Published on
04/07/2026 - 7:00 GMT+2
While men are, on average, faster over the 42.195km distance, they adopt "significantly less stable pacing strategies", making them almost twice as likely overall to suffer a sudden slowdown during a race, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
Among runners who finished in under three hours, men were around six times more likely than women to "hit the wall", defined in the study as slowing by 20% or more in the second half of the marathon compared with the first half.
That’s because they “may be behaviorally less efficient,” said researchers.
