Seoul International Marathon joins Platinum Label road races

The Seoul International Marathon, also known as the Dong-A Ilbo Seoul Marathon, has been awarded the Platinum Label with six other road races.

The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) shared the result with the Seoul International Marathon office on Wednesday, making it the only Platinum Label race that is not one of the six World Marathon Majors (WMM), which take place in Boston, New York, Berlin, Chicago, London and Tokyo.

The IAAF introduced the three-tier label system in 2008, classifying international marathons into Gold, Silver and Bronze. The organization has decided to introduce a new label, Platinum, to recognize leading events after a total of 64 marathons were awarded the Gold Label due to an increasing number of races.

In May, the association selected the Seoul International Marathon, which was a Gold Label race for 10 consecutive years, as World Athletics Heritage. The Seoul International Marathon has become one of the only two marathons that have been awarded both the Platinum Label and World Athletics Heritage along with the Boston marathon.


Seung-Kun Lee why@donga.com