With the close of the first half of 2026, what do the world's top ten women's marathon times look like?

The biggest surprise was undoubtedly Ethiopia's Fotyen Tesfay running 2:10:51. It was her marathon debut, setting the fastest debut ever in the women's marathon, and 2:10:51 catapulted Fotyen Tesfay to second on the all-time women's marathon list.

Kenya's Brigid Kosgei ran the fastest time on Asian soil with 2:14:29 in Tokyo, coming close to the world record she set in 2019. The downside is that her hopes of representing Turkey at the Olympics were dashed, but given her current form she would still be highly competitive in Kenya.

Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa successfully defended her title at the London Marathon while again setting the women's-only marathon world record at 2:15:41, improving her own record by 9 seconds. A return to Berlin later in the year will be very interesting to watch.

Major marathons like Tokyo and London still cluster the fast times: Tokyo produced four of the top ten and London three. Considering London is a women-only course, it's hard not to marvel at just how fast London was this year.

Barcelona delivered a brief, dazzling highlight in the women's marathon this first half, and the Hamburg Marathon — where "Qiao Laoye" debuted — remains a classic European course, contributing two top-ten performances.

Ethiopian and Kenyan runners unsurprisingly split the top ten, each taking half, while adidas was the clear 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 entries on this list are sure to change. Do you think anyone can break Fotyen Tesfay's 2:10:51 this year?