Operating in excessive humidity and comparatively scorching temperatures, Japan’s Jumpei Yamaguchi and France’s Floriane Sizzling received the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships, with instances of 6:12:03 and seven:08:43, respectively. Sizzling efficiently defended her win from the final version in 2022, whereas Yamaguchi moved up from second place final time.
Beginning at 6:15 a.m. native time on Saturday, December 7, runners from at the very least 35 nations took to the 4.865-kilometer circuit in Bengaluru, India, a metropolis with a inhabitants of round 14 million. The southern Indian metropolis sits at 3,000 ft and usually has a fairly average local weather.
This was the primary time the race has been held in India for the reason that championships began in Belgium in 1987. The circuit included a bit the place runners handed by one another to and from a small outer loop so everybody may control their opponents. Racers accomplished 20 laps of the circuit plus a 2.696-kilometer begin lap.
Held by the Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners (IAU), the IAU 100k World Championships at the moment are held each different 12 months. The occasion recurrently brings collectively nationwide staff runners from as much as 40 nations. The final time the occasion befell was in Germany in 2022. To study extra in regards to the sturdy historical past of the IAU 100k World Championships, try our latest deep-dive article.
Along with the person races, the IAU 100k World Championships additionally has a staff class the place the instances of a rustic’s prime three runners are added collectively for a last cumulative time. On the time of this text’s publishing, the lads’s and ladies’s staff podiums aren’t but confirmed, however it seems like Staff Japan for the lads and Staff France for the ladies received commandingly. We’ll replace this part as soon as the staff outcomes are finalized.
Runners have been certainly chasing the world information for the space. Lithuania’s Aleksandr Sorokin at present holds the lads’s 100k file, which he set in 2023 at 6:05:35, and Japan’s Tomoe Abe set the ladies’s file in 2000 with a time of 6:33:11.
The warmth and humidity didn’t spare the racers this 12 months. Temperatures began at 19 levels Celsius (66 Fahrenheit) within the morning and have been forecasted to climb to 27 levels Celsius (80 Fahrenheit) by midday. Whereas this climate made for fascinating storylines because the race progressed, it additionally made the world information untouchable.
With two of the highest three from the final version again in each the lads’s and ladies’s races, plus many others, it was trying to be quick fields. The ladies’s race noticed a number of adjustments to the lead, a number of massive names fade all through the occasion, and persistence and expertise paying off for the now two-time champion, France’s Floriane Sizzling.
Within the males’s area, the 2022 runner-up, Japan’s Jumpei Yamaguchi, emerged victorious after going to the entrance early on and by no means relinquishing his lead, whereas others fought for the rest of the spots behind him.
Learn on for extra particulars on how every of the races unfolded.
2024 IAU 100k World Championships Males’s Race
From the start, it appeared that the Japanese duo of Jumpei Yamaguchi and Haruki Okayama could be the pair to chase for the remainder of the sphere. The 2 completed second and first, respectively, within the final version, and early on, they seemed to have an identical end in thoughts this time.
The 2 instantly established a bonus on the remainder of the sphere, at first operating with Guillaume Ruel of France and Tomoya Watanabe of Japan after the primary two laps. By the tip of the third lap, roughly 17 kilometers and just below 2 hours in, Yamaguchi and Okayama led, with Ruel and Watanabe chasing 30 seconds behind.
With the sixth lap full, rather less than a 3rd into the 20-lap race, Yamaguchi and Okayama’s lead over Ruel had swelled to 90 seconds, and so they had 2 minutes over Watanabe. Behind the primary 4, Olle Meijer of Sweden, Charlie Lawrence of the U.S., and Vipul Kumar of India chased collectively about 5 minutes again.
Jumpei Yamaguchi in disbelief after profitable the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships. All images: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
Whereas the lead two stayed constant, issues shook up with each Ruel and Watanabe dropping again within the area. Ruel wouldn’t proceed previous lap 9, and Antonio Jesús Aguilar of Spain moved his approach into third, 6.5 minutes behind the leaders. Lap 10 was additionally the place Yamaguchi first opened up a spot to Okayama. First, it was 45 seconds, after which greater than 90 seconds by the tip of lap 11. Carlos Gazapo of Spain sat in fourth behind his countryman Aguilar with about 3.5 hours elapsed.
By the tip of 14 laps and three-quarters of the way in which via, Yamaguchi had opened an enormous hole within the lead of almost 7 minutes on second runner Okayama. The chasing Spanish trio of Aguilar, Gazapo, and now Felix Pont (Spain) gave the impression to be closing in on Okayama for second because the day and warmth wore on. Certainly, by the tip of the following lap, Aguilar had overtaken Okayama, who was now 90 seconds behind the Spaniard in third. Gazapo was proper on his heels. By lap 18, Gazapo dropped and Pont additionally handed Okayama and was now in third place behind Yamaguchi and Aguilar. Toru Somiya of Japan ran in fifth with 15 kilometers to go.
Yamaguchi set out for his final lap with a virtually 12-minute hole, however behind him, the remaining podium spots continued to be traded between the chasers.
