Ludovic Pommeret kissed the rock in Silverton and stopped the clock at 21:11:36. The number matters. France's Ludovic Pommeret claimed his third consecutive victory in an overall course record of 21:11:36, the fastest time ever run on the Hardrock 100. He is 50. In two weeks he turns 51.
How the loop was won
Pommeret raced from the front. At the Chapman aid station at mile 18, he held a two-minute lead over Tom Evans, who was ahead of Jimmy Elam by about five minutes. On the climb over Oscar's Pass and down into Telluride the margin grew. Just before Telluride at mile 28, Pommeret had extended his lead to 11 minutes. At Kroger's Canteen, perched at 13,000 feet, he was already ahead of his own record schedule and, in typical form, handed a volunteer a sticker before running out.
The race behind him unravelled. Evans, one of the pre-race favourites, dropped before Grouse Gulch at mile 58, reportedly struggling with the altitude. Elam moved into second and stayed there. Pommeret did not waver. By Sloan Lake at mile 62.5, his lead was 44 minutes, and he was still nearly 20 minutes up on his course record pace. The final aid stations became a procession through the dark: a wave at Cataract Lake, a quiet cup of Coke at Maggie Gulch, then the long climb out of Cunningham Gulch and the descent home. He kissed the rock more than two hours ahead of Jimmy Elam, who was the only other runner to break the 24-hour mark, finishing second in 23:48:56. David Ayala took third.
The setting gave nothing away for free. The course covers 102 miles and more than 33,000 feet of climbing, at an average altitude of 11,000 feet, peaking on Handies Peak at 14,048 feet. Wildfires had smudged the San Juans in the week before the start; a midweek rain cleared the air and the race went off as planned.
A late-career summit
This was not improvisation. As in previous years, Pommeret spent a month in Colorado preparing for the race, completing two-and-a-half full loops of the course on multi-day trips known as "Softrocks." Asked what drew him back after successive wins, he was characteristically light.
"Why not?" he said, smiling broadly. "Because I have a bib."
The record was already his to break. He had set the overall course mark in 2024, repeated in 2025, and now lowered his own best by almost 22 minutes. The longevity is the story within the story. He ran his first UTMB more than two decades ago, won it in 2016, and is now the back-to-back-to-back Hardrock champion. Where the sport rewards youth and speed, Pommeret answered with patience and craft. Now in his fifties, he won a third men's Hardrock title in a row with a record-breaking display.
He came for the rock, and he left it two hours in front. The mountains, this time, kept nothing back from him.
