100 MILES & 12H WORLD RECORD: MAGNIFICENT SOROKIN DOUBLE. 100 MILES 11H14.55; 12 HOURS 170,309KM

Posted by Héctor Rubio on April 26, 2021 in trail running spain, ultrarunning | 1 Comment

100 MILES & 12H WORLD RECORD: MAGNIFICENT SOROKIN DOUBLE. 100 MILES 11H14.55; 12 HOURS 170,309 KM. Our ULTRARUNNING section celebrates this weekend’s double achievement by 24-hour world champion Lithuanian Alexandr Sorokin.

On the same day Zach Bitter, who in 2017 run 100 miles on 11h19m18, was crowned as USA champion of the distance, Sorokin took away his world record. The Lithuanian went ahead and also beat the 12h record with 170,309km.

Photo: Centurion Runner

 DOBLE WORLD RECORD BY SOROKIN

100 MILES: 11H14.5S. / 12 HOURS 170,309KM.

The 24-hour 2019 world champion, Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin added this weekend two new hits in his long run career, breaking the 100-mile world record, set in 2019 by Zach Bitter, who then ran them in 11h19min18sec.

The Centurion Running 100 had been designed to achieve great results. It was conceived as an elite race. To this end, strict qualifications were applied so that enrollees were only allowed for the best runners to exceed their own limits in a competitive environment.

The target was fulfilled: Running more than ever on this British Centurion Running Track 100, Alexander Sorokin set a new world record at 100 miles with 11:14:55. And feeling good, he continued to push in the race until setting the world’s new record also in the 12 hours at 170,309km. It thus exceeded the 168.7km that also belonged to Bitter.

SOROKIN, A RUNNING HUMAN CALCULATOR.

Sorokin’s sporting progression in recent years showed its potential for improvement. His recent achievements began with bronze at the 24h European Championships in 2018. From there he went on to a brilliant gold  in the 24-hour World Championships in Albi, France in 2019.

His reaction to the pandemic confinement was to enhance his indoor training. Once this event was closed as a key challenge in its calendar, it was quarantined, accompanied by a treadmill already in the UK. A routine that has certainly worked this time, as he made it clear in the race.

THE LITHUANIAN RUNNER HAD EVERYTHING CALCULATED

It came out with a slight margin from the goal of the double world record. Thus, Sorokin’s 5:32 in the first 50 miles and 6:54 for the 100 km were slightly higher than Bitter’s time when he set the 11:19 record. But later, he kept up with a remarkable consistency. He had barely a single lap below 1.45. And once he exceeded the 100-mile record, he kept pushing for another 45min to add the double.

As an anecdote, it should be noted that IAU (International Association of Ultrarunning) Hillary Walker himself acted as an judge at the event, leaving little doubt about its official future ratification on the official list of World Ultrarunning records.

PHOTOS CENTURION RUNNER

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