Honolulu, HI—In tmy last post, I broke down the top marathon performances by men in 2023 (as of 3 Dec.), then compared those totals to data taken from previous years. Today, we do the same for women.

For comparison’s sake, note that in 2023, a sub-2:10:00 marathon by a man is equal (give or take) to a sub-2:27:18 for a woman based on the World Athletics scoring table, as both times rate 1160 performance points.

As with the men, women’s marathoning set a new standard of excellence in 2023, amassing 315 sub-2:27:18 performances, 69 more (to date) than the previous high-water mark of 246 in 2022. This new record points to the continued effect of the Super Shoe Era that began in 2016.

Once again, I counted all marathon courses in this study, not just those that fall within the 50% start-to-finish rule, or have too much net elevation drop. The difference in number isn’t significant, but I did not want to eliminate results from the Boston Marathon – a point-to-point course with a net elevation drop – as that would be a step too far for this former Beacon Street resident.

Let’s begin. The top performance the year came from Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, whose 2:11:53 in Berlin on 24 September broke Brigid Kosgei’s 2:14:04 world record from Chicago 2019 by 2:11. In the process, she nearly became the first woman to run the marathon distance in under five minutes per mile pace, speed once was considered unimaginable by a woman. But as with so many records of recent years, what was once beyond imagination is now today’s new standard.

The second best time of the year was run two weeks after Berlin in Chicago on 8 October when Ethiopian-born Dutch runner. Sifan Hassan, posted 2:13:44, stripping 20 seconds from Brigid Kosgei’s course record.

Total sub-2:27:18s
2023 – 315

Ethiopia 113 (35.8%)

Kenya 68 (21.5%)

Japan 26 (8.2%)

USA 21 (6.6%)

2022 – Total 246

Ethiopia 93 (37.8%)

Kenya 65 (26.4%)

Japan 25 (10.1%)

USA 18 (6.9%)

2021 – 139: Eth 55; Ken 44

2020 – 73: Eth 36; Ken 12

2019 -189: Eth 90; Ken 57

2018 – 139: Eth 67; Ken 36

2017 – 98: Eth 45; Ken 34

It’s interesting how Ethiopian women have consistently topped their Kenyan rivals in the sheer number of top performances in recent years, while for the men, it’s always the Kenyans who come out on top in the sport’s greatest national rivalry. One might ask why this difference exists.

Opportunities for women along many a societal metric continue to expand across the globe, though not always at equal rates. In running, the data suggests that Ethiopia offers a greater opportunity for women to advance in a running career than their East African rivals. But that is only suggested by the data. There may well be other factors involved. But on the surface, the difference does stand out.

It is also true, that there are far more men’s performances of 1161 points and more on the World Athletics scoring table (434) than there are corresponding women’s performances (315). This suggests that in 2023, though the gap may be closing, in terms of opportunity, it continues to be a man’s world.

With the number of top performances continuing on an upward trend, there is no reason to doubt that trend won’t continue into the 2024 Olympic year.

END