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Humanoid Robot Wins Beijing Half Marathon In New ‘World Record’ Time

The “robot-only” division of the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon on Sunday, April 19, saw humanoid robots attempt a full 21.1km course alongside humans. While Chinese smartphone maker Honor’s Lightning robot took first place with record-breaking speed, the rest of the robot athletes were a little less deserving of kudos. Some lost balance and face-planted, others required human assistance for technical readjustments, while a few were escorted off on stretchers.

Released on 04/20/2026

Transcript

[Matthew] A humanoid robot developed by

Chinese smartphone maker Honor

won the Beijing Half-Marathon,

beating all human competitors

and surpassing the human world record in the process.

Honor's Lightning robot completed the course

in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

Last month, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo

finished the same 21 kilometer distance

in 57 minutes and 20 seconds in Lisbon.

In last year's Beijing race,

the winning robot finished significantly slower

in two hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds,

but there are caveats to this progress.

While the top three finishing robots,

all made by Honor,

were said to be operating autonomously,

around 60% of the robot competitors

were being teleoperated directly

and not everyone made it to the finish line in one piece

with some experiencing what runners call hitting the wall.