Swiss orienteering world champion Matthias Kyburz took to the treadmill amidst the coronavirus outbreak, breaking the world record with an official time of 2:56:35. This is after the treadmill world record was broken twice this year by Mario Mendoza and Florian Neuschwander with a time of 2:59:03 and 2:57:25 respectively.

According to Canadian Running, Kyburz is a four-time world champion in orienteering, having won two individual gold medals and two relay championships. He is also a five-time European champion.

He has also had success in running-specific events. The World Athletics website notes that Kyburz has PBs of 14:45 for 5,000m, 29:55 over 10K and 1:08:25 in the half marathon. He ran his 10K PB at the 2015 Swiss 10K championships, where he finished second.

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World record attempt – 50 km treadmill: Tomorrow at 17.30 Matthias Kyburz will start his world record attempt. The goal is to beat the current record of Florian Neuschwander (2:57:25). In our livestream (link in bio) we will have interesting guests joining us. Among them are names like @kilianjornet, @paula_radcliffe, @vik42195, @sabrinamockenhauptofficial, @tadesse_abraham_official, @judithwyder, @marc_lauenstein, @maxkingor and many more. . #run4goals #runinside #virace #timetoplay #timetoplayinside #treadmill #worldrecord #treadmill50k #2peak

A post shared by running.COACH (@running.coach) on Apr 15, 2020 at 8:30am PDT

“I prepared the whole winter [to be in] top shape,” he said in the live video. “Now I’m basically sitting on the top shape but I can’t use it.” This unique challenge was a way to put his hard-earned fitness to use.

Kyburz clocked an average of 3:30 per kilometre over the 50K run. He passed through 20K in 1:10:48, completed a marathon in 2:29:10 and ran another 8K to finish the run in a new 50K world record time of 2:56:35.

The run doubled as a fundraiser for COVID-19 relief in Switzerland with the proceeds going to help individuals and families in Switzerland “who are bearing the brunt of the virus’ health-related, social and economic impacts.”

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