Brits earn podium places at IAU World 100km Champs
While Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s cross-country runners were winning medals in Turkey, the GB & NI 100km team were winning medals further afield in India on Saturday (Dec 8), Adrian Stott reports.
In temperatures reaching well over 30C, both the men and women won hard-earned team medals, with Sarah Webster taking a superb individual bronze medal.
Women’s race
Webster, along with the French duo of Floriane Hot and Marie-Ange Brumelot, traded places in the early stages.
Webster made a break and at one point held a three-minute lead, but as the race progressed and the temperature rose she was passed firstly by Hot, the defending champion from the last championships in Berlin in 2022, then Brumelot.
The two French runners stayed strong to the end. Hot recorded 7:08:43 while Brumelot took silver in 7:12:22, leading them to the team title.
Webster held on for third in 7:19:18. GB and NI’s first individual medal at a 100km world Championships since Jo Zakrzweski claimed bronze in 2016 in Spain.
Backed up by Melissah Gibson, who finished fifth in 7:35:27, and Julia Davis, ninth in 8:01:05, the GB & NI team took the silver medals with USA third.
The brutal conditions led to several runners dropping out with Britain’s Caroline Turner among them. She struggled in the hot and humid conditions and retired after 80km once it was certain GB & NI were going to have three finishers for the team competition.
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Men’s race
Japan’s Jumpei Yamaguchi, who came into the race with the fastest time in the world for 2024, lived up to his reputation, taking the men's title in 6:12:17. Seemingly unaffected by the challenging conditions, his time was only seven seconds outside the championship record of 6:12:10 from Berlin in 2022.
Once the race had settled down after the early sparring, France’s Guillaume Ruel led for a while. An ankle injury forced him to retire before halfway, leaving Yamaguchi to take control and, in a committed performance, was a comfortable winner from Antonio Aguilar of Spain, who took silver in 6:25:54.
Haruki Okayama of Japan took bronze in 6:37:54 with another Japanese runner, Tomoya Watanabe, fourth in 6:37:55.
This ensured Japan comfortably took the men's team title with a cumulative time of 19:30:09.
Spain, with Aguilar backed up by Felix Ponte in fifth and Manel Deli in 17th, took the silver medals.
The British men were led home by Alex Milne – a top 10 finisher at the 90km Comrades Marathon in June. Respectful of the conditions, the Brits all ran well paced races, finishing strongly with five runners in the top 20 more than any other country.
Jarlath McKenna was ninth in 6:51:20, James Turner 11th in 6:53:17, Joe Turner 13th in 6:53:43 and Chris Richardson 16th in 6:56;16. Dougie Selman finished a little further back in 29th in 7:22:48.
In the World Masters Championship held within the race, Sarah Webster took gold in the W45 category and Jarlath McKenna the bronze in the M40 category.
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