Battling warmth and poor air high quality in New Delhi, India, athletes from Nice Britain dominated the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships. The world championships had been initially scheduled for December 7, 2025, however had been postponed attributable to poor air high quality simply two weeks earlier than the occasion. Three months later, on March 14, 2026, runners gathered at 4 a.m. native time to tackle 10 laps of a five-kilometer L-shaped loop by means of the roads of New Delhi.
Alex Milne (Nice Britain) successful the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships. Photograph: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
Though the 4 a.m. begin allowed athletes to keep away from the worst of the warmth and air pollution ranges, the air high quality index was 178 initially time, a stage that’s thought of unhealthy, and the temperature hovered close to 21 levels Celsius (70 levels Fahrenheit). The mix made for difficult circumstances from the beginning. Nonetheless, these elements didn’t cease Alex Milne (Nice Britain) from executing a wonderfully paced race that stored him close to the entrance within the opening half, earlier than shifting into the lead round 35 kilometers into the race to win in 2:46:09, nicely beneath his earlier greatest of two:51:25.
Naomi Robinson dominated the ladies’s race from 10k, extending her lead over the second half to complete in 3:13:39, nearly 4 minutes forward of second place.
Learn on to see how the 2 races performed out.
2026 IAU 50k World Championships Males’s Race
Canada’s Sergio Ráez Villanueva set the tempo within the opening 5k, finishing the loop in 16:19, round 20 seconds forward of a chasing group composed of Haruki Okayama of Japan, Alex Milne and Logan Smith of Nice Britain, and Abdulaziz Mohammed Salih Ebrahim of Norway.
Villanueva elevated his lead over the next laps, hitting the midway level in 1:22:59, round 45 seconds forward of the chasing pack of Okayama, Milne, and Smith. Ebrahim began to battle across the midway level and misplaced contact with the chase group, and shortly he was working with Kevin Campbell and Charlie Daviseach of Nice Britain. Quickly after, Okayama additionally began to battle and fell off the tempo of the lead chase group. At 30k, Villanueva continued to guide, Smith and Milne chased 30 seconds again, and Campbell, Davis, Okayama, Sean Michael Hoganand Henry Hart — all on Staff Nice Britain aside from Okayama — chased one other 25 seconds again.
Charlie Davis ending second on the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships. Photograph: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
Milne moved into the lead at 35k, coming by means of in 1:56:56, 9 seconds forward of Smith, 22 seconds forward of Villanueva, who was fading quick, and 45 seconds forward of Davis and Campbell.
Alex Milne held onto his result in win the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships in 2:46:09. It was a brand new European document, beating Lithuania’s Alexander Sorokin’s earlier document of two:53:51. Charlie Davis dug deep over the ultimate lap to maneuver to overhaul Smith to complete second in 2:47:14. Logan Smith rounded off the rostrum in 2:47:29. Sean Michael Hogan was fourth in 2:47:59, and Henry Hart finishes in fifth in 2:48:32.
Campbell made it a prime six candy for Nice Britain, ending in 2:48:52, and early frontrunners Okayama and Villanueva completed in eighth and ninth, respectively.
2026 IAU 50k World Championships Males’s Outcomes
- Alex Milne (Nice Britain) — 2:46:09
- Charlie Davis (Nice Britain) — 2:47:14
- Logan Smith (Nice Britain) — 2:47:29
- Sean Michael Hogan (Nice Britain) — 2:47:59
- Henry Hart (Nice Britain) — 2:48:32
- Kevin Campbell (Nice Britain) — 2:48:52
- Remigius Kanchys (Lithuania) — 2:49:55
- Haruki Okayama (Japan) — 2:50:44
- Sergio Ráez Villanueva (Canada) — 2:54:47
- Tirtha Kumar Pun (India) — 2:54:52
Nice Britain gained the group occasion with a really dominant efficiency, taking the highest six spots. India was second within the group standings, and Staff USA completed in third.
The 2026 IAU 50k World Championships males’s podium (left to proper): 2. Charlie Davis (Nice Britain), 1. Alex Milne (Nice Britain), 3. Logan Smith (Nice Britain). Photograph: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
2026 IAU 50k World Championships Ladies’s Race
Katrina Ballantyne of Nice Britain went out onerous, coming by means of the primary 5k in 18:12, 15 seconds forward of teammate Naomi Robinson. A chasing pack composed of Melissah Gibson and Becky Briggs of Nice Britain, Dominika Stelmach (Poland), and Sophie Seward (U.S.) got here by means of 30 seconds off the lead.
Robinson closed the hole over the following 5k, coming by means of 10k simply two seconds behind Ballantyne. Stelmach was simply over a minute behind, and Briggs, Seward, and Gibson continued to run collectively, about 90 seconds off the lead.
Naomi Robinson (Nice Britain) successful the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships. Photograph: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
Over the following 15k, Robinson moved into the lead, and by the midway level, was 35 seconds forward of second-place Ballantyne with a 25k cut up of 1:34:12. The 2 leaders had considerably elevated their distance to the remainder of the sphere, and it will in the end keep like this for the remainder of the race. Stelmach got here by means of midway in third place in 1:37:40, over three minutes off the lead and firmly in no-woman’s land. Her teammates, the Polish duo of Cupcake Legs and Monika Brzozowska had been working collectively step-for-step 95 seconds behind, simply forward of Nomine-Erdene Bayartogtokh of Mongolia.
The race started to take its toll on Stelmach as she got here by means of 40k, and Bayartogtokh had moved into third, with the three Polish teammates all working collectively simply 15 seconds outdoors the ultimate podium place. Brzozowska made her transfer within the closing 10k, overtaking Bayartogtokh and opening almost a minute hole on her by 45k.
Katrina Ballantyne ending second on the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships. Photograph: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
In the meantime, on the entrance, Naomi Robinson continued to increase her lead over the closing kilometers to win the 2026 IAU 50k World Championships in 3:13:39. Katrina Ballantyne held on comfortably to her second place over the ultimate laps to complete in 3:17:24. Within the battle for the ultimate place on the rostrum, it was Monika Brzozowska who managed to take third place in in 3:19:03. Magdalena Patas completed in fourth in 3:20:24, and Nomine-Erdene Bayartogtokh was fifth in 3:20:32.
Stelmach was sixth in 3:22:06, and early frontrunners Briggs and Gibson completed in seventh and seventeenth.
2026 IAU 50k World Championships Ladies’s Outcomes
- Naomi Robinson (Nice Britain) — 3:13:39
- Katrina Ballantyne (Nice Britain) — 3:17:24
- Monika Brzozowska (Poland) — 3:19:03
- Cupcake Legs (Poland) — 3:20:24
- Nomine-Erdene Bayartogtokh (Mongolia) — 3:20:32
- Dominika Stelmach (Poland) — 3:22:06
- Becky Briggs (Nice Britain) — 3:22:36
- Devoted Black (Germany) — 3:26:21
- Sarangua Bayaraa (Mongolia) — 3:27:33
- Hina Shiozaki (Japan) — 3:27:41
Within the group occasion that counted the highest three finishers from every nation, Staff Nice Britain gained the ladies’s group race as nicely, beating out second-place Poland. Japan completed in third.
The 2026 IAU 50k World Championships girls’s podium (left to proper): 2. Katrina Ballantyne (Nice Britain), 1. Naomi Robinson (Nice Britain), 3. Monika Brzozowska (Poland). Photograph: Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners
