Every year, the Paris Marathon sets off from the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, with some 50,000 participants, taking up the challenge of this famous 42.195-kilometre race.

From the Rue de Rivoli to the Quai de la Seine, runners will be cheered on by thousands of spectators. The marathon also gives participants and spectators the opportunity to see Paris’s landmark sites as this urban circuit is renowned as being one of the most beautiful in the world.

For almost 10 years, African athletes have monopolized the top places pushing the limits of the event. Although it seems unlikely that the world record held by Kenyan Dennis Kimetto, set at the Berlin Marathon in 2014, could be broken, the Paris Marathon record, 2hr05 min 02s, set  by Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele, could well be broken this year. As for the women’s record, athletes will be hoping to break through the symbolic barrier of 2hr21.