Daniel Jung

About

Daniel Jung (born November 15, 1983) is an Italian trail runner from Naturns in the Vinschgau Valley of South Tyrol, who grew up on a working apple farm and spent his childhood summers as a shepherd on the high mountain pastures above the valley. He played football into his twenties, then spent nearly a decade as a competitive mountain biker before discovering trail running around 2015. Within a year of switching sports he won the South Tyrol Ultra Skyrace with a new course record in 2016 and defended the title in 2017. In 2018 he set a remarkable FKT on the 200-kilometre Tyrolean High Altitude Trail — 13,964 metres of elevation gain through the Alps — in 57 hours and 32 minutes. His most celebrated result came at La Grand Raid de La Réunion 2021 — La Diagonale des Fous, the legendary 165km race across the volcanic terrain of Réunion island in the Indian Ocean with over 10,000 metres of gain — where he and Ludovic Pommeret crossed the finish line hand in hand simultaneously, a spontaneous gesture of sporting solidarity that became one of the sport's most widely shared images. In 2026 he won the MIUT Advanced at the Madeira Island Ultra-Trail. A GORE-TEX and Altra Running ambassador, Jung represents Team Altra–Alpenplus and holds a UTMB Index of 846.

Notable Wins

• — South Tyrol Ultra Skyrace 2016 (course record)
• — 2017; La Diagonale des Fous 2021 (co-winner with Ludovic Pommeret); MIUT Advanced (Madeira Island Ultra-Trail) 2026

Race History