On Could 16, 2026, Finland’s Satu Lipiäinen set a brand new ladies’s 6-hour world file by working 85.712 kilometers (53.258 miles) on the 2026 Kokkola Extremely Run, held in her residence nation. She broke the earlier world file, set in 2017 by Nele Alder-Baerens of Germany at 85.492 (53.122) kilometers, by 234 meters.
Satu Lipiäinen on her approach to setting a brand new ladies’s 6-hour world file on the 2026 Kokkola Extremely Run. Photograph: Kalle Lipiäinen
The Kokkola Extremely Run, held within the Finnish west-coast city of Kokkola, is an IAU Bronze Label race and featured 6-, 12-, and 24-hour races over the weekend. The file is at the moment pending ratification. Lipiäinen isn’t any stranger to the course, as she set a brand new ladies’s 12-hour file on the similar occasion in 2023.
Lipiäinen’s common tempo was 4:12 minutes per kilometer (6:45 minutes per mile). Writing on her Instagram after the race, Lipiäinen defined that she was capable of maintain her aim tempo of 4:00 minutes per kilometer for the primary couple of hours, and he or she accomplished the primary marathon in 2:50. The subsequent few hours had been tough for Lipiäinen as she struggled together with her power ranges and began to lose confidence in setting a brand new world file. Within the last hour, realizing that she was feeling higher, she elevated her effort once more to safe the file. Telling of the hassle, she stated, “The ultimate hour was spent in some form of circulation state.”
Satu Lipiäinen working a gravel part throughout the 2026 Kokkola Extremely Run on her approach to a brand new ladies’s 6-hour world file. Photograph: Annukka Kuusio
Reflecting on the hassle, she stated, “The world file was the aim, and I knew it was inside attain. Nevertheless, there are such a lot of variables in ultrarunning, and 6 hours is a brutal self-discipline in that there isn’t any room for errors. Even now, you possibly can calculate that, for instance, a one-minute bathroom break would have price me the file.” She went on to say, “Though the end result shouldn’t be a shock to me, it feels actually good to run an virtually excellent race; these are uncommon in ultrarunning.”
The file exhibits a return to type for Lipiäinen, who grew to become a mom on the final day of 2024 and appeared to step again from racing in 2025. Along with her 2023 12-hour world file, Lipiäinen was fifth on the 2022 IAU 100k World Championships, working 7:15.
The Kokkola Extremely Run course is half gravel and half tarmac, measuring 862.7 meters and that includes about one meter of elevation achieve per lap. Lipiäinen ran 99 laps of the course.
