The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) has once again tightened the standards for entry into the Boston Marathon. This week they announced that qualifying times for the 2026 Boston Marathon will be lowered by 5 minutes across all age groups—except for the 60-64 and older age brackets. This adjustment adds an extra layer of challenge for marathoners aiming to secure a spot in Hopkinton.
With the first qualifying time reduction since the 2020 race, the Boston Marathon continues to push runners to new levels of performance. But what does this mean for the 2026 Boston Marathon hopefuls? How will these new times impact the number of qualifiers and compare to 2025 qualifiers?
The qualifying window for the 2026 Boston Marathon overlaps with the final few days of qualifying for the 2025 race, making marathons run between September 1 and September 13, 2024 potential qualifiers for both Boston 2025 and Boston 2026. This time period includes some of the marathons with the highest number of qualifiers and highest percentage of finishers running qualifying times such as the Erie, Cascade Express, Tunnel Light and Last Chance BQ.2 Marathons in Illinois and Michigan. Comparing the qualifying data during this “double dip” period can give us a glimpse into what 2026 qualifying may look like.
Twenty-two Boston qualifying marathons were run in the U.S. during this period. For 2025 qualifying, 30.2% of finishers in those races qualified for Boston, but only 21.6% of those same runners hit the more stringent 2026 qualifying standards – a nearly 30% drop in qualifiers. ?
The impact the tightened standards will have on qualifying numbers for the 2026 Boston Marathon is anyone’s guess. However, if the trend from 2024 to 2025 qualifying continues, it will become even more difficult to be accepted into Boston.
During the 2025 qualifying period, more than 8,000 more qualifying times were run in the U.S. than during the 2024 qualifying period. In addition, 3,000 more runners registered for the 2025 race compared to 2024. And for 2024 (and almost definitely true for 2025), you still had to run faster than the new 2026 qualifying standards in order to be accepted into the race. This increase in qualified runners and the increase in demand to run Boston will only lead to faster times needed to be accepted into the 2026 Boston Marathon.