Humanoid robots show rapid advances as they race past humans in Beijing half-marathon

• Winning robot records faster time than Jacob Kiplimo’s world record

• More than 100 robots run in parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humans

Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, having lagged far behind a year earlier.

The race’s inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, as many robots struggled to get off the starting line, and most were unable to finish.