Hartmuth Takes Third Overall at Tor des Géants, a First for a Woman

Katharina Hartmuth finished third outright at the 2026 Tor des Géants in 67:10:09, becoming the first woman ever to reach the overall podium of the 330-kilometre race. She slashed her own women’s course record from 2024 by almost exactly 12 hours.

Three days among the leaders

The race started in Courmayeur on 13 September in light winds and mostly clear skies.

She later told reporters she slept a total of just 15 minutes across the full 67 hours. By the second day she had settled into third overall with a lead of over two hours on the next woman.

A finish compressed into half an hour

Deep into the race the contest tightened dramatically. At the Ollomont station, beyond 300 kilometres, Zhao led Schindler by 22 minutes and Hartmuth by just 34 minutes — the entire overall top three compressed into barely half an hour.

Hartmuth’s legs kept turning while her feet blistered. Zhao took the win in 65:55:22, Schindler followed in 66:55:06, and Hartmuth reached Courmayeur only 15 minutes and 3 seconds behind second place. The next woman would finish over 13 hours later.

"Of course it pleased me to see Jonathan at the aid stations," Hartmuth said, "to know that I was there and fighting alongside them." As the clock ticked under 75, then 72, then 70 hours, she could scarcely believe what the watch was promising.

Twelve hours, one queen

Two years earlier her winning time of 79:10:40 had itself been a record. This edition she returned and took half a day off her own mark — a leap normally measured in minutes on a course with 24,000 metres of climb. The organisers already call her the "Queen of TOR."

In July she set a new women's speed record on the Lake District's Bob Graham Round. Now she has rewritten the limits for women on Europe's hardest mountain loop.