5th IAU World 50km Championships
Delhi, India Saturday 14th March 2026
All times subject to confirmation
Full results HERE
GB’s Alex Milne and Naomi Robinson win IAU 50km titles and both men’s and women’s team strike gold in Delhi.
Alex Milne and Naomi Robinson have won the IAU world 50 km titles for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In a superb team effort, both the mens and women’s teams also secured the Gold team medals.
Milne’s time of 2:46:09 was a championship record and also broke the current European and British 50km records.
The silver medal went to fast-finishing Charlie Davis in 2:47:14, with the bronze medal going to Logan Smith in 2:47:29.
Sean Hogan, 2:47:59; Henry Hart, 2:48:32; and Kevin Campbell, 2:48:52, made up the clean sweep of the top 6 places.
Naomi Robinson was a clear winner of the ladies’ race in 3:13:39, followed home by her compatriot Katrina Ballantyne in 3:17:24. Poland’s Monika Brzozowska took the bronze in 3:19:03.
Mens Race
The early leader was Canada’s Sergio-Raez Villaneuva, who covered the first 5km in 16:19. Norway’s Abdulaziz Mahammedsalih Ebrahim was a few seconds back in 16:19. Britain’s Alex Milne and Logan Smith, together with Japan’s Haruki Okayama, were through in 16:36
Four more Britons, Kevin Campbell, Henry Hart, Sean Hogan and Charlie Davis were a further 10 seconds back in a large group, along with Lithuania’s Remigijius Kancys and the leading Indian runner’s.
Positions remained roughly the same for the next 20km, and at the halfway mark, Villaneuva still led in 1:22:59. Behind him, the Britons, Milne and Smith, were on 1:23:44 and Okayama on 1:23:48.
The four other British runners, Hart, Logan, Campbell and Davis, were running together with Ebrahim on 1:24:09, just ahead of the Indian, Tirtha Kumar Pun.
Just after halfway, Villaneuva started paying for his early pace and by 35km, it was Milne who had taken the lead with 1:56:56. His compatriot Smith was still in touch, holding second in 1:57:05, with the Canadian now third in 1:57:18.
Hart, Campbell, Hogan and Davis were still within seconds of each other, also chasing down the Canadian, with Okayama going well a further 30 seconds back.
A 16:04 5km between 35 and 40 km saw Milne open up a 35-second gap on Smith. Davis was putting in a surge behind them, resulting in small gaps appearing between the other Britons.
Milne was to stretch his lead to over a minute in the final kilometres, and it was the fast finishing Charlie Davis who took the silver medal with Smith taking the bronze.
The GB and NI team were comfortable team winners from hosts India and USA
Women’s race
Britain’s Katrina Ballantyne was the early women’s leader after 5km in 18:12. Her teammate Naomi Robinson was 10 seconds back, and a larger group with the other two British runners, Becky Briggs and Melissah Gibson, were running with Poland’s Dominika Stellmach and USA’s Sophie Seward.
At halfway, Robinson had taken the lead, reaching 25km in 1:34:12 with Ballantyne still solid in second in 1:34:47. These two were well clear of Stellmach in 1:37:40.
Stellmach’s compatriots Monika Brzozowska and Magdalena Patas were both on 1:39:15, just ahead of Mongolia’s Nomin-Erdene Bayartigtokh, 1:39:18, and Britain’s Becky Briggs,1:39:42
Robinson was to prove strong in the second half, slowly increasing her lead over Ballantyne and Stellmach. She went on to finish in 3:13:39. Ballantyne was to hang on for a superb silver in 3:17:24. Behind them, the minor placings were being shaken up in the last 10 kilometres.
The experienced Stellmach slowed, allowing her compatriots Brzozowska and Patas to come through and take 3rd and 4th places, respectively.
Mongolia’s Bayartigtokh had her own breakthrough run,coming through for 5th ahead of Stellmach.
The women’s team race was a closer affair than the men’s, with Brzozowska, Patas and Dominika Stellmach coming home in 3rd, 4th and 6th place to complete the Polish team.
It was left to Becky Briggs in 7th place in 3:22:36 to close out the GB and NI team.GB’s Melissah Gibson, finished in 3:42:47. Japan took the bronze team medals.
The team result decided on the cumulative time of a nation’s first three runners went to the British.
Milne’s time of 2:46:09, if confirmed sets a new European record, eclipsing the time of 2:47:24 that Frenchman Guillaume Reul ran in South Africa in 2022
It also beats the previous GB road mark of 2:48:25 set by Ronnie Richmond at Perth in 2024.
Perhaps more significantly from a British perspective, it lowers the long-standing British track mark of 2:48:06, set by former Olympic Marathon runner Jeff Norman in June 1980.
Sunject to ratification Henry Hart’s 2:48:32 improves his own Scottish 50km record of 2:50;33 set in 2024. Kevin Campbell was also inside the old record.
Katrina Ballantyne’s 3:17:24 also broke Ellie Greenwoods Scottish mark of 3:23:17 from 2013 which was a split time form the Two Oceans race
Full results 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.
