2026 OCC Results: Frédéric Tranchand and Lauren Gregory Win Dramatic Races

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Frédéric Tranchand of France and Lauren Gregory from the U.S. won the 2026 OCC in 5:10:08 and 6:08:07, after exciting men’s and women’s races.

Tranchand made a winning move early and led all of the men’s race. He built an eight-minute lead in the middle of the race and ultimately won by more than four minutes after second-place Nashon Kiplimo (Kenya) made up time on the race’s final downhill. Gregory won very late. She led the final three minutes and won by three seconds after running down longtime leader Naomi Lang (U.K.).

The race was on Thursday, August 27, and there were almost 2,000 runners at its 8:15 a.m. Central European Summer Time start in Orsières, Switzerland. The race ran point-to-point to the celebratory finish in downtown Chamonix, France. There was a 76,000 Euro prize purse, awarding 13,000 Euro to the winners, with money going 10 deep.

Although a 60-kilometer (37 miles) race, it was the UTMB World Series Final for the 50k distance. Last year’s race was held on an alternate course due to weather, and this year’s route had some significant updates. At 60k, it was close in distance to last year’s race, but was longer than the 57k of 2024 and longer than the 55k course most commonly run in the years before that, too.

For 2026, there was a reroute between Col de Balme and Col des Possetts that added a new high point of 2,321 meters (7,600 feet), and the old climb to La Flégère was dropped. The final kilometers coming back into Chamonix were altered, too. This new course was expected to total 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) in elevation gain.

Read on for more race details.

You can also check out more results from this week’s UTMB Mont Blanc festival:

• 2026 TDS Results: France Sweeps, Sarah Vieuille and Rémy Brassac Win

2026 OCC Men’s Race

The men’s field wasn’t short on experience or speed. Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland) dropped from OCC in both 2024 and 2021, but entered the race as one of the favorites as the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill winner. Francesco Puppi (Italy) had won OCC in 2023, finished second in 2024, and won CCC in 2025. Frédéric Tranchand (France), the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail winner and successful skyrunner, was also expected to do well.

Bonnet and Tranchand were the earliest frontrunners. The pair was at Champex-Lac, 7k into the race and partway up the first major climb, in 37:04. Andreu Blanes (Spain) was next, 21 seconds behind, and Puppi and fifth-place Petter Engdahl (Sweden) were close too. The first 10 men were all within 49 seconds of each other.

From Champex-Lac, the course climbed to La Giète at 19k and then dropped to Trient at 24k. The race’s first climb and descent were both done at this point, and Tranchand had absolutely blown it open. Full send, go mode, a rocket — call it what you want, but Tranchand was flying and reached Trient in 1:55. That was almost five minutes faster than second-place Blanes and third-place Maximilien Drion (Belgium). Engdahl and Nashon Kiplimo (Kenya) moved up and into fourth and fifth, while Puppi had fallen back to 12th, and Bonnet dropped from the race entirely.

The next 10k climbed up Col de Balme to the course high point at 2,321 meters. It was the race’s biggest climb and a critical part of the course with the potential to shake up the leaderboard. Tranchand was at the 34k Col de Balme aid in 3:03, and he’d further grown his lead. Tranchand was now a full eight minutes ahead of everyone else. UTMB World Series Final newcomer Kiplimo had passed Engdahl, Drion, and Blanes and was surprisingly second into the checkpoint, and Sylvain Cachard (France) had jumped from seventh at the bottom of the climb to third at the top. He was only seconds behind Kiplimo. Blanes was fourth, and Miguel Benítez (Spain) had incredibly jumped 16 spots to gain fifth place, going from 21st at 24k Trient to fifth at 34k Col de Balme. Tranchand was eight minutes in the lead, but second-place Kiplimo was just less than six minutes in front of 10th-place Puppi.

Tranchand, Kiplimo, and Cachard stayed first, second, and third at 41k Vallorcine, but Blanes was overtaken by both Benítez and Alain Santamaría of Spain. It was all downhill the rest of the way back to the crowd-lined finish in Chamonix, but at 50k Argentière, Santamaría, Dawid Malina (Poland), Puppi, and Luca Del Pero (Italy) were among a group of runners stopped in the aid station for a five-minute penalty. All were in the top 10 at the point of stoppage. The penalty was for —according to the live broadcast — unintentional shortcutting on the earlier descent into Trient.

Kiplimo ate into Tranchand’s big lead on the final downhill, but never came close to catching the longtime leader.

Frédéric Tranchand won the 2026 OCC in 5:10:08. He essentially led all of the race, and it was a dominant performance.

Nashon Kiplimo was second in 5:14:37. Kiplimo has limited trail results, and only over the last two years. This was his longest race to date.

Miguel Benítez avenged a drop at the race’s 2025 edition to finish third in 5:17:43. Sylvain Cachard was fourth in 5:21:35, a big improvement on his 17th-place finish at OCC in 2024.

Alain Santamaría overcame the five-minute penalty to still finish fifth in 5:28:24.

Anton Gustafsson (Sweden), Francesco Puppi, Robbie Simpson (U.K.), Dawid Malina, and Leonard Mitrica (Romania) were in the back half of the top 10 as the sixth- through 10th-place men. France and Spain both placed two men inside the top 10.

