The 2014 IAU 100k World Championships took place today in Doha, Qatar. The USA’s Max King took home the men’s win in 6:27:43, a new 100k North American record. Ellie Greenwood (post-race interview), racing for Great Britain, handily took the women’s race in 7:30:48. Team USA took home the men’s team title, while Team Great Britain secured the women’s team victory.
In addition to this article, you can find our full play-by-play of the race as well as a collection of our pre-race interviews and preview on our 100k world championships live coverage page.
As usual, we’ll be updating this article with additional results as well as links to 100k world championships-related articles, photo galleries, and race reports.
Thanks to Hoka One One for sponsoring iRunFar’s coverage of the race.
Ps. To get all the latest ultra news from iRunFar.com, subscribe via RSS or email.
2014 IAU 100k World Championships Men’s Race
Both eventual champions, Max King and Ellie Greenwood, spent the first part of their respective races as stalkers of sorts, sitting a little distance behind the early leaders, chilling, watching, biding their time. In Max’s case, the early leaders, eventual seventh place Vasiliy Larkin and fourth place Hideo Nojo were running several minutes below world-record pace. So while Max was lodged firmly in the chase pack, he and others there were still running world-record pace for at least 20 kilometers. Somewhere around 45 kilometers in, Max broke from the chase pack and, then, between 60 and 65 kilometers in, took over the lead. From there, it was the king’s show. While his pace had slowed to over world-record pace, he hovered on pace to finish between two and six minutes below the now former North American 100k record, in the end improving the record of 6:30:11 set by Tom Johnson in 1995 by close to 2.5 minutes.
Max King, 2014 IAU 100k World Champion. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Sweden’s Jonas Buud sure knows how to finish second in the 100k world championships, as his finish this year represents his fourth. In typical Jonas fashion, he ran the first 10k outside the top 10, and then slipped into the center of the men’s chase pack by about 20k. There he would simply keep running, checking off remarkably unvarying splits while members of the chase pack splintered off and early leaders dropped back. By 80k, Jonas assumed second place, where he would hold steady through the finish. There was one set of splits, between 85 and 90k, where Jonas put close to a minute’s dent into Max’s lead, but he would then lose that gain back in the final 10 kilometers. In the end, consistency paid off for Jonas once again.
Jonas Buud earning second at the IAU 100k World Championships for the fourth time. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
What a day for Spain’s Jose Antonio Requeijo! It seems that, prior to today, his 100k PR was 6:57, which he set in finishing third at the 2013 IAU 100k European Championships. Now, a 20-minute improvement yields a third place at the 2014 IAU 100k World Championships. Jose ran for something like 70 or 80 kilometers with countrymate Asier Cuevas, who was the last world championship’s fourth-place finisher. When Asier dropped back, Jose held steady and onto the last podium spot.
Jose Antonio Requejo, 2014 IAU 100k World Championships third place. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Japan’s Hideo Nojo was one of the early leaders, running below world-record pace. This isn’t the first time he’s tried this, as he did the same at the Lake Saroma 100k in Japan earlier this year. In both cases, he fell off record pace by a lot but still finished strong, this time in fourth place in 6:39:21. Imagine what he could do if he tried to run something closer to an even split?
Japan’s Yoshiki Takada ran outside of the men’s top 10 for a long portion of the day, moving up late along with another late-race pusher, American Zach Bitter. The fruits of their labor earned them respective fifth and sixth places. Early leader, Russian Vasiliy Larkin, held onto seventh, Italy’s Alberico Di Cecco took eighth, American Zach Miller ninth, and Finland’s Fritjof Fagerlund tenth.
2014 IAU 100k World Championships Men’s Results
- Max King (USA, Montrail) – 6:27:43 (pre-race interview)
- Jonas Buud (Sweden, ASICS) – 6:32:04
- Jose Antonio Requejo (Spain) – 6:37:01
- Hideo Nojo (Japan) – 6:39:21
- Yoshiki Takada (Japan) – 6:46:47
- Zach Bitter (USA, Altra) – 6:48:53
- Vasiliy Larkin (Russia) – 6:50:38
- Alberico Di Cecco (Italy) – 6:51:14
- Zach Miller (USA, Nike) – 6:51:30 (pre-race interview)
- Fritjof Fagerlund (Finland) – 6:55:31
Full results (also here).
2014 IAU 100k World Championships Women’s Race
Out of the gate, America’s Amy Sproston, the defending 100k world champion, seemed hungry. While she didn’t lead straight away, she took over the women’s leadership position not long after 10k and held it until somewhere before the 45k point. Amy would finish the race but well out of contention.
While there were several other power plays made by women during this time, the U.K.’s Ellie Greenwood seemed content to sit back and watch them happen. Somewhere right before the halfway point, Ellie ran herself into the leadership position. Ellie told us before the race that the day wasn’t about time, that it was about placing. Once she took the lead, it seems like she kept a conservative approach about it. Her lead slowly and steadily increased, by a matter of just seconds per 5k lap. It wasn’t until the last couple laps that Ellie’s gap over the field grew to the nearly eight-minute lead with which she would finish. With her victory, Ellie secures her second IAU 100k World Championships title.
Ellie Greenwood, 2014 IAU 100k World Champion. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Japan’s Chiyuki Mochizuki and the U.K.’s Jo Zakrzewski both ran a textbook races. They, too, sat out the early power plays, moving into the middle of the top-10 women before halfway and then into the second- and third-place positions by the 50k point. From there, like Ellie, they held tight to their places, running almost-even splits all the way through and securing the other two spots on the podium.
Chiyuki Mochizuki finishes in second place. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Jo Zakrzewski, 2014 IAU 100k World Championships third place. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The U.K.’s other Jo, Jo Meek, took the same approach to the race, running first outside the top 10, then in the back half of the top 10, and not moving into her fourth-place position until somewhere around 70 to 75 kilometers in.
Russia’s Irina Antropova took fifth, Japan’s Shiho Katayama sixth, Croatia’s Veronika Jurisic seventh, the USA’s Meghan Arbogast eighth, Japan’s Mai Fujisawa ninth, and the USA’s Pam Smith tenth.
2014 IAU 100k World Championships Women’s Results
- Ellie Greenwood (UK, Montrail) – 7:30:48 (pre-race and post-race interviews)
- Chiyuki Mochizuki (Japan) – 7:38:23
- Jo Zakrzewski (UK) – 7:42:02 (post-race interview)
- Jo Meek (UK, SCOTT) – 7:43:37
- Irina Antropova (Russia) – 7:44:26
- Shiho Katayama (Japan) – 7:49:41
- Veronika Jurisic (Croatia) – 7:51:08
- Meghan Arbogast (USA, SCOTT) – 7:52:12 (pre-race interview)
- Mai Fujisawa (Japan) – 7:54:28
- Pam Smith (USA, La Sportiva) – 7:59:11 (pre-race interview)
Full results (also here).
2014 IAU 100k World Championships Articles, Race Reports, and More
Articles and Photo Galleries
- The Aspire Zone’s video wrap-up
- The Aspire Zone’s photos gallery
Race Reports
- Ellie Greenwood – 1st female
- Max King – 1st male
- Zach Bitter – 6th male
- Pam Smith – 10th female
- Steve Way – 13th male
