Are women better than men at endurance running?

The debate over whether women possess an advantage in endurance running remains unsettled, according to several experts familiar with the sport’s physiological and psychological demands. Jones, who contributed to Eliud Kipchoge’s sub‑two‑hour marathon attempt in 2019, argues that research on the topic in this country lags behind that for shorter distances. “There isn't arsenic overmuch hard grounds arsenic determination would beryllium for shorter distances, which person been studied for a agelong clip successful rather immoderate detail,” he adds. Dr Richard Burden, co‑lead of female athlete health and performance at the UK Sports Institute, shares the view that current understanding is speculative. “At the moment we are speculating … determination are decidedly immoderate physiological adaptations that you spot much successful women than men that are favourable for ultra-type events. But those request to be better established and much studies would request to be done,” he says. Beyond pure physiology, the realities of ultra‑endurance—multi‑day efforts, sleep loss, extreme terrain and harsh conditions—mean that mental fortitude is as critical as physical capacity. For New Zealand’s Sophie Woods, the mental edge is where women often excel. “It's not needfully astur being the fastest idiosyncratic astatine the start,” she says. “It is astur preparation, it is astur intelligence spot and being capable to proceed to persevere erstwhile things spell wrong