Women Are Closing the Gap — and Could Soon Outperform Men in Ultra and Arctic Races

For most sports, men have historically outperformed women — think the Olympic 100-meter dash — while women have tended to dominate events like shooting and equestrian competitions.

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology finds female athletes are rapidly closing the gap with men in ultra-marathon distances and Arctic competitions, and in some events women may soon take the lead.

Until now, most data on gender differences in physical performance came from laboratory studies. Researchers say those experiments revealed physiological mechanisms but had limited real-world relevance.

Closer observation of actual results in extreme sports shows a general reduction in the performance gap between men and women.

For instance, the new study lists the current men’s marathon world record as belonging to Kenyan Kelvin Kiptoo: 2 hours and 35 seconds, set in Chicago in 2023.

By comparison, the women’s record is held by Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya at 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 56 seconds — only about 10 minutes behind the top male time.

Back in 2002, Pam Reed won the Badwater ultramarathon, a grueling 218-kilometer race through Death Valley. At the time, Reed beat all her male competitors, according to The Independent.

While traits like strength, power, and speed tend to be higher in men, recent studies show the gender gap shrinks as distance or duration increases.

Researchers say advances in technology — better footwear, wind-resistant gear — and improved nutrition are narrowing that gap in extreme competitions.

The study found that under extreme conditions women can show a higher metabolic rate than men, which matters especially in very cold environments.

In the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic — a remote 200-kilometer unsupported Arctic winter expedition — women expended less energy carrying loads than men.

The authors call the female body’s heat-producing response to cold the ‘Arctic Shift.’ Over the past four decades, race-duration gaps between men and women have shrunk by roughly three percent in events lasting 6, 72, 144, and 240 hours.

Researchers plan to analyze plasma, serum, hair, muscle, and fat samples from participants in brutal events like the Yukon Arctic Ultra (YAU), the longest and coldest ultramarathon in the world.

Data from endurance tests in extreme conditions suggest women may be as metabolically resilient as men — and in some cases even more resilient — to physical and nutritional stress.