Spain sweeps podium positions in men’s category

Great Britain dominates in women’s section

Indian men’s team secures a historic silver

A Spanish armada of ultrarunners swept the podium in the men’s category while an American silver denied a similar sweep to the British in the women’s section at the 2023 IAU 50KM World Championships in Hyderabad on Sunday, November 5.

The men’s race was won by Chakib Lachgar Latrache of Spain. He took the lead quite early in the race and held on to it. He finished the race in two hours, 48 minutes and 20 seconds (it was roughly a minute short of the current European record for 50 kilometres). Second place went to Spain’s Alejandro Jiminez Vicente (2:49:30). He was followed to the finish by fellow countryman Jesus Angel Olmos Pascual (2:50:12) who placed third. This was the first podium sweep for Spain at the championships.

Great Britain’s Carla Molinaro was the winner among women. She covered the 50 kilometre-distance in 3:18:23. Second place went to Andrea Pomaranski of USA (3:19:07). Great Britain’s Sarah Webster (3:20:07) finished third. Unlike in the men’s race where the eventual winner marked out his lead early on; in the women’s race, it was a tighter pack of race leaders with the winner clearly decided in the last loop or so. Interestingly, for both Chakib Lachgar Latrache and Carla Molinaro, Sunday’s event was the first 50 kilometre-race they were participating in.

With Spain sweeping the men’s podium, the Spanish armada also took top honours in the team category for men. Their top three runners had an aggregate timing of 8:28:02. Thanks to a bunch of hardy performances – Anish Thapa Magar (2:54:09), Akshay Saini (2:57:05) and Pralhad Dhanavat (2:57:36) – the Indian men’s team secured second place with aggregate timing of 8:48:50. Third place went to Great Britain with an aggregate of 8:51:58. In the women’s category, the top team was Great Britain (9:59:07) followed by USA (10:18:11) and Croatia (10:53:20).

In the open category, the winner was Iran Ali (3:26:24) followed by Sean D’Mello (4:08:11) and K.V.B. Reddy (4:12:10).

The race was held on a five kilometre-loop on the premises of the University of Hyderabad. Ten laps of the circuit aggregated to 50 kilometres. Most runners – including the two individual winners – described the race as tough. The main culprit was the Hyderabad weather; it was generally cool in the run up to the race but decided to turn warm on Sunday. The second half of the race was particularly difficult for some of the participants. Another element of difficulty highlighted by some runners was the course on which the event was held. It was rolling in nature, featuring minor ups and downs.

“ The five-kilometre-loop starts on a mild downhill but in the outback, it moves gently up and down. We were losing our pace on the uphill portions but were able to make up during the downhill segments, ‘’ Adam Vadeboncoeur of the US team, said. Among those finding their performance affected by the heat was Norway’s Abdulaziz Mohammedsalih Ebrahim, who had the fastest personal best coming into the race. Following the event, he told this blog that he had found the heat difficult to bear, coming as he was from a much cooler Norway. Some of the runners appeared to take Hyderabad’s temperature in their stride. “ In ultrarunning, these kinds of difficulties are likely to be there,’’ Carla Molinaro said.

Anish Thapa Magar, the topper among Indians, placed sixth in individual rankings. He was participating in his first 50 kilometre-race. Aside from his timing and that of Akshay Saini and Pralhad Dhanavat (which have been mentioned earlier in this report), the timings of the rest of the Indian runners are as follows: Arjun Pradhan – 3:06:42; Mohit Rathor – 3:06:45, Bangriya Vikram Bharatsinh – 2:58:51, Jyoti Gawate – 3:53:05, Kavitha Reddy – 4:14:01 and Prachi Godbole – 4:33:15 (provisional). The race played out quite well for Jyoti Gawate, who was the first among Indian women to complete the race. “ I had no difficulty during the race at all. The heat did become a bother during my last three loops,’’ she said. Her compatriot Ashvini Jadhav dropped out midway through the race as she experienced chest pain. Incidentally, all the six runners representing India in the men’s category were from the Indian Army.

Asked what he felt about the Indian men’s team meriting second place on the podium at the event, Adille Sumariwalla, president, Athletics Federation of India (AFI), said, “ Its historic. Its never happened before. We are reaching there.’’ According to Santhosh Padmanabhan, manager of the Indian team, it was an amazing performance given many of the team members hadn’t participated in a 50 kilometre-race before. “ Neither did we expect, nor did the world expect,’’ he said of the men’s team’s podium finish. Nadeem Khan, president, IAU also told this blog that the Indian team’s progression in the past few years had been remarkable.

Long term observers of IAU championships however pointed out that while the outcome at Hyderabad was certainly a great result for India, the more sobering aspects shouldn’t be overlooked for the sake of realistic growth. At 20 teams present and competing, the participation level in Hyderabad was modest. At the two IAU continental championships held earlier in Bengaluru, Indian teams had earned places on the podium. Those were great performances on home ground, in conditions Indians are used to. Finally, the progression pattern of new teams at IAU championships typically features an initial phase when performances may appear stunning. Then it settles down to improvements at a less amazing pace. And while the above should be borne in mind to put the podium position at Hyderabad in perspective, for the moment, it’s a fantastic silver for the Indian men’s team to celebrate.    

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai)

Photos from the event (all photos by Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon):