Photo Review: This was the 2026 Ischgl Ironbike Marathon

If you saw our photo report from Friday, you'll already recognise some of the protagonists. At the Short Track, riders were still scrapping for position in tight quarters; on Saturday their legs got to deal with things a bit longer. Four distances were on offer at the Ironbike, and for the first time there was a dedicated gravel category as well.

According to the organiser, more than 700 mountain bikers from 20 nations took part in the 31st edition - a participation record. The range went from Light at 30 kilometres through Medium at 53 kilometres and Hard at 65 kilometres all the way up to the Extreme distance at 83.5 kilometres and 3,400 metres of climbing, and as usual that one has real bite to it.

Among the men, it was Sebastian Gesche who came out on top on the queen distance. The Chilean needed 4:15 hours for the roughly 83 kilometres and won ahead of German rider Sascha Weber, who had already taken the Short Track the day before.

Behind him, Daniel Federspiel finished third. After his crash just short of the Short Track finish, that's a nicely redemptive podium spot for the Tyrolean.

Alban Lakata came home seventh, making him the second-best Austrian.

And then there's Franziska Ehrenreich. In the Friday report, the Salzburg rider - whose sporting home is actually the road bike - already turned up as runner-up in the Short Track.

Ehrenreich lined up for her first-ever MTB marathon on the 65-kilometre Hard distance and won in 4:13 hours ahead of Germany's Lea Kremsreiter and Chiara Burato. Daniela Traxl-Pintarelli finished fourth. That's how you wrap up your first MTB race weekend in style: a Short Track podium on Friday, a marathon win on Saturday.

In the men's Hard-distance race, Joris Lemke managed to open up a gap already on the very first climb and took the win in a time of 3:19 hours, 3 minutes clear of Julius Scherrer and Matthias Alberti.

On the Medium route, the wins went to Swiss rider Tinetta Thanei and Germany's Johannes Keller. Once again the race weekend covered a pretty huge range - from the five-year-old junior riders on Friday to the international marathon specialists on the Extreme distance.

And it's exactly that mix that ultimately makes the Ironbike so interesting. On Friday the kids take centre stage, a few hours later the Short Track riders come flying through the village, and the next morning more than 700 participants disappear into the Paznaun valley and the high-alpine border region between Austria and Switzerland for varying lengths of time.