Aparna Choudhary also crosses existing national record

Sarah Webster of Great Britain sets new 24-hr world record for women

Geeno Antony tops among Indian men

India’s ultrarunner Sunita Subba shattered the current national record at the 2025 IAU 24 Hour World Championships held in Albi, France on October 18-19.

Sunita covered a distance of 217.327 kilometers during the stipulated 24 hours, surpassing the national record by a huge margin. The existing national record was held by Anju Saini who had covered 204.314 km during the IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships held in Bengaluru in 2022.

Aparna Choudhary also surpassed the existing national record notching up a distance of 210.537 km finishing second behind Sunita among Indian women. She improved her personal record by a huge margin. Her previous best was 192 km.

Photo by Ashok Daniel

Sarah Webster of Great Britain and Northern Ireland won the gold in the women’s race of the Championships with a new world record distance of 278.622 km, surpassing the existing record of 270.363 km set by Miho Nakata of Japan.

Sarah Webster – Photo downloaded from IAU’s Facebook page

Holly Ranson of Australia won the silver with a distance of 273.058 km and Miho Nakata ended with the bronze (271.557 km). All three women ran further than current World Record. 

Among Indian women, finishing in third position was Bindu Juneja with a distance of 202.164 km. She improved her personal record by a huge margin of 17.2 km at this race.

“I was initially training alone in Darjeeling, where I stay. Then I was asked to shift to Bengaluru temporarily so that Santhosh Sir could monitor my training (Santhosh Padmanabhan is the manager of the Indian ultrarunning team). Many others lent support of various kinds to help me do this event,” she said. Sunita had recently secured the overall third position in the women’s race of Wipro Bengaluru Marathon 2025 and first in her age category of 18 to 35 years.

Sunita Subba

Indian men’s team was led by Geeno Antony, who covered a distance of 265.198 km, improving his own personal record by a staggering 26.5 km. In second position was Sugourav Goswami with a distance of 245.158 km and in third position was Ullas Narayana (229.779 km).

Amar Singh Devanda, the national record holder for 24-hours, fell back to fourth position with a distance of 225.048 km. He said he ran well for about 15 to 16 hours but could not keep up after that. However, his national record of 272.537 km set in April 2024 remains unbroken.

“My race went off very well. The effort that went into the training helped me immensely during the run,” Geeno said.

“My presence at the championship is not because of me alone. It’s the result of many sleepless nights, endless effort, and the silent teamwork behind me. Every step I took in the 24 Hours World Championship was powered by their support,” Geeno said.

Geeno Antony

At 245.158 km, Sugourav also bettered his personal record by a substantial margin. His previous best was 226 km set in March 2025 at the 24-hour Bengaluru Stadium Run. Nevertheless, he was not happy with his performance. “I could have done better but fatigue pulled down my performance. My conservative target was 150 km. I struggled a lot in the last three hours of the race,” he said.

A team of people including Nagaraj Adiga of Energiva and NEB Sports, Santhosh Padmanabhan, coach and team manager, Vivek Gopi (strength and conditioning), Samanivita (nutritionist), Abhishek Jagan (Sports Scientist), Hemant (race crew support for Geeno) among many others were responsible for the entire Indian team and made it possible for the runners to be there in Albi to represent the country, Geeno said.

In the men’s overall race, Andrii Tkachuk of Ukraine won the gold with a distance of 294.346 km. Silver was secured by Jo Inge Norum of Norway (285.513 km) and bronze by Matti Jonkka of Finland (283.699).

Indian team – Photo by Ashok Daniel

Team Standings

Among the women’s team, Great Britain and Northern Ireland won the gold (768.641 km), followed by Australia (744.601 km) and Japan (726.983).

The men’s team event was won by Finland (797.030 km. France secured silver (791.195) and Poland finished in bronze position (780.651 km).

Runners are required to run in a loop of 1,500 meters for a period of 24 hours starting October 18, 2025.

The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.

(With inputs from IAU)