The aggressive path ultramarathon racing season kicked off on the 2026 Hong Kong 100k on Saturday, January 24. Whereas the climate was comparatively cool, competitors was scorching, that includes lots of the prime runners from the worldwide East. Within the ladies’s race, Vietnam’s Hậu Hà and Veronika Leng, who’s from Slovakia however lives in Hong Kong, completed in a tie, whereas China’s Gui-Du Qin dominated the boys’s race in an emotional win.
Hậu Hà (left) and Veronika Leng (proper) tie for the win on the 2026 Hong Kong 100k. Photograph: Hong Kong 100k
The Hong Kong 100k is the ultimate occasion after three days of racing, together with extremely aggressive 30k and 50k occasions. The weekend additionally hosts a Grand Sam race the place rivals can race all three occasions, a play on the Grand Slam idea however named after native runner Sam Tam, the primary individual to finish the triplet problem.
The 100k occasion is the season opener for the World Path Majors collection, and this yr’s course coated 93 kilometers (58 miles) with 5,073 meters (16,644 toes) of elevation achieve. Adjustments to this yr’s course made the race shorter and due to this fact sooner than traditional. The course makes use of many sections of Hong Kong’s iconic Maclehose Path and finishes with a celebratory 4-kilometer descent from Hong Kong’s highest peak, Tai Mo Shan. Many of the climbing is within the latter half of the race, however the first half nonetheless consists of regular climbs up steps between the seashores and nature trails.
The road-up featured some acquainted faces from final yr, in addition to some race rookies with robust worldwide outcomes to their names. Within the ladies’s race, native hero Leng was again after inserting second within the race final yr. Hà was coming off a win on the December 2025 Chiang Mai Thailand 100k, and had positioned second on the 2025 Extremely-Path Ninghai 60k after taking sixth on the 2025 Western States 100.
Within the males’s race, two-time winner and course-record holder Guang-Fu Meng (China) was again to attempt to make it three in a row. He was going through Qin, who was second in 2025 and seeking to enhance his inserting, they usually had been joined by final yr’s third-place finisher, Guo-Min Deng (China).
Learn on for a full breakdown of the races.
2026 Hong Kong 100k Girls’s Race
It didn’t take lengthy for the ladies’s area to unfold out within the early morning hours, with Vietnam’s Hậu Hà taking the early lead, in her typical aggressive racing technique. By the second checkpoint, with 19k coated and 1:40 elapsed on the clock, Hà, who was third on the occasion final yr and sixth on the 2025 Western States 100, had already opened a 3-minute hole on Wen-Li Jiang (China) and the remainder of the sector. Chinese language countrymates, Ying Li, who was second on the occasion in 2024, ran in third an extra minute again, and Chun-Yue Ma was simply behind.
Over the comparatively flatter first a part of the course, Hà’s aggressive pacing put her even additional in entrance of the ladies’s area. Having coated 32k in three hours, she now held greater than a 10-minute hole on second-place Li and third-place Jiang, who had been working inside 10 seconds of one another. Ling-Jie Chi (China) and Veronika Leng (Slovakia), the latter of whom completed second on the occasion final yr and was fifth on the 2025 CCC, made up the remainder of the highest 5, with second by way of fifth working simply over a minute aside however with a rising hole on the remainder of the sector.
Hậu Hà main the 2026 Hong Kong 100k earlier than tying for the win with Veronika Leng. Photograph: Hong Kong 100k
Nonetheless with the vast majority of the climbing forward of them, Hà continued to guide with 41k coated in 3:52 elapsed. Her hole to her chasers appeared to have stabilized, and now it was Chi and Leng in pursuit simply over 11 minutes again, with Li and Jiang holding on to top-five positions.
It was after the 40k mark that the climbing actually began, although. For the primary couple of great climbs, every ranging between 200 and 400 meters in elevation achieve, Hà continued to increase her lead barely over the chasing Leng and Chi, who had been pulling away from the remainder of the sector. By 62k in, Leng had dropped her working companion and was pursuing chief Hà alone. Over the course of a collection of smaller climbs and descents, Leng began to drag the hole to the chief down from 13:57 at 49k to 11:34 at 62k to 9:54 at 70k.
Nonetheless, with solely 23k of racing left, it appeared that Leng would possibly run out of actual property to shut the hole fully. Earlier than the ultimate main climb, 80k into the race and eight:27 on the clock, Hà’s lead over Leng was now down to six:51, and Leng was reportedly closing with rising velocity. Chi was nonetheless in third, 13:19 off the lead, with the gaps to the remainder of the sector persevering with to develop.
Ling-Jie Chi climbs in the course of the 2026 Hong Kong 100k on her strategy to ending in third place. Photograph: Hong Kong 100k
Halfway up the ultimate climb, with solely 9k to race, the hole between Hà and Leng was down to three:48, and Chi had closed to 10:47 from the chief. Within the last 600 meters of climbing and subsequent descending, and the ultimate hour of racing, Leng was in a position to reel within the race-long chief Hà.
