The Outside Guide to FKTs
The wild world of fastest known times includes crazy ideas, stunning successes, disappointing failures—and so much in between
Iconic Records
The distance runner shaved more than two hours off the JMT’s previous fastest time
On Sunday night, British hiker Josh Perry decimated the trail’s long-standing self-supported records after chasing Timothy Olson’s 2021 time
Andrea Sansone spent the summer scouting Nolan’s 14 before setting the FKT
A 53-year-old Colorado man recently became the fastest person to push a peanut up the 14,115-foot mountain with his nose. You read that right.
In her new memoir 'Thirst,' the celebrated thru-hiker delves into the physical and mental struggles and triumphs she experienced on the trail
It's not just that she's fast—it's that she didn't train at all
Five years ago, the Swedish runner was beset by long-term injury. This past weekend, she set a new bar for traversing one of the most iconic landmarks in the U.S.
Karel Sabbe set a new record of 41 days, 7 hours, and 39 minutes. And he did it without much money or fanfare, proving that you just gotta run like hell.
The Spanish ultra-athlete has spent the past decade crushing a generation of elite rivals and redefining the limits of human endurance. But when he notched back-to-back speed ascents of Everest in 2017, critics pounced on the claims.
The 29-year-old Spaniard continues breaking speed records on the world’s highest mountains
After 2,652 miles, 400,000 feet in elevation gain, and more than 51 days, the ultrarunner finished his PCT thru-hike
How They Do It
The 27-year-old former Navy SEAL may be one of the most gifted runners on the planet. Good thing he doesn’t want to race—yet.
Heather Anderson just crushed the record for the fastest known unsupported Appalachian Trail thru-hike. That makes her the biggest badass you’ve never heard of.
A group of women who are out to make history, and upend how we think about competition in the process
A complete list of everything the new record holder carried and wore
When one of bikepacking’s best athletes set a fastest known time on a legendary route, ultradistance cycling’s corner of the internet exploded in controversy around the meaning of the term “self-supported”
With races canceled, Enda challenged its sponsored athletes to set a record on Mount Kenya
Liz "Mercury" Anjos just completed a mid-pandemic thru-hike of the AT—with the help of a small, dialed support squad and a van named Pegasus
Making your way over an 800-mile trail through deserts and mountains in less than 16 days is no picnic—except for those gas-station resupply stops
At the outer edges of endurance sports, something interesting is happening: women are beating men
And You Can Too
With no official governing body, it’s up to athletes to prove their fastest-known-time claims. But as the stakes increase, substantiating these feats has become more complex than ever. For those who still intend to pursue an FKT, though, these guidelines will help.
A writer with a few such times under her belt ponders whether or not speed enhances or detracts from the experience
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book, ‘Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes,’ longtime Outside contributor Christine Yu argues that female athletes deserve their own benchmarks for athletic success.