Maratón Medellín

Medellín lies in a valley of the Andes, and the marathon never leaves it. The lowest road is the start at about 1,468 m; the highest is the Sabaneta turn near km 28.5 at about 1,592 m. The finish comes in at about 1,469 m, level with the start.

In all the course climbs about 190 m, 107 m of it in the first half and 82 m in the second. These figures are for the 2026 course.

Measured

After a rolling middle section around 1,480 to 1,490 m, the road goes from about 1,492 m at km 19 to about 1,592 m at the Sabaneta turn at km 28.5, an average of about 1% over 9.5 km. It is a long steady drag rather than a hill: no kilometre in it is steeper than about 2%.

There is an early rise too. In the first 5.4 km the road lifts about 60 m to about 1,528 m, the steepest kilometre of the course (about 27 m, from km 1.75), and then drops back to about 1,478 m by km 13.

Measured

From about 1,592 m at the turn the course steps down to about 1,469 m at the finish, a net fall of about 124 m. Nothing in these 13.7 km rises, and the steepest descent is about 16 m in a kilometre, around km 30.8, which is under 2%.

The drop is not even: about 53 m falls between km 30 and 35, then about 38 m in the next five, and only about 9 m over the final 2.2 km.

Measured

The organiser’s 2026 course starts at Parque de las Luces, with the pens on Avenida San Juan, and finishes at the Parque de los Pies Descalzos. It runs along avenues in Medellín, Envigado and Sabaneta, and is certified by World Athletics and a Boston qualifier.

The 2026 marathon went off at 5:00 a.m. with a 6-hour limit. On the way it had two cut-off points: the Sabaneta turn (km 28.5), closing at 9:00 a.m., and Aguacatala (km 35.7), closing at 10:00 a.m.

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