The mountain running world lost one of its brightest lights last week when Megan Kimmel, a world-renowned skyrunner and elite mountain athlete based in Silverton, Colorado, passed away at the age of 45.
News of her death sent shockwaves through the global trail running community, with fellow athletes, friends, and fans pausing to honor a woman who spent her life chasing summits and inspiring everyone around her.
Kimmel was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1980 and grew up with the Rocky Mountains as her backyard. Over time, those mountains became her arena.
She was known not only as a fierce competitor on the world stage but also as a backcountry skier, entrepreneur, dog mom, and a deeply rooted member of the tight-knit Silverton community.
People who crossed paths with her described a woman who was warm, direct, and completely without pretense. She gave everything she had to the mountains and to the people she loved.
Her family has asked for privacy during this difficult period, and no official cause of death has been made public.
A Career Built on Grit, Speed, and Unmatched Mountain Instinct
Kimmel’s competitive rise was swift and impressive. She stepped onto the international skyrunning scene in 2014, earning a silver medal at the Skyrunning World Championships held in Chamonix, France.
That result signaled the arrival of a serious force in the sport. By 2015, she was winning. She took the Dolomites SkyRace title that year and set a course record that turned heads across Europe. She also claimed victories at Matterhorn Ultraks and The Rut, both prestigious stops on the Skyrunner World Series.
Her finest season came in 2016 when she captured the overall Migu Run Skyrunner World Series title in the SkyRace category.
That year, she won at Livigno SkyMarathon, Matterhorn Ultraks, Limone Extreme, The Rut, and the Yading Skyrun in China. She returned to Yading and won again in both 2017 and 2019, proving she was not a one-season wonder but a sustained force at the top of the sport.
In 2018, she turned her attention to home soil and shattered the course record at the Pikes Peak Marathon, one of the most storied mountain races in the United States. The following year, she collected more podium finishes at Mount Awa SkyRace in Japan and Transvulcania in the Canary Islands.
When news of her passing spread across social media, the response was immediate and heartfelt. Courtney Dauwalter, Kilian Jornet, and dozens of other professional runners shared their grief publicly.
Younger athletes spoke of how Kimmel had mentored them in their early years in the sport. One runner wrote that she always wanted to be Megan Kimmel when she grew up. Another remembered running beside her and said those miles would be cherished forever.
The International Skyrunning Federation honored her memory, describing her as a true skyrunner whose influence would continue to shape the sport for generations to come.
She was 45 years old. Silverton will not be the same without her.
