Michele Graglia is a model, author, fitness coach, and

ultra marathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

runner. His book ''Ultra'' was published by Sperling & Kupfer in May 2017. Originally from Taggia, Liguria, Italy, Graglia became an international model represented by Major Model Management in New York and the now defunct Irene Marie Model Management in Miami, FL, where he was initially discovered. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California. On July 24, 2018, Graglia completed and won the Badwater 135. He finished the race in a time of 24:51:47. On September 15, 2018, Graglia started the ultramarathon across Chile's

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the ...

. The translation company TransPerfect sponsored his run. Following the run, Graglia was officially certified as the new

Guinness Book ''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 ...

World Record holder for the fastest-ever crossing of Chile's Atacama Desert on foot. He accomplished the unprecedented feat in 8 days, 12 hours, and 49 minutes, the equivalent of 2 to 3 marathons per day. On 11 October 2020, Graglia won the Moab 240 in 61 hours, 43 minutes, and 15 seconds. Graglia took the first place early on in the race and was tightly followed by fellow runner

David Goggins David Goggins (born February 17, 1975) is an American ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, public speaker, and author. He is a retired United States Navy SEAL member who served in the Iraq War. His first memoir, ''Can't ...

until Graglia grew their gap during the second half of the race, at one point, close to 20 miles separated the two. Graglia would end up grabbing the first place, with an advance of almost 1 hour and a half over Goggins who would finish second.

References

External links

Official Michele Graglia WebsiteInterview with Michele Graglia for UltraRunner podcast.Michele Graglia modeling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graglia, Michele Living people American people of Italian descent Male ultramarathon runners American male models 1984 births Italian male marathon runners People from Sanremo