Where will the marathon of the World Athletics Championships 2025 take place? The complete course
Like every other event at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, the marathon is officially staged at Tokyo’s National Stadium, but only for the start and the finish.
From there, the 96 men and 77 women on the start list will head out into the city, running through the central wards of Shinjuku, Bunkyo, Chiyoda and Chuo.
The opening section covers nearly 8 km as the athletes make their way towards Jimbocho, following major avenues such as Gaiennishi-dori, Yasukuni-dori and Sotobori-dori, with an early landmark in the form of the famous Tokyo Dome. From Jimbocho, the runners take on a loop of around 13 km, which they will complete twice.
That circuit includes the Manseibashi Bridge and passes near Akihabara Station, where the 10 km mark is located. The route then heads south along Chuo-dori Avenue down to Ginza 4, where the field turns back north towards Sudacho on the same road.
From there, the course skirts the Imperial Palace, passing through the Otemon and Hirakawa-mon gates along the edge of the East Gardens. Each lap takes the runners past the Palace twice – once heading south, and again on the way back up to Jimbocho. The halfway point of the marathon is reached here, at the start of the second lap.
After completing the second loop, the runners return to Jimbocho and retrace their steps towards the National Stadium. There is, however, one key difference.
What had been a downhill stretch in the opening 5 km turns into a steady climb in the final kilometres, providing the course’s most notable challenge. Other than that uphill finish, the marathon route is relatively flat, never rising above 34 metres in altitude.