The winner of the 2024 Los Angeles marathon finished the race in 2:06:35. Kelly Gneiting, a ex sumo wrestler who weighs more than 400 pounds, was also a winner – but for a different reason.
Gneiting has broken the Guinness World Record for being the heaviest person to complete a marathon. The previous world record holder in this category was 275 pounds.
Gneiting, who had previously finished the Los Angeles marathon in 11:52:11, shaved almost 3 hours from his time this year, finishing in 9:48:52. “I’d like to see the Kenyan improve his marathon time by two hours,” he joked after the race.
At the end of the marathon, Gneiting weighed 396.2 pounds.
Gneiting jogged the first eight miles and then walked the final eighteen. He said afterward that he lost track of where he was after mile 10, and was forced to walk on the sidewalk because his time was much slower than the calculated 13 minute per mile pace that race officials use. He struggled to finish the race, dealing with heavy rain and brutal winds.
“I was really struggling in the last five miles,” he said, “but I said to myself, ‘If I have to crawl, I will.'”
image via nydailynews.com via latimes.com
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