With the thirty second version of the IAU 100k World Championships going down this Saturday, December 7, 2024, in India, we use this text to have a look at the occasion’s historical past. We additionally throw in some fascinating statistics in regards to the championships, their historical past, and the 100-kilometer racing distance for the stats geeks.
From left to proper, Nice Britain’s Lee Grantham, the U.S.’s Geoff Burns, and Japan’s Takehiko Gyoba main the 2018 IAU 100k World Championships early on. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The Evolution of the IAU 100k World Championships
The primary 100-kilometer race with Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners (IAU) championships standing happened in 1987 in Belgium.
The 100k and 50k distances proceed to be the 2 basic ultra-distances acknowledged by World Athletics as bone-fide information. This, in fact, solely applies to highway races, the place the space will be precisely measured. The issue of measuring a path course to the identical accuracy is well-known.
In its early days, with a lot assist from Malcolm Campbell, Andy Milroy, and others, the IAU was instrumental in gaining recognition for extremely distances from World Athletics, or the Worldwide Newbie Athletic Federation (IAAF), because it was then recognized.
The pioneering exploits of runners of the caliber of Ann Trason, Don Ritchie, Eleanor Robinson, and others too quite a few to say right here have been dropped at a wider viewers through the group. Though regarded on by many as a fringe aspect of the athletics household, continued record-breaking performances on the distances pushed boundaries out and broke new floor. Extremely-distance working slowly however steadily gained acknowledgement and credibility.
Ann Trason on the 1994 Western States 100. Trason was one of many pioneering ultrarunners who helped the game to achieve recognition. Picture: Western States 100
Within the first few years, the IAU 100k World Championships have been included into a longtime occasion that included an open race. For the primary version in 1987 in Belgium, the outcomes recorded 271 finishers — 255 males and solely 16 girls — the place the Evening of Flanders 100k was the host race. It’s unclear what number of of these runners represented nationwide groups, however the outcomes record 15 totally different nations — 10 from Europe, two from Africa, and three from North and Central America.
The Spaniard Domingo Catalan gained the boys’s race in 6:19:35, which continues to be one of many quickest championships wins. The pioneering Brit, Don Ritchie, who on the time had the quickest recorded 100k time at 6:10:21, set 10 years earlier in 1978, was second in 6:40:51. Agnes Eberle of Switzerland secured her nation’s solely medal to this point within the championships, when taking the ladies’s title in 8:01:33, forward of France’s Monique Exbrayat in 8:19:48.
Within the early years, the occasion moved round established races on the European circuit just like the Winschoten 100k in The Netherlands, the 100k del Passatore in Italy, and the Evening of Flanders 100k in Belgium, in addition to one outing to the USA, when the Duluth 100k race hosted in Minnesota, in 1990.
The sixth version, staged in Spain, seems to have been the primary occasion restricted to championships entries from nationwide federations, a format the IAU has continued. Some 21 nations seem within the outcomes, with 56 males and 30 girls competing.
The most up-to-date IAU 100k World Championships in Germany, in 2022, featured 198 finishers — 89 girls and 108 males — with 40 nations sending at the very least one runner. Some 20 nations despatched a girls’s group, and 21 nations a males’s group.
Of the 31 IAU 100k World Championships held to this point, 25 have been staged in Europe, 5 in Asia, and one in the USA. They’ve all been highway occasions. In 2003, an IAU 100k World Trophy was held as a monitor race in Italy, with a small discipline of 12 recorded finishers. It’s not included within the stats for this text.
The 2024 version would be the first time India has hosted the IAU 100k World Championships, though the nation hosted the 2023 IAU 50k World Championships in addition to loads of regional ultrarunning championships.
