Japanese runner breaks 24-hour marathon record

On average, Nakata finished a km in 5 minutes and 20 seconds. She broke the previous record set by American athlete Camile Herron, who ran 270.116 km in the 2019 edition.

The 24-Hour World Championship is an international 24-hour marathon race organized by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU). Runners will compete for 24 hours, usually on a small loop track with the goal of reaching the longest distance possible.

This year’s tournament takes place in Chinese Taipei on Dec. 1 and 2, with athletes running on a 2 km loop track. Nakata showed dominance as she took the lead most of the race, keeping a distance of 6 km from her opponents in the first 12 hours. Towards the end, she created an even larger gap and was 16 km ahead of others to win the gold medal for Japan.

Nakata broke her personal best by 14 km. The Japanese ultrarunner would achieve the fifth-best result in history even if she’s placed into the men’s category.

Olena Shevchenko of Ukraine won silver medal after covering 254.463 km, while former world champion Patrycja Bereznowska of Poland won bronze medal with 249.541 km.

In the men’s category, Aleksandr Sorokin defended his title with 301,790 km. The Lithuanian athlete set a world record speed during the first 18 hours but ran out of breath in the last five hours. He even walked in the final hour of the run. Greece’s Fotios Zisimopoulos won silver with 292.254 km, and Ukraine’s Andrii Tkachuk won bronze with 284.540 km.

Sorokin currently holds the world record for the 24-hour marathon, when he won the 2022 IAU 24-Hour European Championships, held in Italy in 2022. He ran 319.614 km in 24 hours and broke the record set by himself in 2021.