BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday

A humanoid robot broke the half-marathon world record while competing against thousands of human runners.

Lightning — bright red and designed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor — slammed into a barricade and toppled down the stretch, but the robot helped itself back up with human assistance and propelled i...