Floriane Sizzling (proper) and Caitriona Jennings (left), the 2022 IAU 100k World Championships first and third place girls. This version of the occasion happened in Berlin, Germany. Picture: Dinko Bažulić/Croatian extremely working group
Quickest Instances on the IAU 100k World Championships
The final version of the race in Germany in 2022 produced among the quickest occasions ever seen within the IAU 100k World Championships. With the COVID-19 pandemic that means there had been no championships for 4 years earlier than that, since 2018, we are able to speculate if, in that point, carbon-plated tremendous sneakers have been impacting 100k performances to the diploma they’re in different sub-ultra distances. The truth that six of the highest 10 all-time males’s and 6 of the highest 10 girls’s occasions at IAU 100k World Championships occasions (as detailed within the tables under) have been recorded in 2022 could communicate to this!
The quickest male time from any of the championships was Haruki Okayama’s successful time of 6:12:10 from that yr. The quickest girls’s time from any championships belongs to Japan’s Norimi Sakurai from 2007, at 7:00:27, though the subsequent three finest girls’s occasions are from the 2022 version.
Japan’s Haruki Okayama (left) on his technique to successful the 2022 IAU 100k World Championships, alongside teammate Nao Kazami, who completed sixth. Picture: Dinko Bažulić/Croatian extremely working group
We are going to quickly know if this yr’s race in India, the place humidity could also be an element, will produce equally quick occasions. The tables under present the highest 10 quickest occasions in any version of the IAU 100k World Championships males’s and ladies’s races.
Lowest Cumulative Crew Scores
The group competitions are an integral aspect of all IAU world championships occasions. Within the 100k group competitors, as much as six runners will be nominated by a rustic. The three quickest occasions contribute to the general group rating. The competitors is all the time sharp, and as with many conventional group occasions, the outcomes can come all the way down to the third and ultimate scorer in every group.
Males
The bottom cumulative males’s rating recorded within the IAU 100k World Championships to this point was by Japan on the 2022 version. They recorded a mixed time of 18:51:32. The three spectacular Japanese counters have been Haruki Okayama at 6:12:10, Junpei Yamaguchi at 6:17:10, and Nao Kazami at 6:21:43.
Ladies
The bottom cumulative girls’s rating was achieved by the USA, additionally in 2022. They recorded a mixed time of twenty-two:14:46. Their three counters have been Courtney Olsen at 7:15:29, Anna Louden (née Kascius) at 7:24:41, and Nicole Monette at 7:34:36.
Within the Context of 100k World Data
Curiously, the quickest occasions males’s and ladies’s occasions in an IAU 100k World Championships are nonetheless lagging behind the general world information for the space. The lads’s 100k world report is at present held by Lithuania’s Aleksandr Sorokin in 2023 at 6:05:35, and Japan’s Tomoe Abe set the ladies’s report in 2000, in a seemingly untouchable 6:33:11.
Aleksandr Sorokin checking his tempo en path to his 100-kilometer world report on the 2023 World’s Quickest Run. Picture: NORD Safety
The truth is, for males, the highest 5 100k occasions on report have been set exterior of the IAU 100k World Championships. On the ladies’s facet, Norimi Sakurai’s time from the 2007 IAU 100k World Championships sits in second place on the general 100k report desk for ladies.
In 2024, France’s Marie-Ange Brumelot ran an unbelievable 6:56:54 on the 100km à pied de Steenwerck. It’s not included on the report desk under as a result of, though the race course is licensed, the occasion didn’t have an IAU label, which is required for IAU record-setting.
Closest Finishes
Within the 31-year historical past of the IAU 100k World Championships, quite a lot of finishes have been shut — practically all the way down to the wire. We wish to notice that shut, in 100k phrases, will be a few minutes. Lower than a minute is sort of the equal of a dash end!
Males
On two events the boys’s race for the win has been actually shut. In 1994, in Japan, Alexei Volgin of Russia headed off Poland’s Jaroslaw Janicki by 51 seconds, recording 6:22:43 to six:23:34. The closest males’s end to this point was by Simon Pleasure of Nice Britain, who recorded 6:24:05 in France, in 1999, simply 21 seconds forward of the host nation’s Thierry Guichard in 6:24:26.
