He Ran 330km With Almost No Sleep—and Broke the Record
Thursday, September 17, 2026171 words3 minutes437 reads
Zhao Jiaju of China won the 2026 Tor des Géants, a 330-kilometer mountain race in Italy’s Aosta Valley. He finished in 65 hours, 55 minutes and 22 seconds. News reports said the time beat the previous course record by about 13 minutes and made him the first Chinese and Asian winner of the TOR330 category.
The event begins and ends in Courmayeur. It has about 24,000 meters of elevation gain and a 150-hour time limit. There are no compulsory stages or required sleeping periods. Each runner must decide when to eat, sleep and continue. That makes rest a key part of race strategy.
Zhao pushed hard through the first night and used very short breaks. Reports said he rested for about 20 minutes at one station. After a longer stop later, he briefly lost the lead to Jonathan Schindler. Zhao then caught up, returned to first place and continued toward the finish. Before becoming a professional trail runner, he worked in food delivery and used running during work as informal training.
