The running world was shocked on June 15 when headlines started to emerge indicating that Colorado-born world-class ultrarunner and skyrunner Megan Kimmel, 45, had died.

According to the Skyrunning Federation, Kimmel was born in Denver in 1980, starting her skyrunning career in 2014 with a silver medal in the Skyrunning World Championships in Chamonix. That was just the start of what would grow to become a long list of accomplishments in skyrunning – a branch of running in which runners are competing at 6,600 feet of elevation or higher with steepness-of-route requirements, as well.

Kimmel would go on to win the Dolomites SkyRace and set a course record in 2015, winning the Skyrunner World Series in the same year. Her many successes would continue, and in 2018, she broke the 37-year-standing female record at the Pikes Peak Marathon with a time of 4:15:06. The year of 2019 brought more accolades with podium finishes in Japan’s Mount Awa SkyRace and Transvulcania in Spain. In that year, she also won the Broken Arrow 52K in Squaw Valley, California.

Per Canadian Running, Kimmel was most recently living in Silverton, Colorado.

“An extraordinary athlete and true skyrunner whose legacy will live on,” wrote the Skyrunning Federation following Kimmel’s death. Many online have chimed into the conversation to share their condolences and to praise the positive impact she had on the running community throughout her career.

At this time, it doesn’t sound like Kimmel’s cause of death has been publically released.

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