Early top-10 challengers Del Pero, Drion, and Blanes finished 13th, 18th, and 19th, respectively.

2026 OCC Men’s Results

1. Frédéric Tranchand (France) – 5:10:08
2. Nashon Kiplimo (Kenya) – 5:14:37
3. Miguel Benítez (Spain) – 5:17:43
4. Sylvain Cachard (France) – 5:21:35
5. Alain Santamaría (Spain) – 5:28:24
6. Anton Gustafsson (Sweden) – 5:28:27
7. Francesco Puppi (Italy) – 5:29:15
8. Robbie Simpson (U.K.) – 5:29:55
9. Dawid Malina (Poland) – 5:29:58
10. Leonard Mitrica (Romania) – 5:30:31

Full results.

2026 OCC Women’s Race

With the pre-race favorite, the reigning short trail world champion, Tove Alexandersson of Sweden, a late scratch and defending champ Miao Yao (China) instead racing the CCC at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival, this year’s women’s field was wide open. Judith Wyder (Switzerland) was the top returning woman after finishing second last year, and race debutante Lauren Gregory (U.S.) and 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail third-placer Naomi Lang (U.K.) were counted on as strong contenders too.

It was Laura Hottenrott (Germany) who charged up the race’s opening climb, though, and she reached the Champex-Lac checkpoint at 7k first, in 40:43 elapsed. She was already over a minute ahead of everyone. Hottenrott was, to say the least, warmed up. Only 11 days earlier, Hottenrott ran 2:31 at the European Athletics Championships Marathon in Birmingham, U.K., and if that wasn’t enough, only 19 days before OCC, she was 10th at Sierre-Zinal too. This was her third big race within three weeks.

Wyder was second at Champex-Lac, and the U.S.’s Makena Morley was third here, a respective 80 and 82 seconds behind race leader Hottenrott. Sara Alonso (Spain) and Jemima Farley (U.K.) were there next, and Gregory and Lang were ninth and 10th, and over two minutes behind Hottenrott.

And then, what a stretch Lang ran from Champex-Lac at 7k to Trient at 24k. She vaulted from 10th to first place in about 15k of distance. She was 2:32 behind race leader Hottenrott at 7k and led the race by 91 seconds at 24k. Lang was making a clear move. She was at Trient in 2:15 on the race clock. Wyder and Alonso were second and third and within seconds of each other, and Gregory had moved up six places into fourth. Early leader Hottenrott was back to seventh, and after running in fifth early, Farley fell outside the top 10. Hottenrott and Farley would continue dropping back from the front of the race.

The course climbed to Col de Balme and on to the 2,321-meter course high point. Shortly before the high point, at 34k, Lang had roughly the same lead in 3:39 elapsed, but Alonso and Gregory had overtaken Wyder. Alonso was 93 seconds behind Lang, and Gregory was over two minutes behind Alonso in third. Wyder was fourth but over four minutes behind third-place Gregory, and Morley had regained fifth place. Most of the remaining course was downhill, and the front four were all regarded as exceptional downhillers.

Alonso cut Lang’s lead to just 47 seconds at Argentière, now 50k into the race, and then to just 24 seconds at 55k La Joux. Gregory was still third and only 88 seconds behind Lang. The final 5k of racing would prove exceptional.

At 5:56 elapsed time, Gregory passed Alonso to move into second.

And then, just after the six-hour mark, Gregory pulled to only meters behind Lang at the front of the race. They crossed a metal highway bridge into Chamonix together at 6:04, and a minute later, Gregory finally passed Lang.  Lang briefly clung to Gregory’s shoulder, but Gregory, a former collegiate 1,500-meter runner, was too strong in the final sprint.

Lauren Gregory won the 2026 OCC in 6:08:07, and Naomi Lang was second in 6:08:10.

Sara Alonso was barely a minute back in third at 6:09:11. Only 64 seconds separated the entirety of the women’s podium.

Makena Morley and Ida Amelie Robsahm outran Judith Wyder for fourth and fifth. The three finished in 6:16:37, 6:27:34, and 6:28:44.

Hậu Hà (Vietnam), Greta García (Spain), Bailey Kowalczyk (U.S.), and Daniela Oemus (Germany) were in the back half of the top 10 as the seventh- through 10th-place finishers. The U.S. placed three runners inside the top 10, and Spain had two.

Early frontrunner Hottenrott did not finish, and early frontrunner Farley finished outside the top 10.

2026 OCC Women’s Race

1. Lauren Gregory (U.S.) – 6:08:07
2. Naomi Lang (U.K.) – 6:08:10
3. Sara Alonso (Spain) – 6:09:11
4. Makena Morley (U.S.) – 6:16:37
5. Ida Amelie Robsahm (Norway) – 6:27:34
6. Judith Wyder (Switzerland) – 6:28:44
7. Hậu Hà (Vietnam) – 6:34:18
8. Greta García (Spain) – 6:34:43
9. Bailey Kowalczyk (U.S.) – 6:36:18
10. Daniela Oemus (Germany) – 6:40:18

Full results.

2026 OCC Results: Frédéric Tranchand and Lauren Gregory Win Dramatic Races by Justin Mock.