Ladies
The ladies have additionally had their share of sprints down the house straight. In 2005, Hiroko Syou of Japan beat the U.S.’s Anne Riddle (previously Riddle Lundblad) by 41 seconds, 7:53:41 to 7:54:22.
Anne Riddle taking second by a slim margin on the 2005 IAU 100k World Championships. Picture courtesy of Anne Riddle.
Two British runners have gone even nearer than that. The yr 1993 in Belgium noticed Carolyn Hunter-Rowe, within the first of her two championships victories, maintain off Valentina Shatyaeva of Russia, 7:27:19 to 7:27:39, a mere 20 seconds.
But it surely was multiple-time UTMB champion Lizzy Hawker who actually took issues to the wire in 2006, in Korea. Hawker led for a lot of the race, however Italy’s Monica Carlin surged arduous within the ultimate 10k. Hawker managed to attract on one thing from someplace to hold on. After nearly seven and a half hours of steady effort, she gained by a slender 4 seconds over the fast-finishing Italian, 7:29:12 to 7:29:16.
IAU 100k World Championships Medal Desk
In keeping with World Athletics coverage, Russia hasn’t competed at championships occasions since 2015. Nevertheless, their influence on the IAU 100k World Championships over the occasion’s deep historical past can’t be underestimated. All the time eager attendees of the occasion from its early days, Russian athletes have gained extra particular person podium medals than every other nation and have figured commonly within the group podiums as nicely, for each women and men.
We wish to notice that funding by nationwide federations has usually been a difficulty for a lot of nations. Whereas some federations have historically supported the occasion nicely, runners from different nations should contribute partially and even in full, to get to the championships. The IAU, working with the occasion’s native organizers every time, does provide restricted journey grants to assist, but it surely stays commonplace that the better-funded nations are sometimes discovered on the podiums.
Not like the ever-growing path scene, 100k highway racing nonetheless affords scant reward. The vast majority of opponents at this distance are runners in different full-time work who love the game. They could obtain some small assist in type from sympathetic employers or free merchandise alongside the way in which, however their main motivation is in search of high-level competitors and a life-defining day on their very own working journeys.
A number of Winners and Medalists
Males
In Konstantin Santalov, Russia has certainly one of solely two athletes to have gained three IAU 100k world titles — in 1992, 1993, and 1996. This feat was equaled by the favored Italian, Giorgio Calcaterra, together with his victories in 2008, 2011, and 2012. 5 different male athletes have recorded two gold medals:
- Domingo Catalan (Spain) – 1997 and 1998
- Valmir Nunes (Brazil) – 1991 and 1995
- Hideaki Yamauchi (Japan) – 2016 and 2018
- Grigorii Murzin (Russia) – 1998 and 2005
- Mario Fattore (Italy) – 2002 and 2003
Ladies
Up to now, solely the Russian Tatyana Zhirkova has achieved the hat trick of victories, in 2002, 2004, and 2008. Six girls have gained two titles every:
- Ann Trason (U.S.) – 1988 and 1995
- Eleanor Robinson (Nice Britain) – 1990 and 1991
- Valentina Shatyaeva (Russia) – 1994 and 1996
- Norimi Sakurai (Japan) – 2003 and 2007
- Carolyn Hunter-Rowe (Nice Britain) – 1993 and 1998
- Ellie Greenwood (Nice Britain) – 2010 and 2014
Ellie Greenwood taking the win on the 2014 IAU 100k World Championships. Picture: Adrian Stott
The IAU 100k World Championships is all the time eagerly awaited. In some methods, it’s one for the purists. The lure of the paths might be the place nearly all of ultrarunners head naturally, and nobody can argue with that.
Nevertheless, for a lot of whose pure means lies within the rhythm of reeling off the miles effortlessly, like clockwork, on tarmac, the basic 100k distance will all the time maintain a particular place, and, just like the marathon, be a problem nicely price pursuing.
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