44-year-old Nicola Walde covered exactly 1,088 kilometres with pure muscle power in a disguised velomobile, setting a new women's HPV world record (HPV stands for Human Powered Vehicles). The previous women's record was 1,012 kilometres, which Walde had already beaten after just under 22 hours.
The Asudauer athlete, who is petite at just 1.51 metres tall and weighs 44 kilograms, also wanted to attack the men's record of 1,219 kilometres during her record attempt at the Opel Test Center Rodgau-Dudenhofen, but was slowed down by a thunderstorm. Born in Hamburg, she has already held the 12-hour HPV world record for women since 2015. The Rüsselsheim-based car manufacturer Opel is supporting the 24-hour marathon by providing the 4.8-kilometre high-speed circuit in Rodgau-Dudenhofen.
Walde's sports equipment: a fully enclosed recumbent bike with three wheels, designed by Walde's partner Daniel Fenn. Speeds of up to 90 kilometres per hour are possible with this aerodynamically optimised one-off. To achieve the new record time, Walde had to constantly produce around 100 watts of power - for a whole day!
Car manufacturer Opel started producing its own bicycles in 1886. And there have also been world records: Belgian racing cyclist Léon Vanderstuyft set a standing world record near Paris on 29 September 1928. He reached an unthinkable speed of 122.77 kilometres per hour on the legendary Opel ZR III racing bike converted for the track behind his Swiss pacemaker Lehmann - a record that stood for over 50 years. At the end of 1936, the Hessian company finally sold its production to the NSU works in Neckarsulm. Opel produced a total of 2,621,965 wheels in 51 years.
