Six Marathons in 11 Months, One Title
Alisa Vainio ran Tokyo, Vantaa, Valencia, Seville, Paris and Birmingham. The last one she won by 4:55.
Most elite marathoners run two a year. Alisa Vainio, 28, ran six in eleven months and got faster the whole way through: 2:28:32 for fifth at the Tokyo World Championships in September 2025, 2:23:07 at Vantaa in October, 2:20:48 at Valencia in January, 2:20:39 at Seville in March, 2:21:35 in Paris in May.
Then Birmingham, August 2026. European champion in 2:22:26, a championship record, won by 4:55, the largest winning margin in the event's history. Three Finnish national records fell inside that sequence. When it started her personal best was 2:25:36, set in Berlin in 2024.
"It was pretty easy but my left leg got sore in the last lap." Vainio, after Birmingham, per European Athletics.
She came to the marathon from the 3,000m steeplechase and competitive bandy. Twelve marathons in the decade to 2025. Six more since last September, and a continental title on the end of them.