Paralyzed man Adam Gorlitsky set a Guinness World Record on Sunday when he completed the 2023 Publix Fort Lauderdale A1A Half-Marathon.
He finished the race in 11 hours and 54 minutes by using a ReWalk robotic exoskeleton, setting a new Guinness World Record for fastest half marathon with a robotic device, according to Local 10. (RELATED: Scientists Confirm Fifth Person ‘Cured’ Of HIV)
MIRACLE MARATHONER – Adam Gorlitsky, who is paralyzed from the waist down, completed the Publix Fort Lauderdale A1A Half-Marathon. https://t.co/T7zUDjwnzq
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) February 20, 2023
Gorlitsky suffered a spinal injury from a car accident in 2005, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, his bio states. Doctors believed he would never walk again.
In August of 2015, Gorlitsky was given a ReWalk, a breakthrough device that enables people with spinal injuries to regain hip and knee motion. The device enabled him to stand and walk again after a decade of paralysis and Gorlitsky began training for races immediately. His first race was the 2016 Cooper River Bridge Run, a six mile race held annually in South Carolina. He went on to break the Guinness World Record for exoskeleton marathon walking.
Gorlitsky has competed in over 50 races, and taken more than 2 million steps since he regained the ability to walk, according to the bio. Gorlitsky runs a foundation called “I Got Legs,” which is devoted to helping paralyzed individuals learn to walk again with exoskeletons and other available technologies. The foundation’s end goal is to improve exoskeleton technology to the point where paralysis is fully reversible.