You Know Those Bomb Suits in the Movie 'Hurt Locker'? A Female Soldier Just Broke a World Record for How Fast She Ran in One

Clocking an 11:06 for a one-mile run might not seem like a great accomplishment, but for a woman wearing a 75-pound bomb suit, it's a new world record.

Ashley Sorensen, an Army 1st Lt. with the 303rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion, trained for 18 months to break the female record for the run in the suit, which still needs to be reviewed and validated by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Ashley Sorensen sets a record breaking time for running in the heavy suit. (Photo: U.S. Army)

"Whenever EOD goes out in the bomb suits for a manual approach, it's really important that we're able to work and sweat in the suit and still be able perform," Sorensen said in a statement. "So making it a competition when we train helps with that. Running a mile like this is definitely a challenge."

The Explosive Ordnance Disposal suit, similar to that in the tense scene in the film "The Hurt Locker," is designed to protect experts as they diffuse live bombs.

Sorensen getting suited up in the equipment meant to protect teams that diffuse live bombs. (Photo: U.S. Army)

Watch the record-breaking run:

The previous female record, still formally held according to the books, was 13 minutes 47 seconds, according to Sorensen.

The fastest mile by a male is 10 minutes 16 seconds held by Navy Lt. Jonathan Kehoe set on February 2, 2009.

Sorensen after her record-breaking run. (Image via U.S. Army video screenshot)

Believe it or not, people have even run marathons in the bomb suit. The fastest time is 6:55:59 held by Iain Church, a Major in the SO2 DS Army Division of the British Army, set during last year's Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Virginia. His bomb suit was 66 pounds.

Sorensen's record-breaking run took place on the University of Hawaii-Manoa track Monday.

--

[related]