Aleksandr "Sania" Sorokin (born 30 September 1981) is a Lithuanian

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

who holds multiple

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

and European records. As of May 2023, he held seven world records on the track and

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

: 100 km (road), 100 miles (road), 100 miles (track), 6-hour run (track),

12-hour run A 12-hour run is a form of ultramarathon in which each competitor tries to run as far as possible in 12 hours. The event is typically held on loops, but sometimes is held on tracks.If the loop is less than 1 km, run direction changes every 2 ...

(track), 12-hour run (road),

24-hour run A 24-hour run is a form of ultramarathon, in which a competitor runs as far as they can in 24 hours. They are typically held on 1- to 2-mile loops or occasionally 400-meter tracks. Top runners will often run or more, depending on conditions, a ...

(road). Sorokin won the

IAU 24 Hour World Championship The IAU 24 Hour World Championship is an international 24-hour run competition organised by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU). Since 2015, the World Championship has alternated annually with the IAU 100 km World Championships. Pr ...

in 2019, IAU European 24 Hour Championships in 2022 and the

Spartathlon Spartathlon is a ultramarathon race held annually in Greece since 1983, between Athens and Sparti, the modern town on the site of ancient Sparta. The Spartathlon is based on the run of Pheidippides, who ran from Athens to Sparta before the ...

in 2017. He holds the world record for the greatest distances in 24 hours [], in 12 hours [], and achieved the fastest time for 100 miles (10 hours, 51 minutes, 39 seconds), in some cases having broken his own earlier records in subsequent runs.

Career

Aleksandr Sorokin kayaked and canoed for Lithuania teams until a shoulder injury when aged 25, but only began running in 2013, at the age of 31, to lose weight (he was 100 kg). He quickly demonstrated exceptional qualities in ultra distance running and took part in his first 100 kilometres race in 2013. In 2015, he set the Lithuanian records for 100 km (6:50:34) and 24 hours (242.189 km) at the respective World Championships. In 2017, Sorokin won the prestigious

in Greece, becoming the 35th winner and the third-fastest athlete in this race. In 2019 at the

held in

Albi Albi (; ) is a commune in France, commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department, on the river Tarn (river), Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ...

, France, he had his breakthrough performance, breaking the championship record with a distance of 278.972 kilometres. On 24 April 2021, he set both the 100-mile and the 12-hour world records during the Centurion Running Track 100 Mile in England (official record ratifiable splits are also taken there at the 50 km, 50-mile, 100 km, 6 hrs and 12 hrs en route). His 100-mile (160.934 kilometers) world record was a time of 11:14:56, and his 12-hour world record was a distance of 105.825 miles/170.309 kilometers. Sorokin kept overall pace for the 12 hours of running at a 6:48 minutes per mile (4:14 per kilometer). Later that year on 29 August, he broke

Yiannis Kouros Yiannis Kouros (, ; born 13 February 1956 in Tripoli, Kingdom of Greece) is a Greek ultramarathon runner based in Greece. Kouros holds or formerly held many world records between 100 miles and 1,000 miles. In 1991, he starred as Pheidippid ...

' 24-hour world record of 303.3 km, set in 1997. He covered 309.4 km with an average pace of 4:39 per kilometer in

Pabianice Pabianice is a city in central Poland with 63,023 inhabitants (2021). Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County. It lies about southwest of Łódź and belongs to the metropolitan area of that city. It is the thi ...

, Poland. At the Spartanion race in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel on 6 January 2022, the 40-year-old bested his own two records in one run and became the first runner to break the 11-hour barrier for 100 miles as he covered the distance (161 km) in 10 hours, 51 minutes and 39 seconds, and then continued on and broke second record – the furthest distance run in 12 hours, at 111.24 miles. On 23 April at the Centurion Running Track 100 Mile, he set a new world record for the 100 kilometres with a time of 6:05:41. On 18 September, Sorokin bettered his own 24-hour record by more than 10 kilometers at the IAU European 24 Hour Championships staged in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Italy. He achieved a distance of 319.614 kilometres which is only 1.5 miles short of 200 miles, and averaged a 4:30/km (7:15/mile) pace over 24 hours (he began with 3:55–3:58/km pace and managed to finish with a 5:05–5:10/km pace).

Personal bests

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sorokin, Aleksandr 1981 births Living people Lithuanian male athletes Male ultramarathon runners World Athletics Championships winners World record holders in athletics (track and field)