The 2026 Comrades Marathon will once again see a world-class field of elite athletes take to the roads between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, at the head of a field of 21 677 runners in the 99th edition of The Ultimate Human Race.

The race will start in front of the Durban City Hall and finish 85.777km later at the Hollywoodbets Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg.

The elite race is shaping up to be another hotly contested competition…

The elite race is shaping up to be another hotly contested competition, with nearly all of the top 10 men and women from the 2025 race due to line up once again in 2026 – the only missing face from these 20 athletes will be women’s 2022 winner Alexandra Morozova, who finished as runner-up last year.

This means that both defending champions, three-time men’s winner Tete Dijana and four-time women’s winner Gerda Steyn (both of South Africa), will be running again in 2026.

“All the signs are that this should be another thrilling race, not just in terms of proven gold medallists, but also with the addition of several very fast marathoners and ultra-marathoners from both South Africa and abroad, including world-class 100km competitors. We’re looking forward to seeing who claims the podium spots and a share of the biggest prize purse in the history of the Comrades Marathon,” says Race Director Sue Forge.

The top contenders will be racing for a slice of a total prize purse of R5,790,400 across the top 10 positions, individual prizes, age categories, and team prizes for men and women, including prize money for the first South African finisher and top three KwaZulu-Natal athletes. The men’s and women’s winners will each take home R925,000. A further R2,420,000 is on offer for various records or time incentives, taking the total prize money available to R8,210,400.

“We have made sure that the top contenders in the 2026 edition of the Comrades Marathon have R8.2-million reasons to give everything they have on the route from Durban to Pietermaritzburg,” continues Forge. “This race has always produced world-class performances, and this considerable prize purse reflects the status of both the race and the elite field we have running this year.”

Dijana Looking for First Up Run Win
Having won the Down Run in 2022, 2023 and 2025, Dijana will be looking to win the Up Run for the first time. The 2022 and 2023 races were both run ‘down’ following the disruptions of the COVID pandemic. However, he will likely face tough competition from his perennial rival, Dutchman Piet Wiersma, who won the last Up Run in 2024 and finished second behind Dijana in both 2023 and 2025.

If Dijana does win again in 2026, he will join the legendary Alan Robb on four wins, and this would also put him joint third on the men’s list of multiple winners, and make him just the seventh man to win the race four times or more, and just one away from joining the ranks of some of the all-time Comrades Marathon greats with five wins:

9 wins – Bruce Fordyce
5 wins – Arthur Newton, Hardy Ballington, Wally Hayward, Jackie Mekler
4 wins – Alan Robb
3 wins – Dave Bagshaw, Stephen Muzhingi, Vladimir Kotov, Bongmusa Mthembu, Tete Dijana

Another runner looking to make history will be three-time winner Bongmusa Mthembu (2014, 2017 and 2018), who currently has 11 gold medals in the race. That puts him tied for second place for most golds with Bruce Fordyce. Mthembu finished eighth last year, and if he can claim another gold in 2026, he will move to 12 and tie for first with Robb. Like Dijana, Mthembu could also move to four wins this year, which would also put him tied with Robb!

Men’s Contenders to Watch
The elite field features another two former South African winners amongst the returning 2025 gold medallists – Edward Mothibi (2019) and David Gatebe (2016) – who were fourth and seventh last year respectively, and they will be joined by Russians Nikolai Volkov (third in 2025) and Vasilii Korytkin (10th), South Africans Joseph Manyedi (fifth) and Gordon Lesetedi (ninth), and Alex Milne of the UK (sixth).

Outside of the returning gold medallists, the men’s field includes some notable contenders that may challenge for the podium or gold medals on race day. These include SA’s George Kusche, a former sub-four-minute miler who finished 12th in the 2025 Comrades Marathon and has been picked by several pundits as a favourite for this year’s race. Another local favourite is Onalenna Khonkhobe, who led the race until about 20km to go last year, and has posted several terrific wins or results in various ultra-marathons around the country over the past year.

Also look out for current World 100km Champion Aleksandr Sorokin (Russia), who will be making his Comrades Marathon debut, as will Charles Lawrence, holder of the US 100km Record and who set a World Record for 50 miles (approximately 80km) in 2023. Making a return will be French 100km Record-holder Guillaume Ruel, who will undoubtedly look to do better than last year’s 7:03 for 344th place.

Fifth Win on the Cards for Steyn
In the women’s race, Steyn will be looking to claim her fourth win in a row since 2022 and fifth overall, and she will be running full of confidence, having recently won the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon powered by BYD for the seventh consecutive time. She dominated the Cape Town race while once again making it look easy.

Steyn, who won the Comrades Marathon in 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025, is already in clear second place on the all-time list of women’s winners, with only Elena Nurgalieva ahead of her:

8 wins – Elena Nurgalieva
4 wins – Gerda Steyn
3 wins – Lettie van Zyl, Helen Lucre, Frith van der Merwe, Maria Bak

Another victory in 2026 would move Steyn up to five wins, making her just the second woman and seventh runner overall to take five wins in the history of the race. Until Fordyce (9) and Nurgalieva (8) set their records for the most wins, five wins was considered a legendary feat at the Comrades Marathon, and Steyn richly deserves to be included in that conversation, alongside legends such as Arthur Newton and Wally Hayward.

More Women Racing for Top Honours
However, as dominant as Steyn has been in recent years, there will be several women determined to cut her reign short. Also running will be eight of the other nine gold medallists from last year: Kenyan Shelmisth Muriuki (third), South Africans Irvette van Zyl(fourth) and Jenet Mbhele (seventh), Poland’s Dominika Stelmach (fifth), the UK’s Carla Molinaro (sixth) and Melissah Gibson (10th), Caitriona Jennings of the Republic of Ireland (eighth), and the USA’s Courtney Olsen (ninth).

While Kenyan runners dominate global marathon events, they have traditionally fared poorly in South African ultra-marathons. That’s why Muriuki’s third place last year in her Comrades Marathon debut really caught the eye, and many are looking to see if she can push on from that this year. Meanwhile, Van Zyl appears to have come into a rich vein of form – she bounced back from a disappointing Two Oceans to break the course record at the Loskop 50km – and that may have boosted her confidence going into the Comrades Marathon. Stelmach, Molinaro and the rest of the returning golds also bring a wealth of Comrades Marathon experience to the race, so anything can happen on the day.

Other local contenders to look out for include Adele Broodryk, who was third in 2022 and runner-up in 2023, and makes a welcome return to the race after missing last year’s edition. Also hoping to return to the gold-medal positions are Galaletsang Mekgoe and Jenna Challenor. Mekgoe finished fifth in 2022 and 11th in 2023, but had to settle for 62nd place last year, while Challenor, who was sixth in 2019 and fourth in 2022, will hope to be back amongst the golds after finishing 13th last year.

On the international front, many pundits have listed Nobukhosi Tshuma of Zimbabwe as a possible surprise contender. She will be making her Comrades Marathon debut, but recently finished a strong third at Two Oceans, and has been training in Kenya to prepare for this race. Also in contention may be Russian Yulia Ryzhankova, who was 10th in 2024 and 12th last year.

Action-packed Race Expected
The men’s elite field consists of 97 runners, while the women’s elite features 34 runners, all of whom had to apply to be seeded in the elite start group. They will line up at the front of the first starting group and will set off at 5h00. The elite race will be covered in depth by the live broadcast of the race, which can be viewed on the Comrades Marathon channel on YouTube.

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