Ultimately, Jumpei Yamaguchi cruised comfortably to an enormous win in 6:12:03, shifting up from a second-place end on the final version of the occasion in 2022. Antonio Jesús Aguilar completed second in 6:25:40, and defending champion Haruki Okayama reclaimed third place in 6:37:39.
Simply again of the entrance three, Toru Somiya moved as much as fourth, ending in 6:39:43 and sealing an enormous males’s staff win for Japan. Felix Pont, who was by no means removed from the motion, completed in fifth in 6:40:05.
Antonio Jesús Aguilar, trying happy after taking second on the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships.
2024 IAU 100k World Championships Males’s Outcomes
- Jumpei Yamaguchi (Japan) – 6:12:03
- Antonio Jesús Aguilar (Spain) – 6:25:40
- Haruki Okayama (Japan) – 6:37:39
- Toru Somiya (Japan) – 6:39:43
- Felix Pont (Spain) – 6:40:05
- Chikara Omine (U.S.) – 6:40:41
- Alexander Milne (Nice Britain) – 6:43:06
- Kok Wai Tse (Hong Kong) – 6:45:46
- Jarlath McKenna (Nice Britain) – 6:51:04
- Alessio Milani (Italy) – 6:51:12
Whereas the lads’s staff outcomes hadn’t been introduced on the time this text was revealed, Staff Japan must be the winners by a big margin, with Spain and Nice Britain taking second and third. We’ll replace this as quickly as these particulars are confirmed.
The 2024 IAU 100k World Championships males’s podium (from l-to-r): 2. Antonio Jesús Aguilar, 1. Jumpei Yamaguchi, and three. Haruki Okayama.
2024 IAU 100k World Championships Ladies’s Race
Miho Nakata of Japan, the ladies’s 24-hour world file holder, and Eszter Csillag of Hungary led the early cost within the ladies’s race, operating collectively on the finish of the primary two full laps, about 50 minutes in. Floriane Sizzling, the earlier version ladies’s champion, and Marie-Ange Brumelot, each of France, chased a minute again, and Nice Britain’s Sarah Webster was simply one other 15 seconds behind them.
By the tip of the sixth lap, it was nonetheless Nakata within the lead at about 2:12 elapsed. Webster had joined Csillag simply 20 seconds behind the chief, and Sizzling was one other minute again. Melissah Gibson of Nice Britain, Caitriona Jennings of Eire, who positioned third within the final version, and Petra Pastorová of the Czech Republic completed their sixth lap at 2:16 elapsed, nonetheless effectively in rivalry.
Webster made a transfer into the lead at the beginning of lap eight, adopted by Brumelot, who slotted into second. Each Nakata and Csillag gave the impression to be fading from their quick begins. By the tip of the following lap, Webster and Brumelot continued to run in shut proximity with 3:14 elapsed. Sizzling was 75 seconds behind them, rigorously biding her time. In the meantime, each Csillag and Jennings dropped from the race after eight laps.
Marie-Ange Brumelot recovering after her second-place end on the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships.
The order of the highest 4 remained the identical via lap 11, with Dominika Stelmach of Poland shifting up into fifth. By the tip of lap 13, simply shy of 5 hours elapsed, Webster led Sizzling, who’d simply handed Brumelot, by just below 3 minutes. Nakata was now one other 5 minutes in arrears.
Fifteen laps in, about three-quarters of the space accomplished, the ladies’s race remained extremely tight, with Webster main Sizzling by 2.5 minutes and Brumelot trailing by simply one other 30 seconds. Nakata was about 4 minutes off Brumelot in fourth.
Sizzling’s persistence and expertise paid off when she overtook Webster on lap 16. By lap 17, Brumelot had additionally handed Webster, and the hole between Sizzling and Brumelot sat at about 45 seconds, and Webster was an additional 75 seconds behind with three laps to go. Going out on her final lap, Sizzling held a 2.5-minute lead over Brumelot, and Webster was now 8.5 minutes off the lead.
Ultimately, Floriane Sizzling repeated as ladies’s champion, with a time of seven:08:43. Marie-Ange Brumelot stayed in second, ending in 7:12:22, and Sarah Webster held onto third in 7:18:59.
Early chief Miho Nakata completed fourth in 7:25:52, and Melissah Gibson took fifth in 7:35:27.
Floriane Sizzling, the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships ladies’s champion.
2024 IAU 100k World Championships Ladies’s Outcomes
- Floriane Sizzling (France) – 7:08:43
- Marie-Ange Brumelot (France) – 7:12:22
- Sarah Webster (Nice Britain) – 7:19:18
- Miho Nakata (Japan) – 7:25:52
- Melissah Gibson (Nice Britain) – 7:35:27
- Dominika Stelmach (Poland) – 7:37:15
- Petra Pastorová (Czech Republic) — 7:41:44
- Federica Moroni (France) — 7:45:38
- Mirjana Šimek Bilić (Croatia) — 7:46:17
- Courtney Olsen (U.S.) — 7:48:21
Though the ladies’s staff outcomes haven’t been confirmed but, Staff France seems to have comfortably sealed the win, with Nice Britain and the US taking second and third, respectively. We’ll replace this as quickly as these particulars are confirmed.
Sarah Webster after taking third on the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships.