Miao Yao

About

Miao Yao (姚苗) was born in 1996 in a remote mountain village in Guizhou Province, China, the youngest of six daughters in a farming family who worked the rice paddies of the highland interior. Selected for a state-run sports school in middle school, she trained in athletics but did not advance into the national athletics system after high school — a turning point that redirected her toward trail running and, eventually, into history. Her arrival at international competition was electrifying: in January 2018 she won the Hong Kong 100 Ultra Marathon, breaking the course record by an extraordinary 40 minutes. Later that same year, aged 21, she became the first Asian woman ever to win a UTMB Finals race, taking the CCC (100km, Courmayeur–Chamonix) in a new course record — a landmark moment for Asian trail running. After a health setback interrupted her momentum, she returned emphatically at the 2024 UTMB OCC (55km), winning in a new course record of 5:54:03 to become the first athlete of any gender from Asia to win two different UTMB Finals event titles. A third UTMB title arrived in 2025 at the OCC following the disqualification of the original winner for doping. ITRA world No. 1-ranked in the women's 50km category and a Nike ACG athlete, she documented her journey back from injury in the 2025 short film No Life Defined. Widely regarded as the greatest Asian trail runner in history and a transformative figure for the sport's growth across China and the continent.

Notable Wins

• — Hong Kong 100 2018 (course record
• — -40 min)
• — UTMB CCC 2018 (course record
• — first Asian woman to win UTMB race)
• — UTMB OCC 2024 (course record 5:54:03)
• — UTMB OCC 2025
• — ITRA world No. 1 women's 50km

Race History