François D’haene, Sabrina Stanley win first Hardrock 100 in three years

After two successive cancellations (one due to snowfall and one to COVID), the Hardrock 100 took place in Colorado’s San Juan mountains on Friday, and it was worth the wait. French ultratrail superstar and three-time UTMB winner François D’haene was strong from the start, and powered through to a 21:45:51 finish early Saturday – the fastest time anyone has run the course, counterclockwise or overall (both records were held by Kilian Jornet, who did not run this year). Defending champion Sabrina Stanley of Silverton, Colo. (where the looped-course race starts and finishes) won the women’s race in 27:21:48 – the second fastest women’s finish ever, and her second time racing Hardrock. Stanley was sixth overall, and was on pace for a course record until approximately mile 80. 

RELATED: Your 2021 Hardrock 100 preview

Videos of podium men–Francois D'haene, Dylan Bowman & Ryan Smith–finishing the 2021 Hardrock 100. All 3 bested Kilian Jornet's CCW record of 23:28:00 (2015), while François bettered Kilian's overall record of 22:41:33 (2014) by running 21:45:51. https://t.co/owtcd5nV2G #HR100

— iRunFar (@iRunFar) July 17, 2021

Dylan Bowman of Portland, Ore. took second place, exactly one hour behind D’haene, in 22:45:50. and Ryan Smith of Boulder, Colo. was third, in 23:24:29. All three finished faster than Jornet’s counterclockwise course record of 23:28:00, set in 2015, and D’haene bettered Jornet’s overall record of 22:41:33 from 2014.

Darcy Piceu of Boulder was the second woman to finish, in 32:08:17. Piceu has finished first or second in all eight of her Hardrock finishes. Meghan Hicks of Moab, Utah finished third, in 33:04:59.

RELATED: Hardrock 100 cancelled for second straight year

Sabrina Stanley (adidas Terrex) wins the 2021 Hardrock 100 in 27:21:49. The second fastest women’s time in race history, just 3 minutes and 31 seconds behind Diana Finkel’s record. She’s sixth overall. Here’s our pre-race interview: https://t.co/uE0HXwxZ68 #HR100 pic.twitter.com/BTdgxlskeF

— iRunFar (@iRunFar) July 17, 2021

D’haene is a three-time UTMB winner (2012, 2014 and 2017), among other titles, and Bowman has twice won the Ultra-Trail Mount Fuji, in 2016 and 2019. Both are Hardrock first-timers. D’haene was paced for the 30-mile section from Grouse to Telluride by Jim Walmsley, who won his third consecutive victory at Western States just three weeks ago, and is now training for UTMB, where he will race against d’Haene.

First-timer and favourite Courtney Dauwalter did not finish, dropping out at mile 62. Mike Wardian finished in 26th place, in 36:00:25.

Mario Festival of Calgary, who also dropped out at Ouray, appears to be the only Canadian entry.

Top 10 men

1. François D’haene 21:45:50
2. Dylan Bowman 22:45:50
3. Ryan Smith 23:24:29
4. Julien Chorier (2011 winner, 2nd in 2014) 25:56:57
5. Jeff Browning (2018 winner) 26:58:16
6. Nick Pedatella 28:27:47
7. Troy Howard 28:33:51
8. Trevor Fuchs 29:19:42
9. Kevin Shilling 30:33:20
10. Mick Jurynec 30:33:20

Video clip of runners about 5 minutes into #HR100. Beautiful day out here. pic.twitter.com/nBoE0mgbOF

— iRunFar (@iRunFar) July 16, 2021

Top 10 women

1. Sabrina Stanley 27:21:48
2. Darcy Piceu 32:08:17
3. Meghan Hicks 33:04:59
4. Olga Nevtrinos 36:35:26
5. Heather Brooks 38:09:00
6. Betsy Nye 39:36:00
7. Pam Reed 41:56:00
8. Barbara Olmer 43:22:00
9. Marta Fisher 45:21:47
10. Betsy Kalmeyer 45:47:17

The race has a cutoff of 48 hours. For full results or to track athletes, click here.