Stockholm Marathon

Annual marathon in Stockholm, Sweden
the film

The Stockholm Marathon, known as the adidas Stockholm Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon arranged in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1979. It serves as the Swedish marathon championship race. At the 2009 Stockholm Marathon more than 18,500 participants (14,442 men and 4,385 women) were registered. The marathon is categorized as a Bronze Label Road Race by World Athletics.

The marathon starts adjacent to the 1912 Olympic Stadium and consists of two loops around the city, finishing with a three quarter lap around the tracks of the Olympic Stadium. Until and including the 2009 edition, the two loops around the city differed only slightly from each other, but the major part of the loops were identical. However, from 2010 the route was changed somewhat to make the loops more different from each other. Most notably, the first loop is now shorter, thus minimizing the number of trailing runners that the elite runners have to lap.

The marathon normally takes place at the end of May or the beginning of June. It is held on a Saturday afternoon, thus distinguishing it from the majority of city marathons (London, New York, Paris) which take place on Sunday mornings, to minimise disruption to the city. This leads to a risk in some editions being held in considerable heat, and indeed has been, as with the 2018 marathon where temperatures reached around in certain areas. The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 competition was postponed as well, and ended up held on Saturday, 9 October.

The book The Ultimate Guide to International Marathons ranks the Stockholm Marathon as the best marathon in the world.

Heyworth, Malcolm & Fält, Birger (8 June 2009). Stockholm Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 27 May 2011.