How it works

The Abbott World Marathon Majors elite series comprises seven of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world which, together with those run at the sport’s global championships, form an annual series to determine the world's best male and female marathon runners and wheelchair competitors.

Athletes score points for their finishing place in each race with the top three male and female marathon runners and wheelchair athletes at the end of each cycle receiving prize money.

The AbbottWMM Series started in 2006 and now operates on a calendar year, beginning at the Tokyo Marathon and finishing at the TCS New York City Marathon.

In 2016, Series X saw the introduction of the elite wheelchair series with its own prize purse.

In both the able-bodied and wheelchair series', prize money is awarded at the end of the year to the top five athletes in the standings.

SERIES QUALIFYING RACES

Tokyo Marathon
Boston Marathon
TCS London Marathon
TCS Sydney Marathon presented by ASICS
BMW BERLIN-MARATHON
Bank of America Chicago Marathon
TCS New York City Marathon
Olympic or Paralympic Marathons
World Athletics World Championships or World Para Athletics Championships

THE POINTS SYSTEM

The champions of each AbbottWMM Series will be the male and female athlete who scores the greatest number of points from the Qualifying Races during the scoring period.

During each scoring period, points from a maximum of two Qualifying Races will be counted. An athlete must start in at least two Qualifying Races over the cycle to be eligible for the prize. If an athlete earns points in more than two events, the athlete’s highest two finishes are scored.

In the Wheelchair division in line with the increase to seven Majors, in 2026, an athlete’s best FIVE scores from this year's seven races will contribute to their points total.

Wheelchair division - 2027 and beyond
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Further updates will be made to the Wheelchair Series points system in the following years if our candidate marathons, Cape Town and Shanghai, are successful.

If we increase to eight Majors, an athlete’s best SIX scores from eight races will contribute to their points total.

If we increase to nine Majors, an athlete’s best SIX scores from nine races will contribute to their points total.

In a year in which a Paralympic or standalone World Championship marathon is held, an athlete’s best SEVEN scores will be used.

Bonus points
An athlete can earn a maximum of THREE bonus point wins during the series, each worth eight points. They must finish the race to be awarded the bonus points unless there is a technical issue beyond the control of the athlete to finish.

If an athlete has secured the maximum number of wins during the course of a season, they cannot earn any more but they can block a competitor from earning bonus points.

In 2026 there will be no change to this but from 2027 and beyond, if we expand to eight or nine races, the maximum wins a single athlete can achieve will increase to FOUR in a series.

Points are allocated following each race as follows:

1st Place: 25 points
‍2nd Place: 16 points
‍3rd Place: 9 points
‍4th Place: 4 points
‍5th Place: 1 point
Wheelchair race bonus: 8 points

TIE BREAKERS

If there’s a tie at the end of a Series, the winner is determined using the following rules (addressed in descending order):

The athlete with the best head-to-head record in Qualifying Races during the Series will be declared the winner. Only the fact that one athlete finished ahead of the other will be taken into account and not by how many places nor whether those athletes scored points in that head-to-head contest.
The athlete who has won the most Qualifying Races during the period.
The athlete who the majority of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors Race Directors determines to be the champion. The Race Directors may decide to award the title jointly.

DOPING VIOLATIONS

Under AbbottWMM rules, no athlete found guilty of any anti-doping rules enforced by the World Athletics, World Anti-Doping Association (WADA), National Federations, or any of the individual AbbottWMM races is eligible to win the championship title. Athletes must comply with the AWMM Code of Conduct.

Additional scoring races

The Olympic or Paralympic Marathons and World Athletics or World Para Athletics Championships will be included in the series in the years they are held.