KMV du Mont-Blanc 2026: A Thousand Metres of Brévent in Under 35 Minutes

# KMV du Mont-Blanc 2026: A Thousand Metres of Brévent in Under 35 Minutes

The vertical kilometer is the most concentrated distance race in mountain running. Less than four kilometres of trail, with one thousand metres of climb compressed into that distance. No descent. No flat. No tactical pacing options — the entire race is sustained anaerobic effort on a gradient that does not relent until the line.

The KMV du Mont-Blanc is, by published competitor rankings, the most internationally competitive single vertical-kilometer race on the European calendar. Thursday's race — the opening event of the Marathon du Mont-Blanc weekend — brings the skyrunning world's vertical specialists to Chamonix two days from now, and the startlist confirms that the 2026 edition will be raced at the limit of what the discipline currently produces.

The Course

The KMV starts at the place du Triangle de l'Amitié in Chamonix town centre (1,035m of elevation). The first 600 metres of distance are on paved town streets and graded forest road — a gradient transition from approximately 8 percent to 18 percent across the opening kilometre that the elite field sprints at threshold pace before the trail proper begins.

The middle section is the race. From kilometre 1.5 to kilometre 3.5, the trail climbs the north flank of the Brévent through dense alpine forest on a single-track surface that gains 750 metres of vertical in 2.0 kilometres of distance — sustained gradient at 27-35 percent, with maximum ramps in the forest middle section touching 42 percent.

This is the section that defines the race. The trail surface is consistent — packed dirt with exposed root sections, no loose scree, no technical scrambling. The challenge is pure cardiovascular — the gradient sustained at a level that requires power-hiking technique for nearly all athletes for the entire two-kilometre section. The elite athletes hike, they do not run. What separates the elite from the merely fast is the sustained power-hike pace under maximum cardiovascular load.

The final 300 metres to the finish at Plan Praz (2,035m) tilts to a more moderate gradient (18-22 percent) on open alpine meadow above the treeline. The elite athletes accelerate here — the only section of the course where conventional running form on a steep gradient produces the highest sustainable speed. The finish line, at the Plan Praz mid-station of the Brévent cable car, has a clear view of Mont Blanc across the valley and is the only flat surface on the entire course.

The Records

Men's course record: 31:09 — Set by Petro Mamu (Eritrea) in 2018. The record represents an average gradient pace of 1,925 metres of vertical per hour — at the upper limit of what published vertical-kilometer running has produced. The Mamu record has been threatened in two subsequent editions but has held; the closest result was a 31:22 in 2023.

Women's course record: 38:42 — Set by Christel Dewalle (France) in 2017. 1,553 metres of vertical per hour. Dewalle remains active in the discipline and is entered in 2026; whether the record holder can match her 2017 performance is the women's race's central narrative.

The 2026 startlist is the strongest internationally the race has seen since 2019. The athletes flying in specifically for this single race include:

Men's field:

Henri Aymonod (Italy) — Current World Skyrunning Vertical Kilometer Series leader; entered as the men's race favourite by published rankings. His career profile is built specifically around the vertical discipline; he has won three KMVs on the World Series this season.

Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) — The Kenyan vertical specialist whose recent training block in the Italian Dolomites has been the talk of the European skyrunning circuit. Won the Vertical Kilometer race at Limone last month. Race favourite alongside Aymonod.

Petro Mamu (Eritrea) — The 2018 course record holder. Now 35, still racing at elite level. Whether he can match or threaten his record is uncertain; his recent form suggests he is a podium contender but unlikely to lower the record.

Patrick Bohard (Switzerland) — Two-time Kilometro Vertical national champion (Switzerland). Entered after a strong May including a vertical-kilometer win in the Bernese Oberland.

Manuel Innerhofer (Italy) — Dolomite specialist; trained specifically for this race across the past six weeks.

Local note: Killian Jornet (Catalonia, training in Chamonix) is not entered in the KMV. His entry for the Marathon (Sunday) is confirmed, but he is using Thursday as a low-load training session before the marathon-distance race rather than a competitive vertical kilometer.

Women's field:

Christel Dewalle (France) — Course record holder. Local hero status at this venue. Whether the record can be matched is the open question; she has matched it within 30 seconds in two subsequent editions.

Élise Poncet (France) — Current French Vertical Kilometer national champion. Entered as the form favourite for the win if Dewalle does not produce her record-pace performance.

Sandra Mairhofer (Italy) — Italian vertical specialist; finished second at the Dolomyths Run vertical kilometer last month.

Judith Wyder (Switzerland) — The multidisciplinary mountain runner whose Sunday Marathon start is the headliner; entered in the KMV as a training piece before the marathon.

Maude Mathys (Switzerland) — Marathon entered; KMV is a low-priority training session.

What Thursday Morning Will Produce

The KMV format compresses the race into approximately 35-50 minutes of competition for the elite field. The race window opens at 18:00 local time Thursday — a deliberately scheduled late-afternoon start that takes advantage of cooling Alpine temperatures and offers the spectator-friendly format of a sunset finish on the Plan Praz balcony with Mont Blanc as backdrop.

Athletes start in wave starts at one-minute intervals for the open field; the elite field starts in a single grouped wave at 18:00 sharp. The format means the elite race is decided in real time on the trail, with the leader visible to the chase group through the open forest sections and the deficit data feed via course-side timing telemetry visible to broadcast viewers.

The Plan Praz finish-line tent will accommodate the elite finishers' recovery zone, the medal ceremony, and the timing-based podium announcement. The Brévent cable car will run extended evening service to allow finishers and spectators to return to Chamonix town centre.

The race is, structurally, an event optimised for one specific moment: the first finisher's arrival at Plan Praz, the cable car spinning gently in the alpine evening, the Mont Blanc massif catching the last horizontal light at 4,810 metres. Whether that moment Thursday belongs to Aymonod, Kipngeno, or Mamu — and whether the women's race produces a Dewalle record-defence or Poncet upset — is what the next 48 hours of pre-race anticipation will resolve.

For runners who want to train on these trails or run the Marathon weekend themselves, see our Race the Mont-Blanc Marathon route: Chamonix trail running guide. For the full Marathon du Mont-Blanc 2026 preview, see our Marathon du Mont-Blanc 2026 weekend preview.