Chinese Runner Zhao Jiaju Wins TOR330, Breaks Course Record

Chinese ultrarunner Zhao Jiaju won Italy's TOR330 today, becoming the race's first champion from China and breaking the course record with a time of 65 hours, 55 minutes and 22 seconds, People's Daily reported.

"I only want to finish now," Zhao said during the race, when he was exhausted and his eyes were bloodshot. He had earlier said that a record was possible if he was in good condition.

The race, also known as the Tor des Géants, is one of the world's best-known trail-running events and is regarded as one of the Alps' "sister races" with France's Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. This year's course covered 336.1 kilometers, with more than 24,000 meters of elevation gain – nearly the height of three Mount Qomolangma – and a 150-hour cutoff.

The race started in Courmayeur at 10am on September 13. Wearing bib No. 1, Zhao took an early lead and stayed in front until the aid station at 203.8 kilometers.

He spent 50 minutes there changing clothes, eating, receiving a massage and sleeping, allowing Swiss runner Jonathan Schindler to pass him. Zhao then accelerated after leaving the station and regained the lead.

When Zhao reached the aid station at 307.5 kilometers during the night, he had been running for 60 hours and led Schindler by 47 minutes. After drinking hot soup and putting on warmer clothing, he headed for the final major obstacle, the Malatra Pass. The course was largely downhill after the pass, leading him back to Courmayeur, where the race began.

Zhao's strategy relied on brief, fragmented sleep. He first stopped to rest after 35 hours and 42 minutes, sleeping for about 20 minutes during his 50-minute stay. He later took several 10-minute naps at aid stations, sleeping for about an hour in total over nearly 60 hours of racing.

The 31-year-old, who was born in Guizhou Province in February 1995, is a professional trail runner. He dropped out of school at 15 and worked as a security guard, porter and food-delivery rider. While delivering food in Hangzhou, he ran on foot while other couriers used bicycles, according to his biography "Run," published in 2023.

Zhao won the 168-kilometer race at the Chongli 168 Super Trail in July in 19 hours, 1 minute and 32 seconds, breaking the course record he had set six years earlier and claiming his fourth title in the event. He first entered TOR330 last September but withdrew at the 203.8-kilometer aid station.

His victory came 13 years after a Chinese reporter became the first Chinese runner to complete the course in 2013. Zhao's coaching and support teams provided tactical planning and supplies throughout the race, helping him reach the finish and claim the historic title.