The IAU 50 km World Championships is an annual, global ultrarunning competition over 50 kilometres organized by the International Association of Ultrarunners (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.IAU 50 km Trophy: Kharitonov wins in Palermo, overall title to Barzca, Foundling-Hawker women's winner . World Athletics (2005-10-16). Retrieved on 2025-04-07.IAU 50 Kilometres Trophy . GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-07-08. 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.Khan, Nadeem (2014-10-29). Anthony and Harrison the favourites for IAU 50km World Trophy Final . World Athletics. Retrieved on 2025-04-07.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.Dates announced by the IAU . Planet Ultramarahon (2008-01-12). Retrieved on 2025-04-07.
The inaugural World Championship event took place in Doha, Qatar 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.Aspire Logistics to host IAU 50km final . Gulf Times (2014-03-06). Retrieved on 2025-04-07.
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.IAU Championships . International Association of Ultrarunners. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
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
Edition Year City Country Date No. of athletes No. of nations 1st 2005 Palermo Italy 16 October 2nd 2006 Winschoten Netherlands 16 September 3rd 2007 Palermo Italy 14 October 4th 2008 — — — — — 5th 2009 Gibraltar United Kingdom 31 October 6th 2010 Galway Ireland 29 August 7th 2011 Assen Netherlands 20 August 8th 2012 Vallecrosia Italy 20 October 9th 2013 — — — — — 10th 2014 Doha Qatar 31 October 1st 2015 Doha Qatar 4 December 2nd 2016 Doha Qatar 11 November 3rd 2017 canceled 4th 2018 cancelled 5th 2019 Brașov Romania 1 September 73 6th 2020 Aqaba Jordan 27 November 7th2021TaipeiTaiwan31 October 8th2023HyderabadIndia5 November7717 9th2026New DelhiIndia14 March6915
Medal summary Men 2005 6:05:33 6:15:40 6:21:562006 3:06:52 3:08:25 3:09:022007 3:06:36 3:09:39 3:12:442009 2:58:03 3:00:15 3:00:562010 2:47:22 2:53:06 2:54:572011 2:54:53 2:57:23 2:59:122012 2:53:41 2:57:49 2:58:182014 3:00:41 3:01:26 3:05:012015 2:52:08 2:55:34 2:56:152016 2:54:02 2:56:04 2:56:582017Not held20182019 2:47:42 2:48:26 2:49:012021Not held2023 2:48:20 2:49:30 2:50:122026 2:46:09 2:47:15 2:47:30
Women 2005 7:20:46 7:32:45 7:35:142006 3:31:19 3:32:08 3:35:152007 3:32:17 3:35:38 3:36:072009 3:29:48 3:37:10 3:38:232010 3:15:43 3:28:31 3:34:222011 3:17:30 3:25:05 3:26:372012 3:30:43 3:33:32 3:37:452014 3:32:30 3:33:23 3:37:572015 3:20:59 3:28:15 3:28:192016 3:22:45 3:25:53 3:26:172017Not held20182019 3:07:20 3:09:16 3:15:092023 3:18:23 3:19:07 3:20:072026 3:13:40 3:17:25 3:19:03
Men's team 2015 8:49:09 8:57:52 9:37:512016 8:56:37 8:59:29 9:45:582017Not held20182019 8:28:38 8:35:52 8:41:002023 8:28:02 8:48:50 8:51:582026 8:20:54 8:52:07 8:53:52
Women's team 2015 10:50:08 11:10:41 11:31:402016 10:36:01 10:40:00 11:26:362017Not held20182019 9:39:33 10:03:18 10:19:582023 9:59:07 10:18:11 10:53:202026 9:53:41 10:01:34 10:38:03
See also Ultramarathon International Association of Ultrarunners IAU 100 km World Championships
References
External links IAU official site