La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB enters its five-weeks-out window today, with the headline 120K race the centrepiece of a Cortina d'Ampezzo programme running 24-28 June 2026. The race remains one of the most coveted slots on the European trail calendar and one of the highest-paying UTMB World Series qualifiers, awarding Running Stones for entry into UTMB Mont-Blanc and bonus points toward the World Series Finals weekend. Organisers have confirmed that the 1,800 places on the 120K start sheet are full, as are the 1,000-runner 80K, the 1,800-strong 50K, and the 700-runner 20K and 400-runner 10K supporting events.
The 120K — the race that put Lavaredo on the map when it launched in 2007 — sets off from Corso Italia on Friday 26 June at 23:00 local time and traces a counter-clockwise route around the Tre Cime di Lavaredo with 5,800 metres of vertical gain. The course brushes the Cinque Torri, climbs to the Rifugio Auronzo plateau beneath the Tre Cime spires by sunrise, and drops into the Tre Croci pass before the final ascent of the Rifugio Pomedes ridge above town. Lavaredo's elevation profile is gentler underfoot than UTMB Mont-Blanc's, but the long night start and 5,800m climb load combine to create a different sort of difficulty: organisers note an average finish rate of 73 per cent across the last five editions, with the 80K running closer to 84 per cent.
The elite field for the 120K will not be formally published until early June, but several names are already locked in through public sponsor announcements. Defending men's champion Petter Engdahl of Sweden has confirmed his return after a quiet spring built around the Madeira Island Ultra Trail recce, and women's defending champion Sara Alonso has signalled on Instagram that she is targeting Cortina as the final World Series race before her UTMB Mont-Blanc start. American Hayden Hawks, men's runner-up at last year's CCC, is also confirmed via Salomon, while Italian mountain-running stalwart Giuditta Turini and France's Manon Bohard Cailler add depth at the front of the women's race.
The shorter distances draw a different cast. The 50K, which loops through Misurina and Cortina's Olympic ski slopes on Saturday 27 June, has historically attracted a sub-elite road and skyrunning crowd, with a number of Sky Series athletes using it as a pre-Sierre-Zinal opener; Skyrunner World Series points are awarded in 2026 for the first time. The 80K, which doubles back through Federa and Croda da Lago on Friday 26 June, is the route most often used by athletes targeting Mont-Blanc later in the summer. The 20K and 10K races, on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June respectively, sit at the heart of the Cortina town festival, with both expected to fill quickly with regional and Austrian visitor entries.
Off-course, Lavaredo's expo at the Cortina Conference Centre opens on Tuesday 23 June and runs through Saturday 27 June, with La Sportiva launching its 2027 Cyklon and Bushido line at a Wednesday evening preview event. UTMB has also confirmed that its World Series live tracking platform will carry timing splits for all five distances in real time, an upgrade from 2025 when only the 120K and 80K had complete coverage. With Mont-Blanc's August lottery now closed and the World Series Finals slots increasingly contested, Lavaredo's marquee distances effectively serve as the last meaningful Running Stones opportunity in mainland Europe before the Alps season opens at the end of July.