The race closes registration four and a half months ahead of race day, breaks its participation record once again and ranks among the top four marathons in Europe.
The Zurich Marató de Barcelona has made history once again. Four and a half months before race day (14 March), the event has sold out all its entries, reaching a record-breaking 37,000 participants. For the third consecutive year, the Barcelona race, organised by Barcelona City Council and RPM Sports, has announced a sell-out. This time, however, it has done so much earlier than usual, achieving a record participation figure that makes it Spain’s most popular marathon once again and places it among the four largest marathons in Europe in terms of participation.
After welcoming 27,000 participants in 2025 and 32,000 in 2026, the Zurich Marató de Barcelona has set a new participation record, with 37,000 people registered for the upcoming edition. In the previous two editions, entries sold out in January, meaning this year’s sell-out has come more than two months earlier. The event’s growth over recent years has been remarkable. In 2016, it surpassed the 20,000-participant mark for the first time, a figure it maintained the following year before participation later declined, a trend further affected by the pandemic. In 2024, the race returned to 20,000 participants and, since then, growth has been unstoppable, reaching 37,000 entries for the next edition, which will be the 48th in the event’s history.
The appeal of the Barcelona brand, a course that takes runners past some of the city’s most iconic landmarks and is also particularly fast following recent route changes, together with the impressive performances recorded in recent editions, have placed the Zurich Marató de Barcelona among the leading mass-participation marathons in Europe. In Spain, it has surpassed Valencia (36,000 participants) to once again become the country’s most popular marathon. Across Europe, only London, Paris and Berlin attract more participants.
A closer look at registration figures reveals that the race is becoming increasingly international, with 35% of participants (12,000) coming from Spain and 65% from abroad. Among international runners, France is the largest source country, with almost 8,000 participants, followed by the United Kingdom (5,000), while Germany, Italy and the Netherlands each contribute around 1,000 runners. In total, 107 different countries will be represented, including the Maldives, the Cayman Islands, Martinique and Kyrgyzstan.
In terms of gender, participation follows the trend of the previous two editions, with 74% male and 26% female runners, the latter continuing to grow steadily. The age profile once again highlights the strong presence of younger runners: the largest age group is 25–34, with more than 12,000 participants (37% of the total), while those under 35 account for almost half of all registrations (47%).
The outstanding figures for the Zurich Marató de Barcelona, which will take place on 14 March, are matched by those of the Hyundai Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks, held one month earlier, on 14 February. It has also broken its all-time participation record, with 40,000 entries sold out in just one week, ten months before race day.
