Vincent Esmiol of France and Katharina Hartmuth of Germany were the winners of the 17th Madeira Island Ultra-Trail Legend 110k on Saturday, taking the headline titles in a race that for the first time since 2024 ran its full traditional course from Porto Moniz to Machico across the volcanic spine of the Portuguese island. The race, the fifth event in the 2026 World Trail Majors, drew a record international field of 1,440 finishers across all five distances, with the headline 110k starting in darkness at midnight on Friday and the leaders crossing Machico's finish line in the late afternoon. The MIUT shoreline-to-shoreline course climbs more than 7,000 metres of elevation gain, much of it on Madeira's exposed Pico Ruivo ridgeline.
Esmiol, the 2024 Tor des Géants winner, broke the race open at the Pico Ruivo summit just before dawn and ran a controlled descent into Funchal that put almost 12 minutes into Tyler Green of the United States by the 70k mark. He held a smaller margin to the finish, crossing in 12 hours 48 minutes for the third European trail Major win of his career and the second-fastest men's time in MIUT history, behind only Pau Capell's 2019 record of 12:36. Gaitier Airiau, also of France, came through for second in 12:56 and Green held on for third in 13:02 — his fourth podium in a Major race in 14 months. Reigning UTMB champion Rod Farvard finished sixth in 13:33 after a stomach problem at half-distance.
Hartmuth's win in the women's race was, on paper, no surprise: the German is the defending UTMB Mont-Blanc women's champion and arrived in Madeira favourite to win on a course that suits her descending strength. The race itself was tougher than expected. Italy's Mino Faukner pressed her through the first 50k and led briefly out of the Encumeada aid station, before Hartmuth reasserted control on the long Pico do Areeiro climb. She won in 14:48, 17 minutes clear of Faukner, with Britain's Sarah Lowther a further 15 minutes back in third for her first Trail Majors podium. Hartmuth's win moves her to the top of the World Trail Majors standings with two of seven races remaining.
The 2026 race was significant beyond the result for what it represented to the local trail community. The MIUT course was rerouted in 2025 after a severe wildfire damaged the Fanal Forest section, forcing organisers to skip the Caldeirão Verde traverse for the first time in the event's history. A €2.4 million rebuild programme funded by the Madeiran regional government and the European Union's LIFE+ trail rehabilitation scheme reopened the affected paths in March, and Saturday's race ran the full original course for the first time since 2024. Race director Carla Caetano paid tribute to the rebuild teams in the post-race press conference. "We have a forest again, we have a course again, and we will have a race in 2027," she said.
The men's win sets up Esmiol as a clear pre-race favourite for Western States in June, the next race on the World Trail Majors calendar. He confirmed in his finish-line interview that he intends to start in Olympic Valley after a five-week recovery block in Chamonix and pointed to the strength of his finishing legs in Madeira as evidence that the long-haul travel adjustment from California to Europe and back will not derail his summer campaign. For Hartmuth, MIUT was the second leg of a self-imposed three-Major spring after a second-place finish in February at Tarawera, and she will now skip Western States and target Sierre-Zinal in August before defending her UTMB title in Chamonix on the final weekend of the month. The next stop on the Trail Majors calendar is the Penyagolosa Trails CSP 109k in Spain on 9 May.