How should it be to run 100 kilometers at a 3:39 minutes / kilometer pace…? Well, ask Aleksandr Sorokin, he just beat the world record in the 100 kilometer run. In slightly over 6 hours and 5 minutes, the Lithuanian trashed the former World Record. Not only did he do that, but he managed to break the world record of 6 hours running, 98.4 kilometers!!! OK, since this guy also has the world record of 24 hours running, 309 kilometers, after some decades of resistance, his achievement shouldn’t be that surprising. What I am trying to transpose to myself, to understand for me, is how an earth a human being can run at a pace of 3:39 minutes / km for 100 kilometers!!!???
98.4 vs. 67
Now, I can also achieve this pace, but the best I have done is… 1 kilometer, as to my knowledge! :))) It is ridiculously fast… OK, Eliud Kipchoge, the marathon world record holder, can easily run 42 kilometers in under 3:00 minutes / kilometer (!!!) This is understandable from an elite sportsman’s point of view. From mine, well… It is very hard to understand. I have run 6 hours in a row, but I have managed to gather only 67 kilometers – officially, 65.5 or so. Of course, there is no comparison, but at least I can literally imagine what this means. How has sore to do that? No clue, but he is really outstanding. When I’ll run 10k below 4:00 / km and a half below 1:30, I will, for sure, remember, that there is a guy who can sustain a higher pace for 100 kilometers.
Aleksandr Sorokin started running at 32 years
And don’t think Aleksandr Sorokin is a normal athlete. No, he started running in 2013 at… 32 years!!! To be in… shape. Ten years later, he’s one of the best runners in the world’s history. Maybe his native qualities are there, but nothing happened by accident and I will present you with some important benchmarks he achieved on the way. I’ll use those as an epilogue for this article. A former kayak sprinter for the national team of Lithuania, Sorokin weighed 100 kilos in 2013, now he runs… 100 kilometers for breakfast!
Aleksandar Sorokin’s world record achievements
- 24 hours: 309,4 kilometers
- 12 hours: 177,4 kilometers
- 6 hours: 98,4 kilometers
- 100 kilometers: 6 hours 5 minutes 40 seconds
- 100 miles: 10 hours 51 minutes 39 seconds
- Sparthatlon: winner 2017
Foto: Aleksandr Sorokin Facebook