On February 20, 2026, French athlete Alexis Trougnou set the boys’s supported para-athlete quickest recognized time for ascending and descending Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. At 19,341 ft (5,895 meters), Kilimanjaro is the very best mountain in Africa.
Trougnou is visually and listening to impaired, and he recorded a time of 26 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds for the roughly 30-mile (48 kilometers) Rongai Route. The route, which good points over 12,000 ft in elevation, approaches the mountain from the northeast and is much less used than lots of the different choices. Trougnou had guides for visible and auditory help and referred to as the mission “Le Kilimandjaro Pour Voir Plus Haut,” or “Kilimanjaro to See Increased.” The mission was pushed by a robust objective to indicate that impairment ought to by no means be a self-imposed limitation. He’s the first para-athlete to set a quickest recognized time (FKT) on the mountain, the primary particular person to submit an FKT on the Rongai Route, and one amongst a rising neighborhood of para-athletes setting pace data on routes all over the world.
Alexis Trougnou (heart) and his two guides setting a para-athlete FKT on Mount Kilimanjaro. All photographs courtesy of Alexis Trougnou.
Trougnou has Usher syndrome, a genetic degenerative dysfunction that leads to a lack of imaginative and prescient and listening to over time, and has a field of regard of lower than 5 levels. As acknowledged in his report on the Quickest Recognized Time web site, he sees “as if by way of a straw.” At evening, he’s blind, and through the climb, he relied fully on his principal guides — Vanessa Marc Mórales and Florent Marc — to relay the circumstances of each step to him. “The position of a information is extraordinarily demanding,” says Trougnou. “They have to handle their very own effort, discover the most effective path, and on the identical time, repeatedly talk info to me. It’s a actual duty. I’m very grateful to them, and with none pun meant, I place blind belief in them.”
A Group Effort
This was Trougnou’s first mission at excessive altitude, and he and his guides first accomplished the Rongai Route over six days for reconnaissance and acclimatization. For this, they had been accompanied by three Tanzanian guides and 18 porters from Discover Trekking Journey, in addition to Trougnou’s companion, Charlène Boucher, who managed all the executive work for the mission and was there to help Trougnou with each day duties in order that he might deal with the try itself.
Alexis Trougnou together with his group on his approach to setting a brand new para-athlete FKT on Mount Kilimanjaro.
For the precise document try, the group consisted of Trougnou, his two principal guides, three Tanzanian guides, and three porters. Mórales, one among his principal guides, holds the ladies’s supported FKT for the ascent and descent of Kilimanjaro by way of the southern Mweka Route. Trougnou didn’t personally know her earlier than this mission, however was impressed by her. He says, “A good friend with the identical situation as mine advised me a few Kilimanjaro mission, however I wished to transcend a easy trek. Once I noticed that she was accompanied by Vanessa Marc Mórales, I assumed: Why not attempt to go for a document as a visually impaired athlete with Vanessa as my information?” He reached out to Mórales on Strava, and she or he and her husband joined the group, alternating within the guiding position. Based on Trougnou, though they had been initially strangers, they’ve since constructed sturdy bonds.
Setting an FKT and Paving the Manner
For the FKT try, the group set off from Rongai Gate at 4 p.m. on February 19 in favorable circumstances, with solely a quick rain bathe at the beginning. Roughly 16 hours and 35 minutes later, after shifting by way of the evening, they reached the Uhuru Peak summit on Kilimanjaro at 8:35 a.m., permitting them to descend essentially the most technically difficult and visually demanding part in daylight. All through your complete FKT effort, Trougnou’s guides repeatedly relayed the path circumstances in order that Trougnou might negotiate the terrain safely, and so they arrived again on the trailhead at 6:41 p.m on February 20.
Alexis Trougnou celebrates on the highest of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Trougnou has accomplished athletic challenges earlier than, together with crossing France from east to west on a tandem bike and working the 75k Extremely Path des Montagnes du Jura, however says this problem “represented an actual step into the unknown.” It required 18 months of preparation, with a median of 5 coaching classes per week, in addition to altitude coaching. “I’ve all the time had a aggressive mindset by way of the totally different sports activities I’ve practiced,” Trougnou says. “Being a part of an official document, having your title acknowledged on a worldwide scale, is one thing highly effective.”
However he’s additionally eager to say that this was a group success, not a person one, and it was an opportunity to “change views and break down prejudices,” hopefully inspiring others with impairments to push their boundaries. “For me, incapacity just isn’t a barrier. It shouldn’t forestall you from dreaming or having ambition,” Trougnou says. “Whether or not you’ve a incapacity or not, the necessary factor is to dare, to encompass your self with the correct folks, and to remain decided.”
Pace efforts for para-athletes are a rapidly rising phase of the game. The Quickest Recognized Time web site established a para-athlete class in early 2025, and on the time of this text’s publishing, it has documented 11 efforts by eight para-athletes, together with Trougnou’s on Mount Kilimanjaro.
Alexis Trougnou on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Trougnou says he loved the high-altitude expertise — experiencing sensations he had by no means felt earlier than — and hopes to do one thing related once more. For now, he’ll deal with extra native tasks which might be much less logistically and financially demanding, such because the Grande Traversée du Jura mountain bike route, or the GR20, a 112-mile (180k) trek throughout Corsica, France. “The concept stays the identical: to problem myself,” he says.
Filmmaker Pierre Petit, from Meije Productions, accompanied the group on the FKT and is at present producing a documentary in regards to the mission and each day life with a visible impairment.
