Patrycja Bereznowska in action at the IAU 24 hour World Championships (© Aneta Mikulska)
Poland’s Patrycja Bereznowska covered 258.339km, a world best distance, to win the women’s title at the 12th IAU 24 Hour World Championships in Belfast on 1-2 July.
Held on a 1.65km course, USA’s 2015 world champion Katalin Nagy took the early lead in the women’s race while Bereznowska trailed by a lap. But Bereznowska paced her effort to perfection and as the race continued into the night she passed Nagy and went on to win by more than seven kilometres.
Teammate Aleksandra Niwinska also finished strongly and took second place with a distance of 251.078km, while Nagy took third place, having covered 248.970km.
The 24-hour run isn’t an IAAF world record discipline, but it is recognised by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU). Bereznowska’s mark of 258.339km will be submitted to the IAU for ratification.
With three runners in the top five, USA won the women’s team title with a combined distance of 740.856km. Despite having the top two individual finishers, Poland narrowly missed out on the team title by the narrow margin of 622 metres, racking up a combined distance of 740.234km. Some way behind, Germany took the team bronze medals with 689.622km.
Yoshihiko Ishikawa won the men’s title, covering 267.566km, and led Japan to gold in the team contest.
Radek Brunner of the Czech Republic put in a fast pace to take an early lead in the men’s race, but he relinquished it to Hungary’s Tamas Rudolf, who led the race for much of the night. Ishikawa moved through the course during the early morning hours and eventually hit the lead after 22 hours.
He won with a distance of 267.566km, finishing one kilometre ahead of Sweden’s Johan Steene. Poland’s Sebastian Bialobrzeski was a further kilometre behind in third place.
Japan won the men's team title with a combined distance of 783.159km, followed by Poland in second with 763.630km and the USA in third, running 755.458km.
Nadeem Khan (IAU) for the IAAF
Leading results
MEN
1 Yoshihiko Ishikawa (JPN) 267.566km
2 Johan Steene (SWE) 266.515km
3 Sebastian Bialobrzeski (POL) 265.535km
4 Nobuyuki Takahashi (JPN) 264.506km
5 Stephane Ruel (FRA) 258.425km
Teams
1 Japan 783.159km
2 Poland 763.630km
3 USA 755.458km
4 Hungary 752.867km
5 France 752.813km
WOMEN
1 Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) 258.339km
2 Aleksandra Niwinska (POL) 251.078km
3 Katalin Nagy (USA) 248.970km
4 Gina Slaby (USA) 248.276km
5 Pam Smith (USA) 243.611km
Teams
1 USA 740.856km
2 Poland 740.234km
3 Germany 689.622km
4 Sweden 684.613km
5 Japan 658.904km
