FKT: Nouchka Simic - Grande Traversée des Alpes via the GR5 (France) - 2026-07-26

• €100,000 in funding;
• A large support crew;
• No equipment carried at all (no water, no backpack, no food, nothing);
• No logistical or mental burden other than putting one foot in front of the other;
• Guaranteed recovery every evening in highly comfortable conditions;
• Pacers accompanying her throughout the effort.

At that point, it no longer resembles traditional trail running as many people understand it, but rather a highly supported endurance project designed in part for social media and public visibility.

It is also worth noting that, based on her publicly available race results, she has generally recorded respectable but not exceptional performances in trail running. To my knowledge, she is not considered an elite athlete, nor is she particularly experienced in very long-distance or multi-day events. Her publicly shared photos and videos also appear to show that she is consistently accompanied by several members of her support team during her projects, including on shorter trail runs.

Taken together, these elements naturally raise questions, particularly considering that, according to the content shared during the attempt, she appeared to be struggling significantly and running behind schedule after only two days. We may never know the full picture, but this FKT leaves me puzzled. Moving from otherwise ordinary trail and ultratrail performances to an FKT is, at the very least, something that invites closer examination.

Another point that caught my attention concerns her Strava data. As she approached the end of the route, she appears to have achieved personal bests or segment records on several sections. In other words, despite having accumulated nearly a week of continuous effort, her pace seems to have improved on certain segments. Given the physical demands of such an undertaking—and assuming the tracking data accurately reflects the effort—this may appear counterintuitive. How could someone who reportedly seemed exhausted after only two days still be setting segment records several days later? I cannot explain it, and it seems difficult to reconcile with what was publicly documented during the attempt.

Finally, there are several unusually straight sections visible on the OpenRunner track. I have no evidence that these indicate any irregularity, and there may be entirely legitimate explanations, including GPS signal loss or tracking artefacts. However, they do raise questions. One possible hypothesis—among others—would be that the GPS device stopped recording for part of the route, although I have no evidence that this occurred. Without independent verification, it would not be appropriate to draw any conclusion from the tracking data alone...