A bright red robot standing 169 centimeters tall crossed the finish line of a half marathon in Beijing on Sunday in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. The time is nearly seven minutes faster than the men’s world record of 57:20, set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo.
The robot, named Lightning, was built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor and competed in the second Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, held in the Yizhuang area of the capital. It ran the roughly 21-kilometer course at an average pace of about 25 km/h, or 15.5 mph, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. For context, our half marathon pace chart shows that speed would crank out sub-3:50 per kilometer splits for the entire race.
Human and robot runners were kept in separate lanes to prevent collisions. Spectators lined the course to watch the machines run alongside flesh-and-blood competitors. Some of the robots moved with surprising fluidity, with one described by state media as moving like Usain Bolt. Others struggled with the basics.
A year ago, the same race produced a very different spectacle. The best robot took more than two hours and 40 minutes to finish, and many fell repeatedly along the course. About 20 robots entered. This year more than 100 teams signed up, nearly five times as many, according to organizers.
Lightning also finished almost two hours ahead of the robot that won last year’s race, organizers said. They wrote on social media that the robot’s “autonomous navigation and burst power proved key to winning the race.”
The human race ran on
The humans kept running too. Zhao Haijie won the men’s human category, and Wang Qiaoxia won the women’s. Both needed more than an hour to finish the course. That put them well behind Lightning, though both were still running a real race in their own right, and well within the range covered in our guide to what counts as a good half marathon time.
The robot category is a very different sport. Lightning did not pace off competitors, hydrate, or suffer through a late-race wall. Its developers equipped it with an autonomous navigation system, and the machine swung its short forearms for balance as it moved. It showed no sign of slowing as it crossed the finish line.
Chinese robotics on display
The result adds momentum to China’s push to compete with the United States in humanoid robotics, a field where American companies have so far held a lead. Beijing’s government listed robotics as a key sector in 2015, and a 2023 policy document called humanoid robots “a new frontier in technological competition,” setting a 2025 target for mass production and secure supply chains for core components.
Investment in robotics and so-called embodied AI in China reached 73.5 billion yuan, or about $10.8 billion, in 2025, according to a government agency study cited by AFP. That money has helped fuel a boom in robot participation at Chinese running events over the past two years.
Robot sporting events have multiplied across the country. Beijing hosted the first Humanoid Robot Games last year, with machines competing in soccer, boxing, martial arts and even head-to-head track races. At China’s annual televised new-year broadcast a few months ago, robots in kung-fu outfits performed choreographed martial arts routines.
