UTMB 2026: Cristian Minoggio claims his first CCC as Yngvild Kaspersen seals a second win

Adaptation. It is undoubtedly one of the buzzwords of the moment, and it fits outdoor sports perfectly, particularly trail running, where athletes are constantly exposed to the vagaries of the weather.

Rain was falling as the 1,600 runners set off from Courmayeur, Italy, at 9 a.m. for a modified CCC course, with the downpour making the terrain treacherous and slippery. The route had grown from 101 to 107 km, and from 6,100 to 6,400 m of elevation gain, creating an entirely different race for the contenders. Avoiding the Bovine alpine pastures on the Swiss side, the runners had to descend towards Martigny before climbing back towards Col de la Forclaz. The final climb to La Flégère was also removed, with the runners taking the OCC route from Vallorcine, after yesterday’s race. It made for a faster finish than originally planned, offsetting the added climb to La Forclaz.

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At 13°C, it did not take long for the 1,600 contenders to warm up. The first challenge came early, leading to Tête de la Tronche at km 9, where a small group of favourites arrived together. It included American Hans Troyer (Brooks), compatriot Eli Hemming (Adidas Terrex), Italy’s Critstian Minoggio (Fuga), Frenchmen Benjamin Roubiol (Asics) and Thomas Cardin (Kiprun), Poland’s Andrzej Witek (Asics), and Portugal’s Miguel Arsenio (Fuga).

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Thomas Cardin lived up to his status as the pre-race favourite, taking control on the next climb towards the Grand Col Ferret, which he crossed first at km 30. The long descent to Champex-Lac at km 54 reshaped the race. A trio broke clear, made up of Hans Troyer, Eli Hemming and Cristian Minoggio. Andrzej Witek and Benjamin Roubiol were a minute back, Miguel Arsenio was three minutes down, and Thomas Cardin four. The Frenchman called it a day at halfway, a genuine disappointment after counting on this half-loop around Mont Blanc to find his bearings ahead of UTMB 2027.

The leading trio soon became a pair when Eli Hemming stopped to stretch, apparently struggling, and lost contact with the breakaway runners. The American left Hans Troyer and Cristian Minoggio to battle it out at the front. On the climb to Les Tseppes at km 83, the latter, runner-up at last year’s OCC, drew on his skyrunning strengths to open a gap, while also showing that he had stepped up over longer distances. A two-time world champion and three-time European Ultra SkyMarathon champion, the man nicknamed Braccio di Ferro (“Popeye”) showed that his legs were every bit as strong as his arms.

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Behind him, 26-year-old Hans Troyer, the 2024 US 50-mile champion (5:16:14) and February 2026 winner of the Black Canyon 100K (101 km and 1,600 m of elevation gain) in a course-record time, held on and dispelled the image of the American who goes out too fast, so often attached to runners from across the Atlantic. He could do nothing, however, against Miguel Arsenio’s supersonic charge. The Portuguese had won the Bucovina Ultra Rocks by UTMB 2026 just a month earlier (72 km and 4,600 m of elevation gain in Romania), after finishing eighth at the 90Km du Mont-Blanc the previous month. Sixth at halfway in Champex-Lac, Arsenio tore through the second half of the race to reel in his rivals and move up to second.

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Only the Italian in his forties could match him, going on to win in an extraordinary atmosphere. The 2,500 UTMB runners had a front-row seat for the victory, sitting on Place du Triangle de l’Amitié as they waited to set off 20 minutes later on their 100-mile race. It was a scenario already seen in 2014, when Spain’s Pau Bartoló received the same ovation from the UTMB starters after winning the CCC.

Hans Troyer had just enough time to take the final podium spot before the UTMB field set off. CCC finishers were then held 600 m from the line to prevent any untimely collision with the imposing UTMB pack.

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Thomas Cardin and Benjamin Roubiol, two of the most eagerly awaited French contenders, were forced to withdraw, Roubiol doing so at Vallorcine at km 90. But Simon Paccard (Salomon), 26, winner of the half-loop at the Lac de la mAxi Race in May, took advantage to finish an excellent fifth. Three other French runners made the Top 10 at the 2026 CCC: Guillaume Tiphène (Brooks) was eighth, Mathieu Delpeuch (Brooks) ninth, and Anthony Felber (Brooks) tenth.

The women’s race produced its own historic moment, with Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersen (Adidas) becoming the first athlete to win the CCC twice. Well off the pace through the first 25 kilometres, the 2023 winner mounted an extraordinary comeback over the rest of the course to win in just over 12 hours, in 12:01:14.

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A cruel finish for the race’s two main protagonists, South Africa’s Toni McCann (Adidas) and China’s Miao Yao (Nike ACG), who had battled at the front all day on the sodden trails. Perhaps too aggressively, as they failed to account for a potential charge from behind and had nothing left to repel it in the closing kilometres. The most French of South Africans, who lives in Annecy, nevertheless held on to second, erasing the disappointment of last year, when she was forced to withdraw from this 100K race as the defending champion. Miao Yao, meanwhile, clung on bravely to third despite a knee injury, hobbling her way to the finish. She too could have gone for a second CCC win after her first triumph in 2018. The first French runner, Marie Goncalves (Asics), finished ninth.