Matthieu Bonne Targets, Yiannis Kouros, long standing 48 hour World record in Taiwan.
The Belgian Athlete Matthieu Bonne, who sensationally broke Yiannis Kouros’s long-held 6-day record last September, is set to challenge another of Kouros’s long-held marks at 48 hours.
The race is set to start on Friday, 21st February, at 3 pm local time, 8 am UK time.
Live results updates will be HERE after the race start
News Updates can be found HERE
Kouros, the legendary Greek athlete, currently holds the men’s 48-hour record. His distance of 473.495 kilometres / 294.216 miles, was set on 4th May, 1996, almost 30 years ago.
He dominated all distances from 24 hours up to 1,000 miles, in a period from 1985 into the early 2000s.
Kouros also has 6 of the all-time best 10 distances at 48 hours.
The 7th best distance after Kouros is 435.446 kilometres/ 270.573by Andrijj Tkachuk in July 2021
Bonne’s website describes him as an “Extreme Sporter.” He has been touted as the runner most likely to come close to, if not better, the world record.
His website proclaims.
“ I have a great passion for swimming, running, and cycling, which allow me to channel my abundance of energy. In recent years, I have succeeded in a series of extraordinary challenges, continuously seeking out unique and demanding feats.”
These extraordinary challenges include swimming the English Channel and swimming the entire length, 76.64 km, of the coast of Belgium.
In the cycling world, he recorded the longest distance ever covered in 7 Days on a bicycle, over 3,600 km.
Throwing in the odd Ironman triathlon and Climbs of Mont Blanc, The Matterhorn, and The Eiger, gives you a picture of someone dedicated to challenging themself.
In the running world, Bonne completed the Marathon Des Sables multi-stage desert race as far back as 2017.
Swimming and cycling seem to have taken over after that, for
His running exploits seem to have only taken off at the expense of swimming and cycling in 2024.
In March 2024, he took part in a 6-day race at Merelbeke in Belgium. With record-breaking almost part of his DNA, he had an eye on seeing if he could get near Yiannis Kouros, legendary 6-day record of 1036.800km. He only covered 793.200 kilometres / 492.871 Miles on a 400-metre track.
He admitted to slightly underestimating the challenge and incurred severe foot issues on that occasion.
Unperturbed and convinced he could improve, he targeted the Gomu 6-day race in Hungary in September 2024.
As a warm-up, he ran the Trasna Na Uairuanta 24-hour race in Ireland on the weekend of 2/3 August 2024. He covered an impressive 275.250 kilometres / 171.034 miles, the fourth fastest distance for men at 24 hours in 2024.
Showing great powers of recovery, only 4 weeks later, he duly broke Kouros’s long-standing 6-day record in Hungary by over 9 kilometres, completing 1045.519 KM /649.653 Miles.
It is why many observers can see that Kouros’s 48-hour mark is under threat by Bonne in Taipei.
No stranger to extreme challenges. He has a best 48-hour distance of 411.651 kilometres/255.888 Miles.
Bonne’s recent Instagram posts have shown him training at Altitude in Kenya in preparation for his upcoming challenge.
He will not be alone in his challenge as “old friends” Bartosz Fudali (POL), and Szabolcs Beda (HUN), will also be on the start line.
Fudali won the Taipei race last year with 433.311 kilometres. With Beda, they were 2nd and 3rd behind Bonne at the 6-day race in Hungary where Bonne set the new World record.
Tetsuo KISO (JPN) is also in the field. Kiso recorded 397.518 Km in last year’s Taiwan 48 hour for 2nd place in the men’srace behind Fudali.
Men’s all-time ratified 48-hour performances.
NOTE: At the GOMU//BUFF 48-hour race in Hungary from May 31st to June 2nd 2024. The following distances were reported.
Bartosz Fudali POL 447.293 Km
Nicolas de las Heras Monforte ESP 441,343 Km
Szabolcs Beda HUN 433.869 Km
The IAU has still not ratified these performances as the race was not licenced by the Hungarian Federation. This is a prerequisite for any ratification of record performances. Although the distances appear on the DUV website under each athlete’s listings, they do not appear in the all-time 48-hour rankings pending clarification.
I wrote about this for Irunfar HERE
With Bonne chasing Kouros’s record and Fudali and Beda possibly looking to prove they are also capable of large distances, they could help bring the best out of each other, and we could be in for an epic race.
You can read about Matthieu Bonnes 6-Day record HERE
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Adrian Tarit Stott.
The author is a former GB 24-hour ultra international with over 100 ultra race completions. He has also been involved in organising ultra-distance races for over 30 years. Still an active recreational runner, he is currently a member of UKA’s Ultra Running Advisory Group (URAG) and the Mountain and Trail Advisory Group. He also contributes as part of the selection and team management for both Scottish and GB ultra teams. A freelance writer in his spare time, he contributes articles and reports to several websites and magazines including Athletics Weekly and Irunfar.
