Katalin Nagy at the 2015 IAU 24 Hour World Championships (© organisers)
The 12th IAU 24 Hour World Championships, set to take place on 1-2 July in Belfast, features one of the strongest fields ever assembled for this event. Florian Reus of Germany and Katalin Nagy of the US return to the defend the titles they won at the in Turin, Italy, two years ago.
The 24 Hour event will be contested on a 1.65km course in Victoria Park. There are more than 300 athletes representing 41 federations who will be taking part in the event which also hosts a World Masters Championships.
In the men's race, Reus will be leading a very deep field. Reus ran 263.899km in the last edition. Current European champion Dan Lawson of Great Britain has run a distance of 261.843km in Albi, France. Yoshihiko Ishikawa of Japan will also try to be in the mix for a podium place having run 263.127km last year in Japan.
Robbie Briton of Great Britain and Poland’s Andrzej Radzikowski with 261.140km and 258.228km respectively will be trying to make big moves as well at the front. Pete Kostelnick of the US with 263.410km at the Desert Solstice and Canadian Dave Proctor having run 257.093 in Turin will also try and move up the individual rankings.
If the men's field is deep, the women's field is nothing short of extraordinary.
Nagy is returning this year to defend her title having run 244.490km in Turin but has not run the longest in the field. This year Poland ‘s Patrycja Bereznowska has run 256.246km in Lodz, a world best pending ratification. Swede Maria Jansson, the reigning European champion, ran 250.647km in 2016 to claim the European title.
Courtney Dauwalter of the US and Aleksandra Niwinska of Poland, having run 250.790km and 245.101km, will also be try vying for a coveted podium spot. Antje Krause of Germany with 235.228km and Great Britain’s Jess Baker having run 230.295km will try to lead their respective teams to the podium as well.
Nadeem Khan for the IAAF
