Michal Kapral (born 1972)Lindsay Crouse

''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', November 1, 2015. is a Canadian joggler based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. He owns the world records for running the fastest

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

and half-marathon while

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

, for the fastest 10-kilometer run while juggling without a drop, and formerly held the world record for fastest marathon while pushing a stroller.

Career

Joggling

Joggling was conceived by Bill Giduz in 1975.Kevin Bell
"The Invention of Joggling, the Goofiest Sport in History,"
''

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'', March 23, 2015. The first official joggling event took place at the 1981

International Jugglers' Association The International Jugglers' Association or IJA is the world's oldest and largest nonprofit circus organization, and is open to members worldwide. It was founded in the United States in 1947, with the goal of providing, "an organization for jugg ...

festival in North Dakota.Sara Beck
"3 Beanbags and 26.2 Miles,"
''New York Times'', October 18, 2012. The sport has two primary rules: a runner must juggle at least three objects every step of the way, and if the object drops, the runner must pick it up and continue running from the point where the drop occurred. Kapral first learned of joggling at the age of 11, when he saw the world record listed in ''

The Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'', and started running after graduating from college. He completed his first marathon in 1999, and in 2002 won the

Toronto Marathon The Toronto Marathon, held annually on the first Sunday of May, is a race from Yonge and Sheppard, in the north end of Toronto, to Exhibition Place, via Humber Bay Park. The origins of the event trace back to 1977, and the race was initially call ...

with a time of 2:30:40, his best overall marathon time. Earlier that year, he was the top Canadian finisher at the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

.Katrina Clarke
"Toronto's champion 'joggler' sets sights on another world record,"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', October 13, 2014. In 2004, at the

Toronto Waterfront Marathon The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is an annual marathon held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in October. The race day also includes a half marathon and 5 km race. The race has quickly become an elite level marathon and is one of just five World A ...

, Kapral set the world record for fastest marathon while pushing a baby (his daughter Annika) in a stroller with a time of 2:49:43, besting the previous record by over an hour. After the race, he stated that the next year he would run the marathon while juggling.Caitlyn Pilkington
"Canadian Sets New Running-While-Juggling World Record,"
Competitor.com, October 30, 2014. He quickly became proficient at juggling. In September 2005, he joggled his first marathon as a charity stunt for Toronto's SickKids Hospital, initially planning to do it just the one time. He wound up setting the marathon joggling record with a time of 3:07:41, thirteen minutes faster than the previous mark, leading him to pursue the sport further.Peter DeMarco
"Juggling for 26.2 miles – it 'joggles' the mind,"
''

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'', April 12, 2006. Two months later, Kapral's marathon joggling record was broken by

Zach Warren Zach Warren (born 1981) is an American circus performer and psychologist. In 2005, he began working with the Afghan Mobile Mini Children's Circus and was Director of Policy Research for The Asia Foundation between 2014-2017. He is known for breakin ...

. Shortly after that, they faced off at the 2006 Boston Marathon, which was the first time two jogglers had ever participated in the same marathon. Kapral would go on to regain, lose and regain the world record, setting the current marathon joggling world record with a time of 2:50:12 in 2007, while also chewing gum throughout the race. After experimenting with balls and beanbags in his first joggling marathons, beginning with his record-setting run he joggled using handmade beanbags filled with millet.Merrit Kennedy
"Man Juggles For An Entire Marathon Without A Single Drop,"

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, October 13, 2016. Kapral set the Guinness world record for the fastest 10-kilometer joggling run without a drop at the Longboat Toronto Island Run in September 2006. In 2014, Kapral set the world record for fastest joggling half-marathon at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, with a time of 1:20:40, dropping just one ball. At the 2015

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...

, organizers prevented Kapral from joggling by deeming beanbags a prohibited item for security reasons. In August 2016, Kapral ran a

beer mile A beer mile is a drinking race combining running and speed drinking. Typically, the race takes place on a standard 400-metre or 1/4-mile running track. The race begins at the 1-mile starting line with the consumption of a beer, followed by a f ...

(drinking four beers while running a mile) while also juggling, completing the task in eight minutes and 49 seconds. The world record for running the beer mile (without juggling) is held by Corey Bellemore, with a time of 4:34:35 at the 2016 Beer Mile World Classic in London. In October 2016, Kapral ran the

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

while juggling, managing to do so without dropping any balls, and finishing with a time of 2 hours and 55 minutes. It was his eighth joggling marathon and first time completing one without a single drop.Sinead Mulhern
"Joggler Michal Kapral amazed at own ability to not drop the ball,"
''Canadian Running'', October 11, 2016. Kapral, who competed in the 3,000-meter

steeplechase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

in high school, stated in 2016 that he plans to start training to complete a steeplechase while juggling.Leif Walcutt
"Juggling Marathons Are Actually A Thing,"
''

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'', October 17, 2016.

Film and television

The 2011 documentary ''Breaking and Entering'', directed by Benjamin Fingerhut, profiles various people obsessed with getting their names in the ''Guinness Book of World Records''. Among other stories, the film chronicles the rivalry of marathon jogglers Kapral and

. In 2015, Kapral was featured in a Fairfield Inn television commercial.Liam Boylan-Pett
"World's Fastest Joggler Stars in Fairfield Inn Commercials,"
''Runner's World'', March 24, 2015.

Writing and editing

Kapral works as a writer and editor at a healthcare group in Toronto. He was formerly an editor for

Captivate Network Captivate is a digital media company with a network of 12,000 high-resolution, flat-panel elevator and lobby displays in 1,800 premier office buildings across North America. Published in two countries and two languages, the network spans over 31 m ...

, which operates electronic news boards found in elevators, and was formerly the editor of ''Canadian Running'' magazine.

Personal life

Kapral and his wife Dianne have two daughters, Annika and Lauryn.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kapral, Michal Living people 1972 births Canadian male long-distance runners Canadian male marathon runners Jugglers Athletes from Toronto Sports world record holders