This Friday (June 26–28), the 2026 Mont-Blanc Marathon will kick off.Paoye and Yueye Kantai will team up to livestream the 90-kilometer race (starting Friday at 2:45 PM), the youth race (starting Saturday at 8:50 PM), and the 42-kilometer category (starting Sunday at 1:10 PM).。

As one of Europe’s oldest trail races, the inaugural Mont-Blanc Marathon was founded in 1979 in Chamonix under the name Mont-Blanc Cross, and at the time featured only a 23 km category. In 2003 the race was officially renamed Mont-Blanc Marathon and the distance was extended to roughly 42 km with 2,200 m of cumulative ascent. Today, amid the global boom in trail running, it has grown into a three-day mountain running festival.

This year Mont-Blanc Marathon has 8 categories in total; the 42 km category is the most closely watched, followed by the 90 km category.

The Mont-Blanc Marathon 42 km was once a round of the Golden Trail World Series; Yao Miao raced this category in 2023 and 2024, taking one second place and one third place.

Which elite runners are competing this year? From the official elite entry list the lineup is extremely strong and the competition will be fierce (incidentally, the official poster is very attractive).

First, let’s look at the women’s 42 km category:

The clear favourite for the win is undoubtedly the Swedish trail queen.Tove AlexanderssonLast year she swept to victory in the 45 km short-distance race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, and set a women’s single-race ITRA performance score record with 877 points.This year she has raced 50 km-level trail events and won them all by commanding margins, includingwhere she lowered the Zegama-Aizkorri course record by 8 minutes.

So the question is: how much can she lower the Mont-Blanc Marathon women’s course record? (The course record — distance over 42 km, total ascent over 2,500 m — was set last year by Judith Wyder in 2024 at 4:11:12.)

A rider who could threaten her is Romania’s Madalina Florea. She was last year’s Golden Trail World Series overall champion and has just taken the Broken Arrow title in the U.S.; she’s in red-hot form.

Compared with the women, the men’s competition is even more intense.

Last year’s champion, the ItalianDavide Magnini ; the 2023 men’s champion, the Swiss climbing machineRemi Bonnet; last year’s World Mountain and Trail Running Championships 45 km short-distance men’s champion, the French home favouriteFrederic Tranchand ; the 2023 Zegama champion, the SpanishManuel Merillas ; and the 2024 OCC champion, the American Eli Hemming , all have a chance to win. Who are you backing?

Chinese trail-running rising star Shi Guo from Guizhou will take part — what result can he produce? If we dig into the archives, Yan Longfei ran this category in 2014 and finished 16th.

The Mont Blanc Marathon 90 km category was first held in 2013, when the distance was 80 km. Although this category attracts less attention than the 42 km and offers a smaller prize purse, the elite field is still very strong.

On the men's side, nine athletes with UTMB index scores over 900 will race together, including the 2023 CCC champion, British athleteJonathan Albon; last year's UTMB runner-up, American athleteBen Dhiman; 2024 UTMB runner-up, French home athleteBaptiste Chassagne; 2023 Mont Blanc Marathon 90 km runner-up, French home athleteLouison Coiffet; last year's OCC runner-up,Italian athleteCristian Minoggio; 2024 Mont Blanc Marathon 90 km men's champion, neutral athleteDmitry Mityaev 。

Who do you think is most likely to take the title?

Another athlete worth watching is the return of Xavier Thévenard (holder of UTMB, CCC and OCC titles); he may not be at his best, but his return to the race is already a good sign.

Paoye Da Baozha / Yueye Kantai will live-stream the 2026 Mont Blanc Marathon and provide Chinese commentary for the 42 km category.

Stay tuned.

Text：CC / Editor：CC

Photo:Trail Running  / Visuals：Max