The Boston Athletic Association announced Sept. 23 that 24,362 out of 33,249 qualified applicants were accepted into the 2026 race.

Qualifiers had to be 4 minutes and 34 seconds faster than the standard to make the 2026 race.

That’s on top of a qualifying standard that had already been made five minutes faster, meaning it’s 9 minutes and 34 seconds under the 2025 qualifying standard.

For the second year in a row, it took the fastest ever times to make the 2026 Boston Marathon .

The Boston Athletic Association announced Sept. 23 that 24,362 out of 33,249 qualified applicants were accepted into the 2026 race, meaning 8,887 were turned away. The Boston Marathon has a field size of 30,000.

Qualifiers had to be 4 minutes and 34 seconds faster than the standard to make the 2026 race

See Full Page