2026 CCC PREVIEW: LICHTER AND MINOGGIO LEAD A FIELD WITHOUT A CHAMPION
The 100K final of the World Series Finals leaves Courmayeur at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, August 28, running 101 kilometers with 6,050 meters of climbing over the Italian, Swiss and French sides of the Mont Blanc massif before finishing in Chamonix.
Both defending champions from the last two editions are on the start list, and so is the woman who broke the Western States 100 course record in June.
The women's race
Jennifer Lichter arrives as the highest-profile entry. The American won Western States this summer and set the women's course record there, and the UTMB World Series rates her the favorite here.
Miao Yao won the OCC in 2025 and takes on double the distance. The Chinese runner also won at Val d'Aran by UTMB this summer, a 100K with a similar climbing profile.
Two former CCC champions are entered. Toni McCann of South Africa won in 2024 in 11:57:59, and Yngvild Kaspersen of Norway won in 2023. Neither has bettered the course record of 11:40:55 that Blandine L'Hirondel set in 2022, and L'Hirondel has moved up to the 100-mile race this year.
Martyna Mlynarczyk won last year in 11:41:55, 60 seconds outside L'Hirondel's mark and the second-fastest women's time in race history. She is not on the elite list for 2026.
The rest of the field runs deep through Britain and New Zealand. Caitlin Fielder, Lingjie Chi, Gemma Hillier-Moses, Eve Moore, Scarlet Dale and Imogen Ainsworth are all entered. Hillier-Moses won the Arc 50 in January in 8:12:56, eighth overall, then won the Monistrail 50K at Trail du Saint-Jacques by UTMB in June.
The men's race
Cristian Minoggio heads the men's field on the UTMB Index. The Italian races on home ground for the opening third of the course, which climbs out of Courmayeur and traverses the Val Ferret before crossing into Switzerland.
David Sinclair was second in 2025 behind Francesco Puppi, who ran 10:06:02. Puppi has dropped to the OCC this year, which leaves Sinclair as the fastest returning finisher.
Benjamin Roubiol and Thomas Cardin of France, Guangfu Meng of China, Andrzej Witek of Poland and Daniel Jones of New Zealand fill out the front of the race.
Petter Engdahl's 9:53:02 from 2022 remains the men's course record and the only sub-10-hour time run here. Puppi came within 13 minutes of it last year in conditions that turned severe overnight on the UTMB course starting the same evening.
What to watch
The CCC has functioned as a proving ground rather than a destination for most of its history, and the pattern holds again. Puppi went from winning here to a World Series Finals title bid at 50K. L'Hirondel went from the course record to the 100-mile start list. Kaspersen and McCann came back.
That churn is why both course records have stood since 2022. The runners fast enough to threaten them usually pass through only once, on the way to something longer.
It also means the result is harder to call than the 100-mile race running the same night. The women's field has two former champions in McCann and Kaspersen. The men's field has none. Puppi is entered at 50K this year, and Jonathan Albon, who won here in 2023 in 10:14:25, has moved to the 100-mile race.
Lichter is the exception worth tracking. She has the Western States record and no Chamonix history, which historically cuts both ways on a course that climbs 6,050 meters in 101 kilometers and does most of its damage in the final 30.
Weather will shape the day as it does every year on this side of the massif. The 2025 edition ran into snow on the high cols, and the forecast window that matters opens on the Wednesday before the start.
The CCC starts four hours before the 100-mile race and finishes into the same Chamonix square. Runners who come through under 11 hours will cross the line while the UTMB field is still climbing out of Courmayeur, which is the closest thing this week has to a benchmark.