Honor robot runs half marathon 50:26

Honor’s humanoid robot Flash ran the Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half Marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds on April 19, beating the human world record for the distance. (english.news.cn) (wired.com) The 21-kilometer race was held alongside the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon, and Xinhua identified the winner as a robot from Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co. Ltd. (english.news.cn) (english.cctv.com) Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda set the men’s human half-marathon world record at 57:20 at the Lisbon Half Marathon in March 2026, leaving Flash 6 minutes and 54 seconds faster on paper. (english.news.cn) (smithsonianmag.com) A half marathon is an endurance test over 13.1 miles, and for a humanoid robot it measures more than speed: balance, power use, cooling, sensors and software all have to hold up for nearly an hour. (wired.com) (slashgear.com) Reuters reported that spectators at this year’s event saw much faster machines than in 2025, when the winning robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds. (pbs.org) (wired.com) The field also got bigger. Humanoids Daily said more than 300 robots from 26 brands entered the 2026 race, compared with 21 teams in the inaugural event in 2025. (humanoidsdaily.com) (pbs.org) Several reports also use a different English name for the same robot, calling it Lightning rather than Flash, while still identifying Honor as the developer and 50:26 as the finishing time. (smithsonianmag.com) (cbsnews.com) (english.news.cn) That naming mismatch aside, the result turned a public road race into a live benchmark for humanoid robots: one machine, one course, one clock, and a finish time under the best human mark. (cnn.com) (nbcnews.com)