Suddenly hitting the wall when the race seemed to be going so well is a sensation many marathon runners will know and dread.
But now, scientists say that men are about twice as likely to find themselves suddenly slowing down mid-race.
An international team of researchers examined 873,334 Berlin Marathon race times to see exactly when runners ‘hit the wall’ – defined as slowing down by 20 per cent or more.
While men tended to finish the race faster than their female counterparts, they were also much more likely to experience a sudden and dramatic deceleration.
And it wasn’t just rank amateurs with dodgy fitness experiencing issues; among those who finished in under three hours, men were six times more likely to hit the wall.
Men also slowed down more during the final three miles (5km), dropping their pace by 18 per cent compared with just 13 per cent for women.
However, the experts say that this remarkable divide doesn’t come down to any biological difference between the sexes.
Instead, researchers say the most likely explanation is that men typically ‘overestimate their competitive ability’ and tire themselves out too early.
Scientists say that men are about twice as likely to hit the wall during a marathon, and experts say that their egos might be to blame. Pictured: A runner cools down after finishing the 2025 London Marathon
Sports scientists are well aware that physical fitness is only one half of the battle when it comes to running a marathon.
Runners also need to be psychologically disciplined, arriving on the start line with a clear game plan and the nerve to stick to it no matter what.
The top runners in the world now aim for so-called ‘negative splits’, in which they actually accelerate as the race goes on.
For example, Sabastian Sawe, who set the first official sub-two-hour marathon time in London this year, completed the latter half of his record run 88 seconds quicker than the first.
On the other hand, starting too fast and burning through your energy supplies early is a major cause of poor performance.
Now, the researchers suggest that women might be significantly better at pacing themselves than men.
Scientists chose to look at results from the Berlin Marathon, a flat race with generally stable weather, to ensure that it wasn’t changes in terrain causing any differences.
They found that an impressive 52 per cent of women were able to complete the 26.2-mile (42.2 km) course without noticeably slowing, compared with just a third of men.
Overall, 17.63 per cent of men hit the wall in the second half of their race compared to only 9.66 per cent of women
Top runners, such as Sabastian Sawe, will aim to run the second half of the marathon faster than the first rather than slowing down at all
Remarkably, they discovered that this gender divide was incredibly stable across decades of races.
Men were consistently more likely to hit the wall in races between 1999 and 2025, far longer than could be explained by any passing fad in training or nutrition.
Overall, 17.63 per cent of men hit the wall in the second half of their race compared to only 9.66 per cent of women.
Among the top sub-three-hour runners, the difference was more dramatic, with 1.42 per cent of men slowing down versus 0.23 per cent of women.
Previous studies have suggested that women may be naturally better at conserving glycogen, a form of glucose stored in the body.
In theory, this could help them maintain their speed over longer races better than men.
However, if the difference was purely physiological, the researchers argue that there shouldn’t be such a big gap between the fastest men and women.
In their paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers argue that hitting the wall is largely a pacing issue, not just a fitness one.
The gender divide was visible even among the top marathon runners, which suggests it is not purely a physiological issue. Experts say men may simply be more likely to overestimate their ability
Dr Olivier Roy-Baillargeon, a marathon expert from The Running Clinic who was not involved in the study, told the Daily Mail: ‘The main challenge of the marathon is to estimate during the first 30 minutes of the race how you will feel during the last 30 minutes of the race.
‘And my triple experience in coaching, racing and pacing marathons shows me that female athletes tend to be a lot better than male athletes at nailing that estimate.’
Previous studies have shown that men are more likely to overestimate their abilities and take bigger risks in competitions.
This leads to some competitors starting too fast and burning out in the latter half of the marathon.
Essentially, men hit the wall because their ego tells them they can run faster than they really should.
Dr Roy-Baillargeon adds: ‘I always tell my athletes that the first half of the race should feel much too easy, because the second one will feel so damn hard.’
How Nike’s £240 Vaporfly sparked the super shoe debate at the 2016 Olympic marathon in Rio
The debate of super shoes isn’t new and first reared its head in 2016, with Nike’s £240 Vaporfly product raising concern among commentators and experts alike.
During the 2016 Olympic marathon in Rio, all three male medallists wore a prototype of the trainer, with the same technology extended to track races from 2018.
The debate of super shoes isn’t new and first reared its head in 2016, with Nike’s £240 Vaporfly product
Now the high–tech trainers, which are lighter and more responsive, are ‘almost ubiquitous on the feet of elite road runners’.
That is according to Jonathan Taylor, a sports researcher at Teesside University, who has branded the revolution in footwear development a ‘technological arms race’.
Experts predicted the shoe improved the running economy of highly trained runners by four per cent compared to a normal shoe, boosting performance by three per cent.
Since 2016 when the Vaporfly was released, the top 50 male marathon runners have improved by about two per cent on average, much of which attributed to the carbon fibre plate.
Similar technology was then transferred into track spikes in 2019 which led to middle– and long–distant records falling.
Regulations were introduced in January 2020 over the sole thickness of track spikes used in sports other than high jump and long jump.
This was due to other companies replicating their carbon–fibre plate and springy foam technology into more spikes for running shoes.
The new regulations require a maximum sole thickness of 20mm for up to 400m races and 25mm for any longer distances.
However, experts say this is far too lenient, suggesting rules should be stricter and to a point where air pods can’t be inserted into the spikes.
