The 2026 Life Time Unbound Gravel presented by Shimano is delivering everything the Flint Hills are famous for — peanut butter mud, rain, pain, countless DNF’s, and raw speed — as the sport’s biggest day in gravel racing unfolds across the Kansas prairie.
In the Elite Men’s 100, Robert Oehler of New Albany, Ohio, took overall honours in 05:04:39 at an average speed of 20.92 mph, edging New Zealander Finn McKenzie by 2 minutes 13 seconds, while 20-year-old Canadian Oskar Stack-Michasiw of Saskatoon finished third, just 1 second behind McKenzie. Conditions proved brutal in places, with overnight rain turning sections of the course into the notorious Flint Hills peanut-butter mud that has defined many editions of Unbound.
In the Elite Women’s 100, Kylee Hanel of Portland, Oregon, crossed the line first in 05:36:38, with Samantha Johnson of Johnson City, Tennessee, finishing second at 2 minutes 31 seconds back. Ellory Clason of Grand Rapids, Michigan, rounded out the podium in 05:39:23.
The flagship 200-mile race — 333 km of unrelenting gravel — concluded with a dominant victory for Denmark’s Mads Würtz Schmidt, who covered the 206.9-mile course in 09:14:51 at a superhero’s pace of 22.38 mph. South Africa’s Matthew Beers finished second in 09:19:54, 5 minutes 3 seconds down, while fellow Dane Tobias Kongstad completed the podium in 09:24:43. Würtz Schmidt had entered the closing stages with a sizeable advantage despite earlier stopping for a replacement rear wheel, while former champion Keegan Swenson’s podium hopes ended after a catastrophic mechanical.
Würtz Schmidt traveled to Emporia as one of the top riders of the European gravel season, having set a new course record at The Traka 360 in Girona just weeks earlier. The Specialized Off-Road super-team of Swenson, Beers, and Würtz Schmidt was widely considered the strongest collective unit in the field.
In the women’s 200-mile race, Sofia Gomez Villafañe emerged victorious in one of the closest finishes in Unbound Gravel history, completing the 206.9-mile course in 10:31:37 at an average speed of 19.66 mph. Belgium’s Geerike Schreurs finished just 1 second behind in 10:31:38, with Cecily Decker also credited with the same finishing time to complete the podium after an extraordinary sprint conclusion in Emporia. Paige Onweller and Rosa Klöser followed immediately behind, both within 2 seconds of the winner, underlining the remarkable depth and intensity of this year’s women’s field despite the punishing mud and attritional conditions across the Flint Hills.
Meanwhile, Robin Gemperle claimed victory in the brutal Unbound XL — the 350-mile self-supported ultra-distance event — finishing in 21:20:04 aboard a prototype Scott 32-inch-wheel bike and averaging 16.7 mph despite being forced to walk sections of the muddy route. Svenja Betz won the women’s XL in 27 hours, 11 minutes and 32 seconds.
2026 Lifetime Unbound Gravel results HERE
Photo Credit: Emporia Main Street
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