The Austrian extreme athlete Christoph Strasser broke the 24-hour world record on the track in Grenchen, Switzerland this weekend.The four-time winner of the Race Across America completed 941.873 kilometres on exactly one day, surpassing the old best mark of the Slovenian Marko Baloh, who had made 903.76 kilometres in Italy in 2010.
“It was an incredible race.I have travelled through continents and set the 24-hour outdoor world record in Berlin.But today this is comparable with almost nothing else”, Strasser cheered in Austria’s media.
Strasser also had to contend with stomach problems:”One of the biggest problems was the rigid fixed position on the time trial bike and the stomach problems caused by this, which prevented me from stepping on my usual wattage during the night”.
This was probably one of the reasons why Strasser did not reach his second goal.Instead of the target hourly average of 40 kilometres, the Styrian “only” had an hourly average of 39.24 kilometres.In total, he did 3767 laps on the oval.
Strasser only climbed off the bike once: after 22 hours he had to stop for a restroom break, until then he had held out:”I just didn’t have any need and thus managed a few more kilometres,”he said.Baloh’s old record fell at exactly 12:04 on Sunday.
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