A humanoid robot named “Flash”, developed by Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co., Ltd., won the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon on Sunday, completing the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds using fully autonomous navigation.

Its performance surpassed the human half-marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds.

The current human record was set last month by Uganda’s long-distance runner Jacob Kiplimo at the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal.

This year’s race marked a significant advancement from the inaugural 2025 edition, when the robot Tiangong Ultra finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds, and only six of 20 teams completed the full 21.0975-kilometer course.

In the 2026 edition, more than 100 teams participated, including entries from Germany, France, and Brazil. The event showcased major improvements in humanoid robotics, with robots demonstrating greater speed, balance, and stability.

To ensure safety, robots and human runners followed the same course but ran in separate lanes. The robot category had a cutoff time of 3 hours and 40 minutes. Participants could compete either through remote control or autonomous navigation, with around 40 percent choosing full autonomy. Results for remotely controlled robots were adjusted using a 1.2 coefficient to encourage the development of independent navigation technology.

According to Liang Liang, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, the scoring system is designed to promote autonomous navigation capabilities, which are seen as essential for future real-world applications of humanoid robots.

In the human category, China’s Zhao Haijie won the men’s race in 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds, while compatriot Wang Qiaoxia took the women’s title in 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 6 seconds.