With the first half of 2026 concluded, how do the top ten women's marathon times worldwide look? The biggest surprise undoubtedly comes from Ethiopian runner Fotyen Tesfay's 2:10:51. It was her full marathon debut and set the fastest debut ever in the women's marathon; the 2:10:51 vaults Fotyen Tesfay to second on the women's marathon all-time list. Kenyan Brigid Kosgei ran the fastest time on Asian soil in Tokyo, 2:14:29, which is also very close to the former world record she set in 2019. The bad news is her hopes of representing Turkey at the Olympics have been dashed, but with her current form she would still be competitive in Kenya. Ethiopian Tigst Assefa, while defending her title at the London Marathon, again set the women-only marathon world record with 2:15:41, lowering her own world record by 9 seconds. Her return to Berlin in the second half of the year will be highly anticipated. Grand-slam courses like Tokyo and London remain hotspots for fast times, with four and three runners respectively making the top ten. Considering London is a women-only course, it's hard not to marvel at how fast London was this year. Barcelona produced a fleeting highlight in the first half of the year, and the Hamburg Marathon — where Qiao Laoye made his debut — remains a classic European course, contributing two top-ten performances. Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes unsurprisingly split the top-ten list, each taking half, while adidas was the big winner of the first half, claiming six of the spots. In the second half of the year, with races like Berlin, Chicago and Valencia coming up, many times on this list are bound to be updated. Do you think anyone can break Fotyen Tesfay's 2:10:51 this year? #marathon #world-top-ten #marathon #trail-running-explosion #women-only-world-record