Yoshikazu Hara (© Aki Inoue / IAU)
Japan’s Yoshikazu Hara and USA’s Katalin Nagy will start as the favourites at the 11th IAU 24 Hour World Championships in Turin, Italy, on Saturday and Sunday (11-12).
The race also incorporates the 20th European Championships and takes place on a 1700m course.
The IAU will be breaking several records at these championships with a total of 337 runners representing 41 nations.
The male and female winners, Jon Olsen (USA) and Mami Kudo (JPN) are not entered in this year’s competition.
Hara tops the men’s field with a distance of 285.366km to his name and is the clear favour with Slovakia’s Lubomir Hrmo with 270.388km, Japan's Takayashi Shigemi with 269.225km and Italy’s local hope Ivan Cudin with 266.702km the next best on the entry lists.
Nagy, with 243.720km is the best runner in a much more closely matched women’s field.
She is followed by the Australian pair Deb Nicholl and Bernadette Benson, with distances of 239.564km and 238.261km respectively. USA’s Traci Falbo (237.660km) and Great Britain’s Fiona Ross (233.018km) could also be among the medal contenders.
Neither of the winners of the last championships in 2013, USA’s Jon Olsen and Japan’s Mami Kudo will defend their titles.
This is the last IAU 24 Hour World Championships before it goes into an alternate year format with the 100km World Championships starting in 2016.
IAU for the IAAF
