New World Record for Running 100m in Ski Boots | Welove2ski
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New World Record for Running 100m in Ski Boots

Sprinter crosses the line in 14:09 seconds.
New World Record for Running 100m in Ski Boots | Welove2ski
Max Willcocks crosses the line in 14:09 seconds.

Ahhhhh. So that’s what we should be doing, as we hobble back to the chalet/hotel/apartment in our ski boots, at the end of the skiing day.

We should be running, not walking.

And just to underline the point, two staff members from boot-fitting specialists Profeet have set new world records for the fastest 100m while wearing ski boots.

Both are talented athletes. And they made their job a little easier by picking the Atomic Backland for their record attempt. A super-lightweight boot designed for ski touring, it has a lot more flexibility than most. It no doubt helped that the boots were properly fitted too.

Their times are extraordinary. After a warm-up session with Dr Craig McLean of Putney Chiropractic, Max Willcocks stopped the clock at 14:09 seconds – eclipsing the previous record of 17.65 set in 2015 by Andre Ortolf. Meanwhile, Emma Kirk-Odunubi set a best-ever woman’s time of 16.86.

The records were set at Barn Elms track in south-west London.

Max was delighted, and a little surprised: “I’d skied and toured in the Backland so I knew the boot, but the only time I had ever run in them before was when I ran away from some lifties when we were night touring.”

Meanwhile, Emma’s preparation for the Amsterdam marathon clearly did her a power of good.

“It was the powerful, driving, start phase that I found the hardest,” she said. “Maintaining high leg turnover as the fatigue hit me at 80-90m was really tough too.”

As for the rest of us…can you imagine it? In my old boots (the ones I dumped in a ski resort dustbin five years ago) I’d have managed the 100m in 14 minutes, not 14 seconds.

New World Record for Running 100m in Ski Boots | Welove2ski
Emma Kirk-Odunubi readies herself at the start.

The Profeet Ski Lab offers ski-boot fitting, modifications and advice…just for skiers though, not sprinters.

About the author

Sean Newsom

As well as founding Welove2ski in June 2007, Sean has written about skiing and snowboarding in the British press for 28 years. For the last 20 of them, he’s also been the ski travel editor at The Sunday Times.

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