This is the slowest marathon time, mhmm a little less than 55 years.
The Olympics offer an opportunity to recognize the globe’s quickest athletes, yet we seldom ever hear about the worst or slowest. Only Shizo Kanakuri stands out. He currently holds the record for the global Olympic marathon’s slowest time. After 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, and 32 minutes, he completed the race.
Not really a slow sprinter, Shizo Kanakuri. In contrast, he had run a marathon in just 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 45 seconds while competing in the 1912 Olympics. At the Stockholm Olympics, he was the best man to win the marathon.
Japan and the other Asian countries were making their Olympic debuts. Only two athletes from Kanakuri’s nation were sent to compete. However, Kanakuri didn’t know that it was the slowest Marathon time for his lifetime.
Now that you kind of know about the slowest marathon time, do you know that a certain type of palm tree actually walks several centimeters every day?
The slowest Marathon time
Even though Kanakuri was the favourite, the odds were against him from the start. He was indeed a young, novice athlete who ran quickly. He had to endure an additional 18-day ferry and rail trip to arrive to Sweden. During the gruelling journey, Kanakuri sprinted around the ship as well as the inside of each train station. When he did there, the local cuisine was difficult for both him and his teammate to handle. In order to care for his sick friend, Kanakuri had to take time away from practice.
The marathon day was really hot. Kanakuri passed out from overheating 27 kilometres into the marathon and was attended to by some nearby farmers. Kanakuri wasn’t by himself. That day, runners were dying off like flies, and Francisco Lázaro, another runner, even tragically died. Only half of the sixty-eight racers who started the race made it to the finish line.
Kanakuri did not inform the race organisers of his withdrawal like the other runners who did. He had been reported missing. After competing in two more Olympics in Belgium and France, Kanakuri went back to Japan to continue his training. He was referred to as the Father of Japanese Marathons in his native country, but the missing marathoner in Sweden.
Shizo Kanakuri later in late 1960s
The Swedish government learned he was still alive and healthy in Japan after 50 years. They welcomed him back to complete the race in 1967 and allowed him to complete the slowest Marathon time. He finally completed the race at the age of 75. It was a long voyage, he remarked. I got married, had six kids, and 10 grandchildren along the way. This is exactly how the slowest marathon time happened to complete the long Marathon.