Jack White did not lead the 33rd Jungfrau-Marathon for most of its 42.195 kilometres. He won it anyway.
The British runner charged down defending champion Erik Hille on the long climb above Interlaken on Saturday to take the men’s title in 3:08:27, finishing 70 seconds clear of the German. Meanwhile, Germany’s Laura Hottenrott did what she has now done four times at this race: crossed the finish line under the Eiger’s North Face first, in 3:20:56, to extend her record as the most successful woman in Jungfrau-Marathon history.
📅 Race: 33rd International Jungfrau-Marathon
📍 Date: Saturday, 5 September 2026
📏 Distance: 42.195 km | 1,953 m elevation gain
🏁 Finish: Eigergletscher Station, 2,320 m
🥇 Men’s Winner: Jack White (GBR) — 3:08:27
🥇 Women’s Winner: Laura Hottenrott (GER) — 3:20:56
Jungfrau Marathon 2026 Men’s Results: White Wins, Hille Falls Short in Title Defence
Hille had won this race in 2025. On Saturday he ran hard enough to finish second and still lost by over a minute. That tells you something about what White produced.
Kenya’s Sammy Rotich Chelangat completed the podium in third, finishing 1:35 behind White. Jerome Furer was the top Swiss finisher in fourth, just 2:13 off the winning time — close enough to hurt, not close enough to matter on the day.
| Place | Athlete | Nation | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1st | Jack White | Great Britain | 3:08:27 |
| 🥈 2nd | Erik Hille | Germany | 3:09:37* |
| 🥉 3rd | Sammy Rotich Chelangat | Kenya | 3:10:02* |
| 4th | Jerome Furer | Switzerland | 3:10:40* |
| 5th | Kevin Kibet | Kenya | — |
| 6th | Josphat Kiprotich Tuei | Kenya | — |
| 7th | Mario Alberto Ramiro | Mexico | — |
| 8th | Vitaliy Shafar | Ukraine | — |
| 9th | Thomas Palmen | Netherlands | — |
| 10th | Mark Kiptoo | Kenya | — |
*Times for places 2-4 calculated from published gaps. Full official results at jungfrau-marathon.ch.
Laura Hottenrott Wins Jungfrau Marathon for the Fourth Time
Hottenrott holds the women’s course record at Eigergletscher — 3:17:35, set here in 2025. Saturday’s 3:20:56 did not touch it, but it did not need to. She won by over seven minutes. Kirsten De Baey-Ruszin, her German compatriot, finished second again as she did in 2025. South Africa’s Gerda Steyn took third.
Four titles at one of the world’s hardest marathons is not something that happens by accident. Hottenrott knows this course the way most runners know their local parkrun.
| Place | Athlete | Nation | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1st | Laura Hottenrott | Germany | 3:20:56 |
| 🥈 2nd | Kirsten De Baey-Ruszin | Germany | 3:28:15* |
| 🥉 3rd | Gerda Steyn | South Africa | — |
| 4th | Martina Strühl | Switzerland | — |
| 5th | Karen Van Proeyen | Belgium | — |
| 6th | Jessica Oosterloo | Netherlands | — |
| 7th | Nadin Wälti | Switzerland | — |
| 8th | Susanne Kaufmann | Switzerland | — |
| 9th | Nina Högger | Switzerland | — |
| 10th | Myriam Keiser | Switzerland | — |
*Time for 2nd place calculated from published gap. Full official results at jungfrau-marathon.ch.
Switzerland’s Women Dominate the Field Behind the Podium
Five Swiss women finished inside the top ten. Strühl led them home in fourth, with Wälti, Kaufmann, Högger and Keiser filling positions seven through ten. On home soil, at altitude, on one of the most brutal courses in world marathon running, that is a collective result worth noting.
On the men’s side, Furer’s fourth place was the Swiss high point. He ran a calculated race on familiar terrain and came up just short of the podium, 2:13 behind White. At a race this hard, that gap can disappear or double based on a single bad kilometre on the Wengen wall.
Jungfrau Marathon 2027: When Does Registration Open?
The 34th Jungfrau-Marathon takes place on 11 September 2027. Registration opens on 14 February 2027 at 8:00 AM Swiss local time. The 2026 edition sold out within days. Set a calendar reminder now and have your payment details ready before the window opens.
White charged, Hottenrott dominated and the Jungfrau-Marathon delivered what it always does: a race that rewards patience and punishes ambition in roughly equal measure. The 33rd edition is done. The 34th is 12 months away. That is about the right amount of time to recover, train and do it again.
Full race guide for 2027 at FatMarathoner’s Jungfrau-Marathon Guide.