Championnats du monde 24 heures - Albi 2026

Albi’s 24-hour running world championships place national-team ultrarunners on a 1.5 km loop at the Stadium municipal d’Albi in southern France. The concept is simple: runners continue for a full day, and the athlete covering the most distance wins. Organized by Albi 24H with the City of Albi and the International Association of Ultrarunners, the event is international in scale, with 47 national teams and about 420 men and women on the start list. The world record in this format is 319.6 km, indicating how far beyond ordinary marathon running this event is. The course is short, repeatable, and measured precisely by official referees, so every lap counts and every extra metre can alter an individual or team result. The race begins Saturday morning and continues through the night into the next morning, transforming the stadium loop into a test of pacing, digestion, sleep deprivation, and team support. The day prior, teams parade through central Albi from Place du Vigan along Rue Mariès to the Grand Théâtre for the opening ceremony. Results are tallied individually and by country; recent team standings showed Great Britain ahead of Australia and Japan, with France also in the top group.