Katharina Hartmuth (Germany) and Vincent Esmiol (France) took triumphant and emotional wins of the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
The race set off from the village of Porto Moniz because the clock struck midnight on Saturday, April 25. After a comfortable sundown, some drizzle was forecast, and temperatures hovered round 61 levels Fahrenheit (16 levels Celsius) in a single day earlier than rising into the 70s (21 Celsius) with each drizzle and solar through the day.
The beginning of the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k at midnight on Saturday, April 25. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
Final 12 months, the course was considerably rerouted because of a extreme wildfire, and for the seventeenth version this 12 months, it was introduced again to close regular — a results of an unbelievable effort in post-fire path rehabilitation. The course travels point-to-point throughout the island, from Porto Moniz within the northwest to the city of Machico within the east. The Laurisilva forest at first of the course is a UNESCO World Heritage Website, with its subtropical expanse of laurel timber, mosses, and ferns.
Runners undulate by means of this dense greenery within the night time, earlier than ascending to almost the summit of Madeira’s highest peak, Pico Ruivo (1,862 meters/6,109 toes). There’s a checkpoint right here for runners at 69 kilometers (43 miles), with the frontrunners arriving because the morning gentle is nicely underway. After the well-known stair-riddled, uncovered traverse over to Pico do Areeiro, one other of Madeira’s excessive factors, runners primarily have an extended downhill by means of an ever-changing panorama to the end line again at sea degree. Alongside the best way, there are many difficult climbs and massive views of the Atlantic Ocean interspersed. The 109k (67.7 miles) course had 7,165 meters (23,500 toes) of elevation acquire.
The Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k (MIUT) the fifth occasion within the 2026 World Path Majors. It’s one in all 5 races over the weekend, ranging in distance from 17 to 110k. The 50k Uncover race is a part of the 2026 World Path Majors Quick Collection.
A runner at the hours of darkness, early morning hours of the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
Prior to now, the celebs haven’t aligned for Hartmuth at MIUT. She needed to race in 2023, however prioritized the Path World Championships a few weeks later. In 2024, she withdrew earlier than the beginning after getting hit by a automobile whereas on her bike. Final 12 months, she made it so far as the island earlier than studying that she had a bone bruise on her femur. That outdated adage rings true: Attending to the beginning line is a lot of the journey.
This 12 months, she made it. From that time onward, although, Hartmuth confronted some robust competitors, with Jazmine Lowther (Canada), Helen Mino Faukner (U.S.), Valerie Arsenault (Canada), and Rebecca Hormann (Switzerland) among the many pre-race favorites. All of them have been new to the race, presenting a good taking part in subject.
Among the many high picks for the lads’s race, Miguel Arsénio (Portugal) was the one repeat competitor from current years. He got here second final 12 months and DNFed the 12 months earlier than. Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz of France took second in 2018 and was making his first return to the race since then. They have been joined by robust French and American contingents, that includes Esmiol and Gautier Airiau from France, and Rod Farvard and Tyler Inexperienced from the U.S.
Learn on to see how the race unfolded.
2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k Ladies’s Race
The ladies’s race, total, was fairly neat and constant. The early leaders remained in place, and even the gaps between them didn’t change very a lot as soon as the race was totally underway. Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth took the lead from the beginning, with Helen Mino Faukner (U.S.), Jazmine Lowther (Canada), and Valerie Arsenault (Canada) not too far behind. By the Fanal checkpoint at 12k, and a lot of the approach by means of the primary climb, Hartmuth led with a five-minute hole on Mino Faukner in second, already making her intentions identified.
These top-four ladies maintained their ranks by means of the subsequent few checkpoints, with Sarah Keuschnig (Austria), Kelsey Hogan (Canada), and Rebecca Hormann (Switzerland) additionally within the combine. After the downhill to Chão de Ribeira at 20k, there was already a 34-minute hole between Hartmuth in first and Hormann in seventh, all neatly unfold out.
Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth wins the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k on Saturday, April 25. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
By the Estanquinhos checkpoint at 30k, after primarily 10k of climbing, it was clear simply how a lot of a burner Hartmuth was on. She was now already over an hour forward of Hormann in seventh, the place she would in the end end. Hartmuth was steadily pulling forward, wanting clean and comfortable. Mino Faukner was 17 minutes behind the lead in second, and Lowther was quarter-hour behind Mino Faukner in third.
By Chão dos Louros (44k), 14k later, Hartmuth had flown down the mountain to increase her hole on Mino Faukner to twenty-eight minutes, including 11 minutes to the hole and passing by means of the checkpoint in 5:56 elapsed. At 44k, the form of the top-10 ladies remained largely because it had been — Mino Faukner, Lowther, and Arsenault have been nonetheless the subsequent three ladies after Hartmuth.
By Curral das Freiras at 58.4k, earlier than the excessive peaks part began in earnest, Keuschnig, who had been in eighth place, had dropped.
At 10:24 elapsed on the race clock, Hartmuth reached the checkpoint just below the summit of Pico Ruivo at 69.4k. This was formally wanting like a dominant efficiency.
