COURMAYEUR, Aosta Valley — She has spent years studying the climate and the changes that are reshaping the world, but a few months ago, German climatologist Katharina Hartmuth put her research career on hold to devote herself full time to mountain running.

The 31-year-old made a life-changing choice, leaving the laboratories of ETH Zurich for the trails. She traded research into Arctic atmospheric dynamics for the peaks of the Aosta Valley, where she has now taken on one of the world’s toughest and most grueling endurance races.

Hartmuth completed the Tor des Géants, tackling the Alta Via 1 and Alta Via 2 trails that circle the Aosta Valley. The arduous course covers 330 kilometers (205 miles) and 24,000 meters (78,740 feet) of elevation, starting and finishing in Courmayeur. It’s the kind of challenge that sends shivers down your spine just thinking about it.

Now living near Zurich, Hartmuth returned to the Aosta Valley as a favorite after winning the race in 2024. This time, she delivered a performance that will go down on the race’s history, showing that a woman can run at the same pace as men. She finished third overall, becoming the first woman ever to reach the Tor’s overall podium.

“It’s something far beyond anything I could have ever imagined,” she said. “I’m really happy, and I hope this can send a strong message to women in this sport - and, more broadly, to everyone who takes part in it.”

Three days at altitude, tackling seemingly endless climbs, taking supplies on the fly, grabbing brief naps, and dealing with physical problems that emerge mile after mile.

She battled the inevitable blisters, devoured pasta al pomodoro at the many aid stations and rest stops along the route, and slept for barely 15 minutes over the entire three days.

In 2024, she had taken 12 hours longer to finish.

Legs and heart mattered, but so did mental strength and a winning mindset: qualities that often make the difference.

Despite knowing the Aosta Valley trails well, she found herself in unfamiliar territory. Changes to the race schedule threw off some of her usual reference points.

“I found myself running at night through places I had never seen in the dark and, during the day, through places I had never seen in daylight,” she said.

Hartmuth crossed the finish line after 67 hours, 10 minutes and 9 seconds, maintaining a roughly 12-minute-per-kilometer pace — just 1 hour and 14 minutes behind China’s Jiaju Zhao, a former food-delivery rider and rising star of trail running.

Zhao’s victory was the first by a non-European athlete in the race’s 17 editions. He had dropped out in Gressoney the year before. The 31-year-old, who grew up in Fenghuang County, known as the “ancient city of the phoenix,” also set a new course record, finishing in 65:55:22 and shaving more than 13 minutes off the 66:08:22 mark set last year by France’s Victor Richard.

Swiss runner Jonathan Schindler finished second in 66:55:06, the fifth-fastest time in the race’s history.

Just 15 minutes behind, Hartmuth put on a phenomenal display, maintaining both razor-sharp focus and an equally intense pace, enough to contemplate making a move for the lead.

“Before the race, I decided to use the men’s race as my benchmark because I wanted to improve substantially on the time I had posted two years ago,” she said. “I was the first woman to break 80 hours. Along the way, people were telling me I might be able to challenge the leader. I thought to myself, ‘You don’t understand how tired I am.’”

She would have liked to sleep a few minutes longer, especially on the final night.

But with the overall podium still within reach, she kept pushing until the finish. Tenacity and determination have defined an athlete who came to trail running through sport climbing and, before specializing in long-distance races, also competed in running and triathlon.

Now she has etched her name into the Tor des Géants record books, posting the sixth-fastest time in the race’s 17 editions.

“I’m happy,” she said. “But now I just want to sleep.”

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