the cut-offs?
Five on the course: 5 km by 10:31am, 10 km by 11:13, 15 km by 11:55, 20 km by 12:36pm and 25 km by 1:18pm. The finish closes at 5:00pm; the overall limit is six hours. Anyone the sweeper passes is asked to leave the course.
The organiser's 2026 marathon page.
Can a record be set here?
Easily. It finishes less than a metre above where it starts, and its start and finish are 605 m apart, so it clears both World Athletics tests with room to spare. Both course records are among the fastest times ever run.
World Athletics Competition Rule 31.21, and this site's measurements.
How many people run it?
The 2026 marathon is capped at 32,000 and sold out. Of those, 16,000 start on the field inside the Olympic Stadium and 16,000 on Stadionweg outside it. In 2025, 23,328 finished.
Organiser figures for the 2026 edition.
What is the weather like on race day?
About 12.2 °C during a typical race: that's the median across 30 years, which have run from 6.8 °C to 18.2 °C. 1 of the 30 were wet.
ERA5 reanalysis for the race date, 1995-2025.
Can I use a time here to qualify for Boston?
Yes. The course is certified and finishes less than a metre higher than it starts, so the B.A.A.'s downhill adjustment, which only applies from 1,500 ft of net drop, never comes into it. For a qualifier, the conditions help: there's almost no climbing, October mornings are cool, and the field is big enough that you'll never run alone.
Net drop +1 m from this site's course line; 2027 adjustment None. Certification platinum label: World Athletics Platinum Label; record-eligible.
How accurate is the elevation figure?
It comes from AHN dtm_05m — 0.5 m bare-earth lidar (PDOK, CC BY 4.0), sampled every 25 m along the course line and smoothed over 100 m. The raw-to-smoothed ratio here is 1.45. Around 1.3 means the model is reading the ground, not rooftops; above about 2.0 the total climb carries real noise, and the net change is the sturdier number.
71 missing samples · 0 bridge spans corrected.
Sources
Every fact on this page, its source, and the date it was checked · 8
| Fact | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Course line | Third-party GPX for the 2025 edition. The organiser confirmed in April 2026 that the course is unchanged, and its 2026 map shows the same route. The file measures 42.766 km, 1.35 % long, from 1,227 points; our resampled line measures 42.569 km, so distances on this page run about 1 % long. Archived with its hash in data/raw/sources. | 2026-09-24 |
| Elevation | AHN, the Dutch national 0.5 m bare-earth lidar (PDOK, CC BY 4.0), sampled every 25 m, smoothed over 100 m. Raw-to-smoothed gain ratio 1.45. AHN leaves water and bridge decks blank, so 4.1 % of samples — the canal and river crossings — are interpolated between the banks. Heights are against NAP, the Dutch sea-level datum. | 2026-09-24 |
| Elevation, independent check | The organiser publishes a profile but no climb figure. Its chart runs between about −4 m and +5 m; ours runs between −4.2 m and +3.6 m, with the low point in the same place, the polder around 31 km. | 2026-09-24 |
| Race-day weather | ERA5 reanalysis via the Open-Meteo archive, 1995–2025 at the Olympic Stadium, 09:00–15:00 local, sampled on the third Sunday in October. That rule reproduces every edition from 2018 to 2026. 2020, when there was no race, is excluded. | 2026-09-24 |
| Course records | Geoffrey Toroitich Kipchumba 2:03:30 (2025), from World Athletics and the official results; some reports give 2:03:31. Yalemzerf Yehualaw 2:16:52 (2024). | 2026-09-24 |
| Entry and field | Entry €145, first come, first served, sold out; cap 32,000 across two start areas. 23,328 finished in 2025 and 16,815 in 2024, counted from the official results. | 2026-09-24 |
| Race day | The organiser's 2026 marathon page: six waves 9:00–9:43am, cut-offs at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 km, finish closing 5:00pm, refreshment points at km 5, 8, 11, 16, 18, 20, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 35, 38 and 40. | 2026-09-24 |
| Record eligibility | World Athletics Competition Rules, Book C, Part III — Competition Rule 31.21: a record course may lose no more than 1 m per kilometre, and its start and finish may be no more than 21.098 km apart. Amsterdam gains 0.5 m overall and its start and finish are 605 m apart. Inside both. | 2026-09-24 |
Until the Amsterdam Marathon · 18 Oct 2026
— days
— hrs— min— sec
You might also be interested in
Toronto Waterfront Marathon
Toronto, Canada · 18 Oct 2026
Canada's biggest marathon spends most of the morning on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Frankfurt Marathon
Frankfurt, Germany · 25 Oct 2026
Twice across the Main and out to Höchst, then home to a red carpet inside the Festhalle.
Dublin Marathon
Dublin, Ireland · 25 Oct 2026
The bank-holiday marathon: out through Phoenix Park, round the southern suburbs, and home past the Georgian squares.