Ultimately, Veronika Leng and Hậu Hà tied for first place in 10:43:35. This was Hà’s second main tie in latest historical past; final yr she did the identical on the Malaysia Extremely-Path 100k. Ling-Jie Chi continued to shut the hole on the lead and completed lower than 10 minutes again in third place with a time of 10:52. The highest 5 remained the identical because it was simply 30k into the race, with Ying Li ending fourth in 11:28:04 and Wen-Li Jian ending fifth in 11:29:46.
2026 Hong Kong 100k Girls’s Outcomes
1. Veronika Leng (Slovakia) – 10:43:35
1. Hậu Hà (Vietnam) – 10:43:35
3. Ling-Jie Chi (China) – 10:52:22
4. Ying Li (China) – 11:28:04
5. Wen-Li Jiang (China) – 11:29:46
6. Katrina Hamlin (U.Okay.) – 11:51:50
7. Li-Ping Wang (China) – 12:00:31
8. Elizabeth Dangadang (Philippines) – 12:05:12
9. Man Yee Cheung (Hong Kong) – 12:06:05
10. Chun-Yue Ma (China) – 12:34:04
Full outcomes.
2026 Hong Kong 100k Males’s Race
Not like the ladies’s race, which had an early and decisive chief, the boys strung themselves out within the early kilometers, shut to one another, however not essentially working collectively. Milan Kulung Rai (Nepal) led the cost at 19k with 1:25 elapsed. He was adopted intently by the U.S.’s Dakota Jones, who was simply 10 seconds behind, and Chinese language countrymates Guo-Min Deng, Guang-Fu Meng, and Gui-Du Qin, who had been all inside a minute of the chief. Meng, the defending champion from 2024 and 2025, was the odds-on favourite this yr. Qin was final yr’s second-place finisher and fourth in 2024, whereas Deng completed third on the occasion final yr. The remainder of the entrance finish of the sector ran with small gaps between them.
Gui-Du Qin wins the 2026 Hong Kong 100k. Photograph: Hong Kong 100k
Over the second climb of be aware and into the third checkpoint at 32k, Kulung Rai fell again to seventh place, and Deng and Qin ran collectively on the entrance of the sector, with Jones and Meng trailing lower than 30 seconds behind. Kulung Rai would proceed to drop again and finally end in twenty ninth place.
Over the following comparatively flat 9k, Qin opened up a small 36-second hole on chaser Deng and prolonged his lead only a bit on Meng, who was now over a minute again. Jones had moved again a bit extra, too, now sitting greater than two minutes behind the chief. The 2015 champ Lengthy-Fei Yan (China) and many-time participant John Ray Onifa (Philippines) chased collectively greater than six minutes off the lead in fifth and sixth.
Guang-Fu Meng finishes second on the 2026 Hong Kong 100k. Photograph: Hong Kong 100k
Nothing modified within the standings over the center part of the course. On the seventh checkpoint, 70k into the race, Qin continued to dominate with 6:28 elapsed on the clock, with a 5-minute lead on Meng and eight:45 on Deng. Jones maintained his fourth-place place, now 11 minutes again.
Within the last third of the race and on the slopes of the final and largest climb up and over Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s highest peak, Meng made an enormous push to attempt to shut the hole to Qin. Partway up the slopes, at 84k, he’d closed the hole to a mere 3.5 minutes. Deng was now almost 12 minutes behind the chief within the closing 9k.
Not like within the ladies’s race, the hole between the highest two by no means lessened. In the end, after three prior finishes inside the highest 5, Gui-Du Qin acquired the win of the 2026 Hong Kong 100k in 8:52:36. The 2-time defending champ Guang-Fu Meng completed in second in 8:58:50. Guo-Min Deng was third in 9:09:48, following up on no less than two prior third-place finishes. In his debut at this race, Dakota Jones completed in fourth in 9:15:49. John Ray Onifa was in a position to maintain on to fifth in 9:50:52, his highest rating end over a number of appearances at this race.
Guo-Min Deng descending in the course of the 2026 Hong Kong 100k on his strategy to a third-place end. Photograph: Hong Kong 100k
2026 Hong Kong 100k Males’s Outcomes
Gui-Du Qin (China) – 8:52:36
Guang-Fu Meng (China) – 8:58:50
Guo-Min Deng (China) – 9:09:48
Dakota Jones (U.S.) – 9:15:49
John Ray Onifa (Philippines) – 9:50:52
Lengthy-Fei Yan (China) – 9:59:08
Alexandre Neyrinck (U.Okay.) – 10:01:31
Ferdinand Airault (France) – 10:06:53
Hui Bai (China) – 10:11:15
Fu-Jun He (China) – 10:11:41
Full outcomes.
