Two of the fastest marathon courses on earth, two very different races. Here's every stat, side by side, to help you pick.
Indicative — based on GPX data. Both courses normalised to start at 0m.
✓ marks the better number on that stat.
Ask elite marathoners which course is fastest and Berlin and Chicago are the two names that come up. Both are flat loops built for speed — Chicago is marginally flatter still (45m of gain to Berlin's 58m) and has hosted the current outright men's world record (2:00:35, Kelvin Kiptum) and women's world record (2:09:56, Ruth Chepngetich), edging out Berlin's own record-breaking résumé.
Logistically they're near-identical: both are ballot-entry Majors in the 50–55,000-finisher range, both flat enough that pacing discipline matters more than terrain. The difference is largely the calendar and the city — Berlin's late-September Tiergarten loop against Chicago's early-October run through the Loop and its famously deep, diverse neighbourhoods. If you're chasing the fastest possible number, the data gives Chicago a slight nod; if you want Europe's autumn and a five-decade record legacy, Berlin still delivers.