Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz reached Conca at 8:29 a.m. on Friday, September 25, 2026, completing the 166-kilometre GR20 trail across Corsica in 27 hours and 29 minutes. The 33-year-old French runner had just taken more than two hours off a supported fastest known time that stood for less than two months.
A lead built from the first climb
He started from Calenzana at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday with a rotating team of nine pacers, running under Federation rules that allowed two companions at a time. His margin over the splits set by François D'Haene in July grew methodically: 29 minutes by kilometre 23, 50 minutes at Col de Verghio, and 1 hour 40 minutes by Vizzavona after nearly 14 hours.
Shortly after 6 a.m., still more than two hours ahead, he stopped for a quick pizza resupply before the final 17 kilometres.
Ten weeks, two records
D'Haene had set the previous supported mark of 29:46:20 on July 9, becoming the first runner under 30 hours. Dunand-Pallaz beat it by 2 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds, pushing the record below 28 hours as well. It was the second FKT D'Haene lost that week, after Joe McConaughy took his John Muir Trail record.
The run fulfilled a project Dunand-Pallaz first conceived around 2020, delayed when a 2025 attempt was cancelled by injury. In July 2026 he won the Ultra-Trail di Corsica de la Restonica in a course record, using the 110-kilometre race as a dress rehearsal.
A question of margin
A week before the attempt, he had admitted the uncertainty. "I know it's doable, but I don't know what margin I really have," he told reporters. "Five minutes? Ten? I have no idea." Near kilometre 149, the answer was clearer: "It's starting to get hard. My stomach is empty."
The performance adds to a career that already held wins at Hardrock 100 and the Diagonale des Fous in 2023, plus second place at UTMB in 2021 — twelve minutes behind D'Haene. On a September morning in Corsica, the gap was finally his.
