The IAU 50 km World Championships is an annual, global

ultrarunning An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the s ...

competition over 50 kilometres organized by the

International Association of Ultrarunners The International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) is the world governing body of ultra running, race events longer than the marathon distance of 42.2 km. It regulates and sanctions the World Championships for various ultramarathon distanc ...

(IAU). The competition began life as the IAU 50 km World Trophy in 2005. It served as the final leg of the IAU 50 km Challenge circuit, with runners gaining qualification through performances on one of the nine preceding qualifying races. The winners of the men's and women's trophy were decided by the best aggregate time of their World Trophy race plus their best time from the qualifying round. The race moved away from aggregate scoring, with the World Trophy race becoming a straight final, and it continued in this format up to 2014.Mulkeen, Jon (2014-11-01)
Makaza regains IAU world 50km title, Harrison takes women's crown
World Athletics. Retrieved on 2025-04-07. The 2008 and 2013 editions were cancelled due to the number of world championships the IAU was already organised that year. The inaugural World Championship event took place in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in December 2015. This included men's and women's races with individual and team elements. The team titles were decided by the three best combined times set by a nation's runners at the competition.Minshull, Phil (2015-12-04)
USA's Migliozzi and Herron take gold at the IAU 50km World Championships
World Athletics. Retrieved on 2025-04-07. For 2014 to 2017 it was agreed that the competition would be hosted in Doha for those years, moving the competition away from its tradition of changing host each year. The competition signalled commitment to the sport in Qatar, with Doha hosting its first ultramarathon in the months preceding the 2014 championship. It is one of four world championships organised by the IAU, with the others being the IAU 100 km World Championships, IAU 24 Hour World Championship and the IAU Trail Running World Championships. The inaugural edition in 2005 incorporated a European Championship race. Oleg Kharitonov was the men's winner, with World Trophy winner Sandor Barcza as runner-up and Stefano Sartori in third. The European Championship and World Trophy places matched on the women's side, with Heather Foundling-Hawker winner of both. The European Championship was abandoned after the launch of the World Championships. It had only been held twice ( Mario Ardemagni and Danielle Sanderson were the 2004 winners).IAU EUropean 50 km Trophy
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-07-09.

Editions

Medal summary

Men

Women

Men's team

Women's team

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

IAU official site
50 km Recurring sporting events established in 2005 Ultramarathons