Eigertour 2026: Chrigel Maurer and Romy Sweda claim victories

Chrigel Maurer has continued his winning streak with a win at the Eigertour, arriving in goal just over 48 hours after setting off. It follows recent victories at X-Pyr and the Red Bull X-Alps Challenger. As he approaches his 44th birthday, the Swiss pilot shows that he is still at the very top of his game. It’s his sixth win in the four-day hike-and-fly race.

“Chrigel Maurer completed the 9th Eigertour as the victor in grand style,” says former head of the Swiss paragliding league Urs Dubach whose analysis of the race appeared on the Eigertour blog. Fellow Swiss pilot Lars Meerstetter was second with the French pilot Tim Alongi coming third. First female was Swiss pilot Romy Sweda (10th overall). Solène Rombourg (FRA) was second and Mirjam Barrueto (SUI) third female.

Race director Michu Witschi said: “It was a really nice race. Imagine, these guys did 266km and landed at least 28 times. That is really the Eigertour spirit. There were some incredible stories – people slept in their paragliders, in cable car stations, people were invited to farmer’s houses, gathered for nice fondues.

“We had pilots from all over the world – Colombia, Austria, Australia, UK, the Americas. You can see the youngsters pushing forward, we have the next generation. We also saw the first Asian guy to finish, David Chen who is the best Chinese pilot.”


The first day was tough for athletes as they dodged storms and hiked in the rain. On the first night some competitors learnt that not every hut served food – and were forced to go hungry. But the next two days the flying opportunities opened up. 
In his analysis of Chrigel’s last day, Urs wrote: “In a highly spectacular fashion, he tackled the final turnpoints—Eigergletscher, Bäregg, and Gleckstein almost entirely by flying. To do this, he utilised the opposite Osteck (east corner) of the Eiger, which was illuminated by the morning sun, and refused to be discouraged by an initial failed attempt.


“Naturally, everyone is now looking at this beautiful line between Stieregg and Bäregg. But if you truly want to learn something from Chrigel, you should closely examine the completely unspectacular and highly effective track between Männlichen and Stieregg instead – particularly the short, clear decisions on when to attempt something and when to let it go.”


Chrigel was fortunate in that Lars had to serve a penalty due to a missed turnpoint from the previous day, and Tim was forced to make makeshift repairs to his glider after landing below the Männlichen. Lars was then able to catch up with Tim and secure second place after using his local knowledge of the Grindelwald area to fly over the Schattwald and the First region. Tim was eventually able to get back in the air to secure third place on the podium.

To replay the race, follow this Burnair link, then click on a TP icon and hit replay.

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