Helen Mino Faukner of the U.S. takes second on the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
Remarkably, the gaps between the primary three ladies remained roughly the identical from 44k to the ultimate checkpoint at 96k, although Hartmuth prolonged her lead by some minutes within the later levels of this part. Throughout this center a part of the race, Mino Faulkner was persistently round half an hour behind Hartmuth, and Lowther was round quarter-hour behind her. The hole again to Arsenault in fourth steadily widened, and between Pico Ruivo at 69.4k and Portela at 90k, it had grown from 40 minutes to an hour.
Mino Faulkner was nonetheless shifting nicely as she handed by means of the ultimate checkpoint, Larano at 96k, and this was simply as nicely, as a result of Lowther was about to place the hammer down. There was a 10-minute hole between them at Larano, however Lowther made fast work of the final 13k.
Katharina Hartmuth completed comfortably in first place in 14:54:53. Helen Mino Faukner took second place in 15:50:00, and Jazmine Lowther closed in behind her to take third place in 15:54:22. The impact of the late-race effort was seen as Lowther crossed the end line. Valerie Arsenault and Kelsey Hogan rounded out the ladies’s high 5.
Canada’s Jazmine Lowther ran in third for a lot of the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k, and in the end earned that closing podium spot. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k Ladies’s Outcomes
- Katharina Hartmuth (Germany) – 14:54:53
- Helen Mino Faukner (U.S.) – 15:50:00
- Jazmine Lowther (Canada) – 15:54:22
- Valerie Arsenault (Canada) – 17:27:00
- Kelsey Hogan (Canada) – 17:41:10
- Marta Vigano (Italy) – 18:19:51
- Rebecca Hormann (Switzerland) – 19:05:14
- Olga Sapach (Impartial) – 19:12:09
- Patricia Ribeiro (Portugal) – 19:28:39
- Lisa Viterbo (France) – 20:01:27
With terraced fields behind her, Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth climbs on her strategy to successful the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k Males’s Race
In contrast to the ladies’s race, the lads’s race by no means fairly settled down. Rod Farvard (U.S.) and Vincent Esmiol (France) pushed the tempo collectively early on. Via the Fanal checkpoint at 12k in 1:33 elapsed, the leaders additionally included Erik Sorenson (U.S.), Ethan Peters (Canada), Tyler Inexperienced (U.S.), Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (France), and Gautier Airiau (France).
France’s Vincent Esmiol breaks the tape to win the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k on Saturday, April 25. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
By Estanquinhos at 30k, Farvard and Inexperienced had made a little bit of a spot to Airiau and Miguel Arsénio (Portugal) in third and fourth, but it surely was by just some minutes. Some 14k later at Chão dos Louros (44k), with the true peaks simply forward, Inexperienced led the sector by about 90 seconds, with Farvard in second and Dunand-Pallaz third.
Esmiol was the primary to the checkpoint close to the summit of Pico Ruivo (69.4k) in 8:56 elapsed. Dunand-Pallaz was almost six minutes behind in second, and Airiau seven minutes again in third. Inexperienced was now the fourth man. They have been now over midway, however with plenty of troublesome terrain forward of them. A few of that forecasted rain had left muddy trails and legs, and a gray mist persevered by means of the morning, but it surely was heat. The hole again to the likes of Peters in fifth was now half an hour, however with such an extended downhill to the end, nothing was a foregone conclusion.
Regardless of Farvard’s robust begin, by the excessive nation in the course of the race, he’d slipped into the again half of the highest 10, and he’d in the end end eleventh. Additionally, early pace-pusher Sorenson left the race earlier than the excessive nation.
France’s Gautier Airiau wanting happy to take second on the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
At Chão da Lagoa (79k), there have been 4 males inside 13 minutes of one another — Esmiol nonetheless main, Airiau now in second, Dunand-Pallaz third, and Inexperienced fourth. At Larano, the ultimate checkpoint at 96k, Esmiol had an eight-minute lead, whereas an expansion of below three minutes separated Airiau and Inexperienced in second and third. Within the kilometers earlier than this checkpoint, Inexperienced had already hunted down and handed Dunand-Pallaz and was now chasing Airiau within the closing kilometers.
In the end, every of the top-three males had sufficient vitality to take care of their positions, although it made for an thrilling end. Vincent Esmiol gained in 12:49:03. Gautier Airiau completed in second place in 12:57:52, and Tyler Inexperienced completed in third in 13:03:10. Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz and Ethan Peters in the end rounded out the top-five males.
The U.S.’s Tyler Inexperienced rounds out the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k males’s podium with third place. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k Males’s Outcomes
- Vincent Esmiol (France) – 12:49:03
- Gautier Airiau (France) – 12:57:52
- Tyler Inexperienced (U.S.) – 13:03:10
- Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (France) – 13:25:07
- Ethan Peters (Canada) – 13:36:39
- Pavel Serov (Norway) – 13:42:26
- Tommy Sullivan (U.S.) – 13:49:55
- Josu Hidalgo (Spain) – 14:08:49
- Miguel Arsénio (Portugal) – 14:09:38
- Dimitri Soltysiak (France) – 14:15:00
Vincent Esmiol of France climbs within the early morning, on his strategy to successful the 2026 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Legend 110k. Picture: MIUT/João M. Faria
