Marathon Running & Global Warming: How Heat Threatens Peak Performance. The race for records is heating up—and the conditions are running out

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Hot roads, slower times

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For long-distance runners lining up at the start line, the race is never just about legs and lungs—it’s also about facing the weather. Now, thanks to rising global temperatures, the sport of the marathon is running into a new opponent: a warming world. Recent research analysed hundreds of major races and found that the “sweet-spot” climate conditions that help elite athletes shatter records are becoming rare.

Elite men tend to perform best when air temperature hovers around 4°C (39 °F), and elite women around 10 °C (50 °F). However, as our planet warms, these optimal windows are shrinking fast. One study looked at 221 global marathons and projected that by 2045, about 86 % of them will see declining chances of ideal weather for peak performance.

So what happens when the mercury rises? Heat stress increases, dehydration risks grow, and the body simply can’t cool itself as efficiently during a marathon.

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