At 10 a.m. native time on Friday, October 18, 366 athletes from 45 international locations began the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships in Albi, France. Ultimately, it was Sarah Webster of Nice Britain setting a brand new ladies’s 24-hour world document and Andrii Tkachuk of Ukraine profitable the lads’s race. The 2 ran 278.622 kilometers (173.127 miles) and 294.346 kilometers (182.898 miles), respectively.
It was an enormous effort for Webster, who surpassed the prior document of 270.363k (167.996 miles), held by Japan’s Miho Nakata, round 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, with nonetheless an hour of racing to go. She was in a position so as to add 8.259k (5.131 miles) to the document. Webster was the bronze medalist on the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships and ran her very first 24-hour race in April this yr, recording 243.393k (151.237 miles) to qualify for this race.
Within the males’s race, Tkachuk gained convincingly, with a virtually nine-kilometer (5.6 miles) hole on second place. The space was properly wanting the world document of 319.614k (198.598 miles), which was set by Aleksandr Sorokin (Lithuania) on the 2022 IAU 24-Hour European Championships. Tkachuk is not any stranger to this occasion and was third on the 2023 IAU 24-Hour World Championships when he ran 284.540k (176.804 miles). His private finest is 295.363k (183.530 miles), which he set on the 2022 IAU 24-Hour European Championships.
Sarah Webster of Nice Britain setting a brand new world document on the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
On race day, the sky was an excellent blue, and supporters had been out in power because the procession of brightly clad athletes streamed out of the beginning line and across the Albi stadium. The solar rose increased within the sky, and the balmy morning rapidly gave technique to warmth. By noon, many athletes resorted to ice bandanas and drenching themselves in water to maintain cool as they made their means across the 1.5-kilometer (0.93 miles) loop.
When evening fell round 7 p.m., and the temperature started to drop, there was a palpable shift in vitality. Calmness set in as runners ready for an extended evening out. A big group of French supporters lifted the temper, treating the runners to a rousing soundtrack of “YMCA” to the beat of a giant array of makeshift percussion. For a short second, some athletes appeared to neglect concerning the race, and all arms moved as one to the immediately recognizable music.
As dawn got here after an extended evening, the leaders had solidified their leads, whereas the race for the opposite podium spots remained shut. Learn on to see how the races performed out.
2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Ladies’s Race
Sarah Webster (Nice Britain), in solely her second try at a 24-hour occasion, ran an ideal race. She spent the primary 5 hours towards the again of the highest 10 earlier than shifting regularly up the sphere. Webster broke into the highest 5 round 9 hours elapsed after which took the lead round 17 hours. For the remaining seven hours, she ran in entrance with a mix of spectacular energy, expertise, and race administration, carrying her farther than some other lady had ever gone in 24 hours. When Webster broke the earlier document, with simply over an hour left within the race, she barely slowed all the way down to acknowledge the second, merely taking the flag and carrying on within the pursuit of her subsequent purpose.
Mascha Rondhuis of The Netherlands took the early lead, working forward of the sphere for the primary two hours and overlaying a fast 27k (17 miles). Simply behind her was defending champion and world-record holder Miho Nakata of Japan, adopted by Carmen Maria Pérez of Spain, who coated the space about two minutes slower. Holly Ranson (Australia) was about 5 minutes in arrears when she reached the identical distance, with Noora Honkala (Finland) one other minute behind.
Holly Ranson of Australia in the course of the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships, the place she would take second. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
Over the subsequent few hours, early chief Rondhuis started to fade by means of the rankings the place she’d later end mid-pack, leaving Nakata to take the lead. Because the clock struck 4 p.m. Friday, 1 / 4 of the way in which by means of the race, Nakata had coated roughly 77k (48 miles). Pérez was round a lap behind her, with third to fifth place, composed of Honkala, Ranson, and Maria Zahaiska (Ukraine), all inside one other lap.
