Cape Town Marathon Passes First Assessment As It Hopes To Become A World Marathon Major

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has moved closer to becoming the eighth Abbott World Marathon Major, and the first Marathon Major in Africa.

Abbott World Marathon Majors announced this week that the South African race had passed its first assessment on its progression to becoming a Major, and if it passes again at the 2025 running of the race, it’ll be added as a Marathon Major in 2026. 

“Cape Town has continued its impressive progress since joining the candidacy process and we are thrilled that it has now met all of our criteria for the first time,” said AbbottWMM CEO, Dawna Stone.

This news comes a few weeks after the Sydney Marathon officially became the seventh World Marathon Major, with the race in 2025 being the first with its new status. With that news, AbbottWMM also announced a new Nine Star Medal which will join the current Six Star Medal. 

Sydney is the seventh Major, Cape Town may become the eighth in 2026, and the other candidate race is the Shanghai Marathon, which will have its first assessment at the 2024 race which takes place on Sunday 1 December. The earliest that Shanghai could become a Marathon Major is 2027. 

Read all about the World Marathon Majors here, and we cover how to enter all the Majors here.