The Lithuanian ultra runner, Aleksandr Sorokin will target his World 100k record this weekend in his home city of Vilnius. The race 0n Sunday morning the 14th May is promoted as the World’s Fastest Run powered by Nord Security.
The new attempt will be on a flat rectangular-shaped road loop measuring 1.644 km/1.04 miles at Cyber City in the Lithuanian capital.
The 100km course will entail all the runners in the event running 60 full laps of the course plus a short lap of 1.36 km/0.84 Miles.
Sorokin set the existing record in the Centurion Running 100-mile track race at Bedford track, England, in April 2022.His time then, of 6 hours 5 minutes and 41 seconds, was an average pace of approximately 5 minutes 50sec per mile/3mins 46 sec per km OR 36 minutes 22 secs for each 10km split.
There has been chatter of Sorokin not just bettering his mark but going for the magical sub-6-hour barrier. To do this, he will need to run an average of approximately 5 minutes 45 seconds per mile/3mins 38sec per kilometre. Or 35 minutes 59 seconds for each 10km split.
It will be fascinating to see if his recent training, together with his past racing experience, will give him the speed-endurance to be brave enough to set off and maintain a pace a few seconds per mile quicker than his previous record.
Splits from Sorokin’s previous record attempt
The 10km splits from his previous record with projected average splits for a sub-6-hour clocking, are in the table below.
Even pacing will be the key.
After Sorokin broke the 100km record last April, I compared splits from the four fastest-ever 100km races in a blog that you can read HERE.
It is extremely rare to run an even pace for a 100km race, especially when operating at close to 6-minute milling.
In his 2022 record, he ran his first 50km in 3:01:50 and his 2nd 50km in 3:03:51. This was the most even of all the four fastest 100km times. History shows there can be an inevitable slowing over the last 20km, so a little cushion needs to be carefully built up without overextending yourself, resulting in a fade in the last 10-20 km.
The last three years have seen Him in a real purple patch of form. Together with bettering the 100km mark in April 2022, he has also broken World Records at 100 miles and 24 hours.
He has since bettered his 24-hour record when covering 319.614 km miles when winning the IAU world 24-hour championships in Verona last September.
According to the athlete’s Facebook pages, you can see a live stream of the event at this LINK
The event is scheduled to start at 6 am in Vilnius and 4 am in the UK.
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