Greek Runner Fotis Zisimopoulos Wins 41st Spartathlon Ultra Race

Greek ultra-runner  Fotis Zisimopoulos. Photo source: Spartathlon Ultra Race/ Sparta Photography Club.

For a third consecutive year, Greek ultra-runner, 40-year-old Fotis Zisimopoulos from Agrinio reached the statue of Leonidas in Sparta first clocking 19:55:02 during the 41^st Spartathlon run which took place in Greece last weekend.

The Greek runner broke the record previously held for nearly 40 years by Greek ultra-runner Yiannis Kouros who won the 1st Spartathlon and held the record for the fastest time ever at 20 hours and 25 minutes.

Greek ultra-runner Fotis Zisimopoulos. Photo source: Spartathlon Ultra Race/ Sparta Photography Club.

The historic long-distance Spartathlon follows the footsteps of ancient Greek messenger Pheidippides, who ran 245km (153 miles)  from Athens to Sparta in 490 BC ahead of the Battle of Marathon in a day and a half to seek aid against the Persians.

This year’s  Spartathlon kicked off from the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, where 380 runners from across the globe gathered to test their mettle.

Photo source: Spartathlon Ultra Race.

Photo source: Spartathlon Ultra Race.

In second place, Badwater men’s winner Simen Holvik from Norway and in third spot American ultra-runner Camille Herron.

The 41^st Spartathlon, endorsed by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), was held under the auspices of the Athens and Sparta municipalities, the ministries of tourism and national defence, and was made possible thanks to the support of dozens of volunteers.