Nepali ultra-runner makes history with record victory in Italy's Lavaredo Ultra Trail
Sunmaya Budha, from Nepal's remote highland district of Jumla, breaks a 13-year course record in the 120-km race through the Dolomites, boosting the Himalayan nation's growing reputation in ultra-trail running.
PC: La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB
Nepali ultra-runner Sunmaya Budha shattered a 13-year-old course record to win Italy's prestigious La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120K, cementing her status among the world's leading mountain endurance athletes.
Budha completed the 120-kilometre race through the Dolomites around Cortina d'Ampezzo in 13 hours, 33 minutes and one second, eclipsing the previous course record of 13:40:34 set by France's Caroline Chaverot in 2015.
The runner from Nepal's remote Jumla district raced alongside Australian Lucy Bartholomew during the opening stages before pulling away on the decisive climbs and extending her lead over the closing kilometres to claim victory.
Race organisers hailed Budha as the "new queen" of the Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120K.
"Sunmaya Budha is the new QUEEN of the La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120K," organisers wrote on social media. "A perfectly controlled race from the very start... Sunmaya, you have written history in Cortina d'Ampezzo, setting a sensational new course record."
Held annually since 2007, the Lavaredo Ultra Trail is one of Europe's premier mountain ultramarathons and is part of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) World Series. The flagship 120-km race features approximately 5,800 metres of elevation gain through the UNESCO-listed Dolomite mountains surrounding Cortina d'Ampezzo, host of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB
For Budha, the victory marks the latest milestone in a remarkable rise from one of Nepal's poorest regions to the highest level of international trail running.
Born in Pere village in Patarasi Rural Municipality of Jumla as the fifth of eight children in a subsistence farming family, Budha grew up facing poverty and gender discrimination. Seven of the family's eight children were girls, and she has often said her determination to succeed was driven partly by a desire to prove that daughters could achieve as much as sons.
Her running career began after she finished second in Nepal's President Running Shield school athletics competition in 2015. She made her international breakthrough a year later by finishing runner-up at the Manaslu Mountain Trail Race before recording second-place finishes in Hong Kong's vertical and ultra sky races.
But her reputation soared after setting a women's record over 110 kilometres at an ultra-trail race in Thailand in 2021, completing the course in 14 hours, 54 minutes and one second. She later finished runner-up in the 100 km race at UTMB Mont-Blanc in France in 2022. She also won The North Face 100 Hong Kong in 2023, and many ultra-run series.
Budha has since competed across Europe, Asia and Australia, while collecting victories in some of Nepal's best-known mountain races.
