Runner Shatters World Record for Barefoot Half-Marathon on Snow in -20°C

At 27 years old, Karim El Hayani has brought down the former record of the Dutchman Wim Hof, nicknamed "the ice man" (2 h 06 min 34 s, in 2007) by achieving a good performance around Lake Beauport, near Quebec (1 h 36’). Last week, he covered fifteen times a course set up around the 1,300 m body of water. When he came across Wim’s record, he immediately set out to challenge it. "His way of living and his way of seeing things fascinated me," he confides. To achieve this, he received the support of the Clinique du Coureur.

While the previous record is official, that of the Moroccan athlete remains unofficial. It is up to the Guinness World Record to homologate this performance. He is nevertheless happy to have achieved this feat. He told Distances+ "to have felt an incredible emotion". "The conditions were (however) not ideal," assures Isabelle Dumais, general manager of the Clinique du Coureur. Despite temperatures below -20°C, Karim kept his promise. "It’s true that it’s not what we expected," he says. "We had scouted the course. It was really in good condition, but the last three days there was a cold snap with temperatures at -27° and -33° and thaws with rain".

These climate changes had a negative impact on the race. "It changed everything because I couldn’t run at the pace I wanted. I had to learn 20 minutes before the start to run on an ice rink," the athlete confides. Karim was able to take up the challenge but his feet are slightly damaged. Blaise Dubois noted "a few blisters and a little blood on some toes". After this feat, the champion is aiming high. He is preparing to take on a diametrically opposed challenge: the Marathon des Sables (250 km, 2445 m D+), scheduled for October 1-11, 2021.