TOR330 2026: Jiaju Zhao and Katharina Hartmuth Set New Course Records
Photo : Official photo from 2025 edt.
Jiaju Zhao won the 2026 TOR330 in 65:55:22, while Katharina Hartmuth finished third overall and took exactly 12 hours off the women's record she set two years ago.
The TOR330 is long enough that gaps at the front are usually measured in hours rather than minutes. This year, the first three runners reached Courmayeur within 75 minutes of each other.
Jiaju Zhao was first back, completing the 330-kilometre route through the Aosta Valley in 65:55:22. The Chinese runner took 13 minutes off Victor Richard's course record from 2025, with Switzerland's Jonathan Schindler following in 66:55:06.
Katharina Hartmuth arrived just 15 minutes after Schindler. Her 67:10:09 gave her third place overall as well as the women's victory, but the comparison with her previous TOR330 is perhaps more revealing. Hartmuth won here in 2024 in 79:10:40. Two years later, she covered the course exactly 12 hours faster.
It was also the first time a woman has finished on the overall podium at the Tor des Géants.
Zhao returns to finish the job
Zhao had unfinished business with the TOR330. He started the race in 2025 but dropped at Gressoney-Saint-Jean. Twelve months later, he returned and was at the front almost immediately.
He led after around two hours at La Thuile and reached the first major life base at Valgrisenche with an 11-minute advantage over Schindler. Zhao went through the first night without sleeping, but the gap never became comfortable enough to remove Schindler from the equation.
Sleep eventually changed the order.
When Zhao stopped at Gressoney-Saint-Jean during the second night, Schindler moved into the lead. The Swiss runner had deliberately planned to sleep on both nights in an attempt to remain fresher later in the race. When he subsequently stopped at Champoluc, Zhao moved back ahead and stayed there for the remainder of the route.
He reached Courmayeur at 03:55 on Wednesday morning.
His 65:55:22 improved Richard's previous record of 66:08:22 by 13 minutes and made Zhao the first Chinese runner, as well as the first non-European, to win the TOR330.
Schindler's 66:55:06 was enough for second, 59 minutes and 44 seconds behind.
Photo : Torx official (2025).
Hartmuth moves the women's record by 12 hours
Hartmuth's race developed differently.
She already knew exactly what three days around the Aosta Valley could look like. In 2024, she won the TOR330 in 79:10:40 and established what was then the women's course record.
This year she was moving considerably faster from early in the race and remained close enough to Zhao and Schindler that the women's race increasingly became part of the overall race.
By the finish, Hartmuth was only 1:14:47 behind Zhao and 15:03 behind Schindler.
Her time of 67:10:09 lowered her own record by exactly 12 hours. According to the race report, she accumulated only around 15 minutes of sleep during the entire race. Hartmuth said afterwards that foot pain and blisters made the second day more difficult, although her legs continued to respond well.
She also explained that her expectations changed as she progressed. First she realised a sub-75-hour finish was possible, then sub-72 and eventually sub-70. Despite seeing Schindler at aid stations late in the race, she said she hadn't been thinking about challenging for the overall victory and remained focused on her own race.
That eventually brought her into Courmayeur third overall.
For context, Hartmuth's 2024 record had already been enough to establish a new benchmark for the women's race. Taking 12 hours from that time two years later is a substantial change to what a fast women's TOR330 now looks like.
TOR330 2026 — Top 3 Overall
TorX official photo. (2025)
Three days around the Aosta Valley
The basic numbers of the TOR330 help put the finishing times into context. The official course is listed at 330 kilometres with 24,000 metres of elevation gain, beginning and ending in Courmayeur and crossing the Aosta Valley beneath some of the highest mountains in the Alps. The maximum permitted time is 150 hours.
Unlike a stage race, there are no compulsory overnight stops. Runners decide for themselves when to eat, rest and sleep, making those decisions part of the race rather than interruptions to it.
That format was particularly visible at the front this year. Zhao's sleep stop briefly gave Schindler the lead; Schindler's own stop handed it back. Hartmuth chose to sleep very little and gradually found herself racing close to both of them.
After nearly 66 hours, Zhao ultimately had less than an hour on Schindler. Fifteen minutes separated Schindler and Hartmuth.
For a race covering 330 kilometres and 24,000 metres of climbing, it was an unusually compressed podium.
