With three weeks remaining until the start gun, the La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB is moving into its final preparations ahead of its return to Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites from 24 to 28 June 2026. The flagship 120K circuit, with around 5,800 metres of vertical gain, remains one of the most coveted early-season tests on the international trail calendar.
The festival spans five distances in total, with 120K, 80K, 50K, 20K and 10K options drawing a deep international field to the Dolomites. As a UTMB World Series event, every race bar the 10K offers between one and four running stones, the qualification currency runners need to enter the lottery for UTMB Mont-Blanc later in the summer.
Lavaredo's timing creates a familiar dilemma for the sport's leading names. The Italian race runs almost simultaneously with the Marathon du Mont-Blanc, held from 25 to 28 June beneath the Mont-Blanc massif, forcing many elites to choose between the Dolomites and the French Alps for their pre-UTMB sharpener. That split tends to spread the talent and keep both start lists guessing until late.
The course itself is a large part of the draw. Runners set off from Cortina into the night and spend the following hours threading beneath the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo, tackling technical, rocky Dolomite terrain that rewards sure-footed descending as much as raw climbing strength. The combination of altitude, distance and exposure makes consistent pacing essential.
For the leading contenders, a strong showing in Cortina is rarely an end in itself. It functions instead as a marker on the road to UTMB Mont-Blanc, which runs from 24 to 30 August 2026 with the 100-mile flagship setting off on Friday 28 August. A clean run at Lavaredo, three weeks out from now, will tell the sport plenty about who is rounding into form.