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.
Two of Europe's great capital-city marathons, run within weeks of each other in spring. Paris is open registration and pulls one of the largest fields anywhere outside the Majors (57,464 finishers, rivalling London's own near-60,000), while London remains the faster course on paper — 85m of gain against Paris's 225m — and holds the outright men's world record.
Paris loops past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre-Dame on a genuinely scenic but hillier route; London is flatter and carries full Majors status, ballot entry and all. If Majors prestige and the fastest possible time matter, London wins; if you want an equally massive field with open entry and arguably the more scenic capital-city tour, Paris is a serious alternative.