A humanoid robot has set a new world record for the half-marathon in Beijing, marking a major escalation in the capabilities of artificial intelligence and robotics.
The robot, developed by Chinese firm Honor, completed the 21-kilometer race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
That is well ahead of the human world record of roughly 57 minutes, set earlier this year by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo.
Watch the clip below:
A humanoid robot won a half-marathon in Beijing in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, finishing faster than Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo’s world record.
Read more: https://t.co/9dAhROVvPn pic.twitter.com/MkqJOKUxwS
— CNN (@CNN) April 19, 2026
The race was part of a robot competition held alongside a human event.
Around 40 percent of the machines ran autonomously, while others were remotely controlled.
This Chinese humanoid robot just shattered the world record for a half marathon, finishing in 50 min 26 sec.
This video shows its crash just meters before the finish line where it had to be picked up by a team of humans. The robot is from Honor, the smartphone maker and Huawei… pic.twitter.com/HflDC0rInX
— Kyle Chan (@kyleichan) April 19, 2026
The result represents a dramatic jump in performance.
In the same event last year, the fastest robot took more than two hours and 40 minutes to finish.
Several machines struggled during the race, with some falling or colliding with barriers, but the winning robot completed the course cleanly at a pace that would beat elite human runners.
🤖 Chinese humanoid robots have taken part in a half-marathon race in Beijing, and they’ve whizzed past mere humans.
Developed by Chinese smartphone brand ‘Honor’, “Lightning” was crowned champion, finishing the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. pic.twitter.com/NXjwadOuy8
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 19, 2026
The robot was designed with long, athlete-like legs and equipped with an advanced liquid-cooling system to maintain performance over long distances.
China has been investing heavily in humanoid robotics, with state planning documents identifying the sector as a strategic priority through the end of the decade.
Major U.S. companies are also racing to build humanoid robots. Firms such as Boston Dynamics have already moved their Atlas robot from prototype to early industrial deployment.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Tesla is developing its Optimus robot for mass production, with plans to scale output and eventually sell the machines commercially.
Tesla Optimus learning Kung Fu pic.twitter.com/ziEuiiKWn7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2025
Ben Kew is a writer and editor. Originally from the UK, he moved to the U.S. to cover Congress for Breitbart News and has since gone on to editorial roles at Human Events, Townhall Media, and Americano Media. He has also written for The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, and The Spectator.
You can email Ben Kew here, and read more of Ben Kew’s articles here.
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