Last Tuesday, during the Deca Ultra Tri in Mexico, Poland’s Robert Karas broke the world record Quintuple Triathlon by over four hours. He needed 67:58 hours to complete 19 km of swimming, 900 km of cycling and 211 km of running. Karas started his attempt on Saturday, Sep. 18. It’s not the first time that he puts together an impressive performance on these extreme distances. Before, he was already crowned world champion on the double and triple triathlon.
The athlete swam 19 km in a local 25-meter pool in order to tick off the first of three disciplines. That meant he swam 760 lanes. Then he jumped on his bike to ride 900 km over a closed circuit, good for three km out and back. Also, the 211 km of running took place on a closed circuit. Given the fact that the laps were only two-kilometer long, Karas ran the exact same lap 106 times. With a finish time of 67:58 hours, Karas was about 4:30 hours faster than the previous record, even though the conditions weren’t ideal due to the heat and humidity, rain and hail. “It was a hell, a race like no other,” Karas told Poland’s media outlet PAP.
While Karas was already celebrating his victory, his opponents were still busy racing. The race lasts until today and has a crazy time limit of 144 hours.