From right here, Honkala started to tire, dropping steadily down the sphere earlier than later stopping, at which level Webster moved into fifth place with about 9 hours elapsed and 108k (67 miles) coated.
On the midway level, Nakata remained within the lead, having coated about 147k (91 miles). The remainder of the highest 5 had been very shut behind, nevertheless, with round a 1.5k (0.9 miles) lap separating her from Ranson in second place. Zahaiska was an additional lap again, with Webster, who had moved previous Pérez into fourth, lower than a lap behind podium place.
Webster continued to climb up by means of the sphere, overtaking Nakata round 3 a.m. Saturday morning, with 17 hours on the clock. Ranson had additionally moved previous Nakata into second place. Their one-two-three positions would stay unchanged for the remainder of the race, with Webster regularly pulling away, and Ranson and Nakata following, by no means way more than a lap aside. Round 20 hours in, Kelsey Worth (Nice Britain) entered the highest 5, then moved previous Pérez into fourth place. Zahaiska dropped down the sphere, finally ending outdoors the highest 25.
Defending ladies’s champion Miho Nakata (Japan) working on the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships, the place she took third this time. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
Because the gun signaled the top of the race at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, Sarah Webster had set a brand new ladies’s 24-hour world document with a distance of 278.622k (173.127 miles).
Holly Ranson completed in second place, with a distance of 274.172k (173.127 miles), bettering on her personal private better of 263.548k (163.761 miles), set this yr on the Sri Chinmoy 24/48 Observe Competition in Australia. Her end was properly previous the prior world document.
Miho Nakata took bronze with a distance of 271.987k (169.004 miles) and in doing so, edged previous her personal private finest and former world document of 270.363k (167.996 miles).
Extremely, these three ladies exceeded the prior world document mark with their performances. Additionally extremely, that is the fourth consecutive time that the ladies’s world document has been damaged at an IAU 24-Hour World Championships.
Kelsey Worth ran constantly within the closing hours to complete strongly in fourth place with a distance of 257.129k (159.772 miles), properly over her earlier private better of 231.820k (144 miles).
Patrycja Bereznowska (Poland) rounded off the highest 5, having handed Pérez within the final two hours. Her ending distance was 251.371k (156.194 miles), below her private finest and former world document of 259.991k (161.551 miles) set on the 2017 IAU 24-Hour World Championships.
Sarah Webster in the course of the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships. Picture: Adrian Stott
2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Ladies’s Outcomes
- Sarah Webster (Nice Britain) – 278.622k (173.127 miles)
- Holly Ranson (Australia) – 274.172k (170.362 miles)
- Miho Nakata (Japan) – 271.987k (169.004 miles)
- Kelsey Worth (Nice Britain) – 257.129k (159.772 miles)
- Patrycja Bereznowska (Poland) – 251.371k (156.194 miles)
- Carmen Maria Pérez (Spain) – 249.480k (155.019 miles)
- Marisa Lizak (U.S.) – 247.190k (153.596 miles)
- Corrine Gruffaz (France) – 245.359k (152.459 miles)
- Ida Slorafoss (Norway) – 241.467k (150.040 miles)
- Katarzyna Chojnacka (Poland) – 238.305k (148.075 miles)
Ladies’s Group Outcomes
- Nice Britain
- Australia
- Japan
2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Males’s Race
Pascal Rüeger (Switzerland) took the lead early within the males’s race, creating a niche over the remainder of the sphere after the primary six hours by overlaying about 85.5k (53.1 miles). Behind him, Michal Šuľa (Slovakia) regarded robust with 84k (52 miles) coated, adopted carefully by Felix Pont (Spain) a couple of kilometer again. Fotis Zisimopoulos (Greece), the 2023 silver medalist, was additionally within the prime 5 after the primary quarter of the race.
Much like ladies’s winner Sarah Webster, Andrii Tkachuk (Ukraine) began the race conservatively. He ran inside the prime 10 for the primary six hours earlier than shifting into fifth place because the night set in with simply over six hours on the clock. From this level on, Tkachuk moved quickly by means of the ranks.
