Miho Nakata from Japan and Aleksandr Sorokin from Lithuania are 2023 IAU 24H World Champions. It was incredible event where Miho the winner of the Championship set new IAU 24H World Record by running 270.363 km (subject to ratification). She was leading from the beginning and never was challenged on the first position. In the men competition, Aleksandr Sorokin run for the 3rd time in his career over 300 km in 24H event. In top 5 overall 24H results Aleksander has 3 of them (number 1, 2 and 5), only two other runners manage to go beyond 300 km, Andrzej Piotrowski (POL) who was 6th overall in Championships this year and Yiannis Kouros (GRE), did not run in the Championships. The win in Taipei was his second consecutive World title. What a performance from both of them.
In the women competition second place was taken by Olena Shevchenko (UKR) 254.463 km. for long time she was out of podium and only around 18h she moved to 3rd place, then later on to second that she defended till the end. Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) was 3rd with 249.541 km. for long time she was around 8-10 place. She is very experience athlete and slowly she was moving up. After 22 hours she was still 4th women but finally she made move and secure bronze medal.
Men competition from beginning were dominated by Aleksandr Sorokin. He as leading from the beginning and secure World Champion title. Fotios Zisimopoulos and Andrii Tkachuk were already at second and third place after 10h into the race. There were battling for the medals till the end but that standing remains unchanged for more than 14h. Finally Fotios Zisimopoulos (GRE) did 292.254 km and was second and Andrii Tkachuk (UKR) 284.540 km end with 3rd place.
With the team competition it was all down to the last 3 hours. During the race position were changing with exception of Lithuania men team that was leading almost all the event. In the last 2 hours of women team competition, Poland moved to gold position and was moving away from Czech Republic, that finally lost second position in favor of Japan. Poland won gold with total of 726.552 km, Japan was second with 702.911 and Czech Republic on 3rd place with 697.275 km.
In men team competition Lithuania was leading from beginning and won gold with 813.368 km. Poland again moved initial to 3rd place and finally to second place securing silver with 787.964 km on the last 2H. For majority of second part of competition Great Britain was on the second place and as mentioned above were take over by Poland in the end of the Championship. The final result for them securing 3rd place was 772.127 km.
This year the IAU World Championships were dominated by European countries. Out of 8 countries that won medals, 7 countries were from Europe (10 out f 12 medals) and only Japan being the country outside Europe with 2 medals.
Two gold for Lithuania, gold, silver and bronze for Poland, gold and silver for Japan, silver and bronze for Ukraine, and one bronze for Czech Republic, Greece as well as for Great Britain & Norther Ireland.
In addition there are number of national records set during the Championships.
Medalists and results. Full results are provided in the files above.
Women individually
1. Miho Nakata (JPN) 270.363 km
2. Olena Shevchenko (UKR) 254.463 km
3. Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) 249.541 km
Men individually
1. Aleksandr Sorokin (LTU) 301.790 km
2. Fotios Zisimopoulos (GRE) 292.254 km
3. Andrii Tkachuk (UKR) 284.540 km
Women Team
1. Poland 726.552 km
2. Japan 702.911 km
3. Czech Republic 697.275 km
Men Team
1. Lithuania 813.368 km
2. Poland 787.964 km
3. Great Britain and Northern Ireland 772.127 km
Medal Table
Place |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
1. |
Lithuania |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2. |
Poland |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3. |
Japan |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4. |
Ukraine |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
5. |
Czech Republic |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5. |
Greece |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5. |
Great Britain and Norther Ireland |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Results with individual certificates and splits can be obtain here.
Short vide form the Championships
Jacek Bedkowski
IAU Director of Communication
Photogragher: 林明德 Ming-De LIN