By Sports Reporter/Doha
Max King made a smashing competitive 100km debut winning the IAU 100km World Championships gold at Aspire Zone yesterday morning.
King, who ran his first competitive race over a 100km distance, took six hours 27 minutes and 43 seconds to finish his 20 laps around the 5km course around the Aspire Zone.
In the women’s section, Ellie Greenwood of Great Britain took the lead on the 13th lap of the course and steadily increased her advantage over the field to win her second world 100km gold.
Greenwood finished the race in seven hours 30 minutes and 48 seconds to add to her 2011 100km world championship title in Gibraltar.
The race, which started at 6pm on Friday, saw over 200 athletes from a record 39 countries participate in the world championship event.
“Wow, can’t believe I was able to pull off the win and N American record. Thanks for all the support. Blessed to have everyone pulling for me,” King tweeted after the race.
King finished almost four and a half minutes ahead of Sweden’s Jonas Buud (06:32:04) and nine and half minutes ahead of Spain’s Jose Antonio Requejo.
Greenwood was accompanied on the podium by Japan’s Chiyuki Mochizuki (07:38:23) and team-mate Joasia Zakrzewski (07:42:02)
Yesterday’s finish was Buud’s fourth in the second spot at IAU 100km World Championships.
Spain’s Requejo had come into the race in Doha with a personal best time of six hours 57 minutes but managed to shave a sizeable chunk of that time to win bronze.
Defending men’s champion Giorgio Calcaterra (08:30:00) of Italy finished 68th. Titleholder in the women’s section Amy Sproston (08:14:02) fared slightly better at 18th.
King led United States’ charge in the team championship, and along with Zach Bitter (06:48:53) and Zach Miller (06:51:30) won the gold with a time of 20:08:05.
Japan’s Hideo Nojo, who finished fourth overall with a time of 06:39:21, along with team-mates fifth-placed Yoshiki Takada (06:46:47) and Koji Hayasaka (07:29:01), ensured a silver for Japan in the team’s championship.
Great Britain’s Paul Giblin (06:56:12), Steve Way (06:57:23) and Craig Holgate (07:04:16) took bronze for a time of total time of 20:57:50.
Greenwood, Zakrzewski and Jo Meek (07:43:37) took women’s team gold with a total time of 22:56:27, while Mochizuki led the Japanese charge for a silver. Mochizuki, along with Shiho Katayama (07:49:41) and Mai Fujisawa (07:54:28), ran the race in 23:22:32.
Russians won the women’s bronze with Irina Antropova (07:44:26), Yulia Khazova (08:00:46) and Oxana Akimenkova (08:08:19) running a total time of 23:53:31.
This year’s championships were held after a gap of one year after the 2013 edition was cancelled. That race in Jeju Island, South Korea, saw one of its major sponsors pull out at the last moment.
Next year, the 100km world championship will head to Winschoten in Netherlands, while the 50km world championships will be held in Doha for three years — 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Max King of United States (left) and Ellie Greenwood of Great Britain (right) cross the finish line to win the IAU 100km World Championships men and w
