Human Half-Marathon World Record Zapped by Humanoid Robot at the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon

April 20, 2026

In a giant leap for humanoid kind, a robot named Lightning outran all its human and robot competitors at the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon, on April 19, finishing in 50:26, faster than any human — or humanoid — has before.

Lightning and the other two robot podium finishers were built by the Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics maker Honor, whose representative said in a press conference after the race that the company has been making humanoid robots for only a year and that its work has focused on adapting technologies from other electronics industries into robotics.

This year was the second edition of the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon, and it reportedly hosted more than 12,000 humans and 300 humanoid robots — on parallel but equal courses. For the humans, Zhao Hai-Jie of China won the men’s race in 1:07:47, while Wang Qiao-Zia, also of China, won for the women in 1:18:06.

If last year’s robotic entrants won hearts and minds in the match-up of humans versus humanoid robots, this year’s competitors took that sentiment and ran away with it. Crowds of astounded and inspired onlookers gaped, their smartphones recording, as the mechanical athlete blazed by at an average pace of 3:50 minutes per mile. To put that in perspective, Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) and Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia), the men’s and women’s half-marathon world record holders, ran 57:20 and 1:02:52, with mere average paces of 4:22 and 4:47 minutes per mile. I.RUN.FAR