Matti Jonkka of Finland on his technique to taking third on the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
By 16 hours elapsed, Tkachuk had coated 211.5k (131 miles), and banked a lead of over 2.8k (1.7 miles) over the subsequent runner, Támas Bódis (Hungary), who’d run about 207k (128 miles). By now, not one of the different early leaders remained within the prime 5. This was due largely to quite a lot of abandons. Rüeger stopped at 7.5 hours after main for a couple of laps into the race; Pont stopped on the midway level; and Zisimopoulos stopped after 15 hours, after working inside the prime 5 for the prior 9 hours. France’s Gabriel Noutary was now in third with 201k (125 miles) coated. Andrius Preibys of Lithuania was working in fourth place, having coated 198k (123 miles). Chris Kelly of Nice Britain was fifth with 195k (121 miles).
Extra upsets had been to come back within the later phases of the evening, nevertheless. After working within the prime 5 for some time, Noutary, Preibys, and Kelly all slowed to complete outdoors the highest 20. In the meantime, Tkachuk elevated his lead by means of the evening, and by 20 hours elapsed, he had coated 261k (162 miles) and was over 12k (7 miles) forward of second-place Bódis. Behind was Jo Inge Norum (Norway) at 239k (148 miles), now in third, with Matti Jonkka (Finland) sitting in fourth place with 234k (145 miles). They had been adopted carefully by Emil Krog Ingerslev (Denmark) and Andrzej Piotrowski (Poland) in fifth and sixth locations. Fourth to sixth locations had been separated by solely a lap or so.
Norway’s Jo Inge Norum took second on the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
Over the subsequent few hours till the race finish, the hassle began to take its toll on Tkachuk, and he slowed down significantly within the remaining three hours of the race. Nonetheless, his lead was such that it didn’t matter, and when the gun signaled that point was up, he was properly away from the remainder. Andrii Tkachuk gained with a remaining distance of 294.346 kilometers (182.898 miles). It’s value noting that Tkachuk additionally completed the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path in Canfranc, Spain for Group Ukraine simply three weeks in the past — he will need to have recovered rapidly!
Jo Inge Norum completed the race in second place, overtaking a struggling Bódis with simply over half an hour to go to run a remaining distance of 285.513 kilometers (177.409 miles). This consequence tremendously improves on his 252.250 kilometers (156.740 miles) run within the 2023 IAU 24-Hour World Championships.
Matti Jonkka additionally moved previous Bódis within the remaining half-hour to complete in third place with a distance of 283.699 kilometers (176.282 miles). Jonkka’s prior private finest was from 2023 when he ran 223.735 kilometers (139.022 miles).
Támas Bódis completed in fourth place in 279.780 kilometers (173.847 miles), and Emil Krog Ingerslev rounded out the highest 5 with 278.132 (172.823 miles).
Ukraine’s Andrii Tkachuk on his technique to profitable the 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Males’s Outcomes
- Andrii Tkachuk (Ukraine) – 294.346k (182.898 miles)
- Jo Inge Norum (Norway) – 285.513k (177.409 miles)
- Matti Jonkka (Finland) – 283.699k (176.282 miles)
- Támas Bódis (Hungary) – 279.780k (173.847 miles)
- Emil Krog Ingerslev (Denmark) – 278.132k (172.823 miles)
- Andrzej Piotrowski (Poland) – 274.313k (170.450 miles)
- Radek Brunner (Czech Republic) – 271.182k (168.504 miles)
- Tomi Ronkainen (Finland) – 269.788k (167.638 miles)
- Diego Filiu (France) – 266.554k (165.628 miles)
- Geeno Antony (India) – 265.198k (164.786 miles)
Males’s Group Outcomes
- Finland
- France
- Poland
Ukraine’s Andrii Tkachuk, 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships males’s winner. Picture: iRunFar/Deki Fourcin
