Course Records at Sydney’s debut as a World Marathon Major
Over the weekend, the Sydney Marathon officially debuted as an Abbott World Marathon Major, marking a historic milestone for the event. Our partner, MultiSport Australia, was there to capture the times of the 50,000 participants across the weekend’s 3 events, including course records in both the men’s and women’s marathon races, using MYLAPS BibTag technology.
Sydney was named the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major last year, joining the prestigious lineup of Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City. With the addition of Sydney, four of the seven Abbott World Marathon Majors are now timed using MYLAPS BibTag technology.
The event began on Saturday with a 5 km fun run drawing nearly 9,000 participants. On Sunday, 7,000 runners took on the 10 km race across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, finishing at the Conservatorium of Music.
Celebrated as one of the world’s most scenic marathons, the 42.195 km race began in North Sydney, crossed the iconic Harbour Bridge, and concluded at the Sydney Opera House. To accurately track over 35,000 runners, MultiSport Australia deployed 40 BibTag Smart Decoders and laid out 246 metres of timing mats along the course.
Course Records at TCS Sydney Marathon 2025
It was a memorable day of racing as Hailemaryam Kiros of Ethiopia won the men’s race with a time of 2:06:06 and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands took first place in the women’s with a time of 2:18:22, both in course record times.
For the wheelchair category, in addition to BibTag timing, a ProChip was also affixed to their racing wheelchairs for the Flying 400, a 400m sprint segment within the marathon offering major prize money for the fastest competitor.
Swiss wheelchair racing legend Marcel Hug smashed the course record at the 2025 Sydney Marathon, winning in 1:27:15, and also winning the Flying 400 with a remarkable time of 00:00:46. In the women’s division, American Susannah Scaroni dominated the field, finishing in 1:44:52—over eight minutes ahead of second place—and securing the women’s Flying 400 title with a swift 00:00:53.
BibTag – the standard in mass event timing
Since 1982, MYLAPS has been the pioneer of automatic sports timing, powering events at every level – from World Marathon Majors to thousands of local community’s races worldwide. BibTag is the standard for mass events, featuring lightweight and cost-effective chips with the highest read rates in the industry. The MYLAPS ThinTag, which is 75% thinner than regular timing tags, not only reduces waste and shipping volume but also contributes to lowering carbon emissions.
About Multisport Australia
Multisport Australia (MSA) was established in 1995 by Belinda Soszyn and Greg Darcy. They were two athletes who understood the importance of timing and accuracy to athletes. MSA has led the way in innovation since its commencement and today operates in over 15 countries under the brand Sportsplits. MSA remains the largest Timing Company in Australia and SportSplits is ranked in the top 10 worldwide.