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Viktoria Brown breaks 72-hour world record, 48-hour Canadian best in Italy

Earlier in March, Whitby, Ont., runner Viktoria Brown broke her own 48-hour Canadian record and 72-hour world record while competing at the GOMU (Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners) six-day world championships in Policoro, Italy. Brown ran 364 km over 48 hours and 475 km after 72, beating her two previous records by 11 km and 8 km, respectively. She finished the six-day event with a grand total of 684 km to take home the women’s individual gold medal. 

The event in Italy marked the first six-day world championship organized by GOMU, which was founded in 2021. Brown is a vice president, as is Greek ultrarunning legend Yiannis Kouros; Canadian ultrarunning pioneer Trishul Cherns is president. The organization held its first world championship event—a 48-hour competition—in New Jersey in September 2022, and Brown and the team are looking to add 72-hour and 10-day races into the mix in the near future.

Canada didn’t send a team to the GOMU worlds, so Brown competed for Hungary, where she also holds citizenship. She helped lift the Hungarian women to the team world championship to pair with her individual gold medal. Going into the event, Brown’s Canadian 48-hour record stood at 353 km, which she ran in June 2022 at the Six Days in the Dome event in Wisconsin. After two days of running in Italy, she had eclipsed her PB to add another 11 km to her national record, which now stands at a whopping 364 km. 

Up next was the 72-hour mark, and Brown had her eyes on her world record of 467 km. She ran that amazing result at the same race where she posted her 48-hour best last June. Just like she did in Wisconsin, Brown charged forward after securing her 48-hour record, and eventually toppled her 72-hour best, too, with a tally of 475 km.

At that point, Brown already had two records in the books, but she was still only halfway through the six-day race. She carried on for another three days, eventually finishing with a phenomenal winning result of 684 km. That’s an amazing total, but even more incredible is the fact that it’s more than 50 km shy of Brown’s six-day PB (and, you guess it, another Canadian record) of 736 km. As with her 48- and 72-hour marks, Brown ran that result at the Six Days in the Dome last year. 

Brown says the next race on her schedule is the Badwater 135 ultramarathon in California, but since that isn’t until July, she may take another shot at the 72-hour record with hopes of improving her world record once again.