San Fermín 2026 is underway. Day 4 of 9.
Everything that happens in Pamplona between fiestas shapes what happens on the route in July, and Encierro’s instructors are on that route every year to see it firsthand. This is our encierro news July 2026 coverage of the fiesta’s third running and the rules, history, and people around it.
Third encierro splits into two, leaves 13 injured including a goring
Diario de Navarra, Orain, July 9, 2026
The third encierro ran the morning of July 9 with Victoriano del Río bulls. The herd split into two groups partway through, but the run stayed fast and clean, finishing in 2 minutes 23 seconds. Thirteen runners were injured in the provisional count, including one goring: a left arm wound at Telefónica suffered by a 29 year old American, taken to the Hospital Universitario de Navarra. Eleven runners in total needed hospital transfer, the rest treated for head and limb trauma, all men over 25. Victoriano del Río bulls have run in Pamplona since 2010 and are known for speed and generally good behavior, with danger showing up only occasionally.
Justo Alejandro Algaba, originally from Madrid and now living in Dubai, flies to Pamplona most years specifically to run. Entering Estafeta, two runners in front of him blocked his path to the bulls, and he had to jump to avoid a pile of fallen runners, landing wrong on his right knee. “No hay rotura pero no puedo caminar. Habrá que monitorear para ver si hay rotura de ligamento cruzado.” (There’s no break but I can’t walk. They’ll need to monitor for a possible torn ACL.) He left the hospital in a wheelchair. Read the original coverage at Diario de Navarra.
RTVE Play’s official broadcast of the run is below.
Women runners mark 51 years of official participation
Orain, July 9, 2026
2026 marks 51 years since women first officially ran a San Fermín encierro. A municipal rule barring women from running was repealed in 1974, and the first official women runners took part the following year, in 1975. The Ayuntamiento’s latest data put women at roughly 11% of runners today, up from about 6% in prior years.
Municipal Police crack down on hidden encierro cameras — including smart glasses
Orain, Noticias de Navarra, July 9, 2026
More runners are trying to film the encierro from inside the route using hidden cameras, and Pamplona’s Policía Municipal is adapting enforcement to match. Officers have confiscated 50 recording devices across the first three encierros this San Fermín. Fines range from 601 to 6,000 euros depending on classification. On July 8, one foreign runner was identified and sanctioned specifically for filming with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses — indistinguishable from standard sunglasses — and posting the footage to TikTok, where the video reached 20,000 views before police traced the account through encierro access checkpoint images. Officers indicated that enforcement going forward will specifically account for wearable cameras, which are now common enough that the ordinance’s prohibition on “any device that records images or sound” is being applied to them explicitly. The ordinance has been on the books for years; the technology catching up to it is the new challenge.
AEMET activates three weather alerts as heat peaks and storms approach
Navarra.com (OKDiario), AEMET, July 9, 2026
Spain’s national weather agency AEMET activated three simultaneous alerts for Pamplona on July 9: extreme heat, rain, and strong storms. With temperatures reaching 39 degrees Celsius, the day marked a sharp turn from the all-time record set just two days earlier. July 7 had clocked 41.4°C at Pamplona-Aeropuerto, the hottest San Fermín day ever recorded, surpassing a mark from 1982. The average high across the first days of San Fermín 2026 reached 39.2°C against a normal July average of 27.7°C for the city.
The three concurrent alert categories for a single festival day were described as exceptional. Festivalgoers who had spent the week navigating fans, misting stations, and ice vendors now faced a different threat: a sharp weather reversal late in the day, with strong storms forecast for the afternoon and evening. Authorities urged attendees to monitor forecasts as conditions changed quickly.
Compiled by Encierro.com from Navarra.com (OKDiario) and AEMET bulletins.
“Igneus” takes the stage at the XXV International Fireworks Competition
Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, July 9, 2026
Each night of San Fermín, one pyrotechnic team takes the sky over the Ciudadela for the XXV Concurso Internacional de Fuegos Artificiales. July 9 was the fourth night of the competition, with the entry “Igneus” presented by Luis Brunchú Martí of Pirotecnia Zaragozana (Zaragoza). The display launched at 23:00 from the Parque de la Vuelta del Castillo.
The 25th edition of the competition runs nightly from July 6 through July 14. A technical jury selects the top three entries, and a parallel public vote runs throughout the festival. The two previous nights had featured “Navarra brilla en el cielo” by Pirotecnia San Fermín (Pamplona) on July 7, and “Memorias de pólvora y color” by Pirotecnia Hermanos Caballer (Castellón) on July 8. The competition is one of the few major evening events the heat wave cannot diminish, drawing tens of thousands of spectators to the park every night.
Compiled by Encierro.com from the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona official event listing.
Neomak and Shinova bring free outdoor rock to Plaza del Castillo
Navarra.com (OKDiario), Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, July 9, 2026
The July 9 Plaza del Castillo lineup paired two rock acts in a free outdoor double bill. Neomak, the Bilbao-based electronic folk outfit, opened at 23:45. Shinova followed at 00:50, headlining with a set from one of the most prominent indie rock bands in Spain at the moment. Both shows were free and open in Pamplona’s central plaza, drawing large late-night crowds despite the heat.
Plaza del Castillo is one of four main outdoor concert venues running simultaneously each night of San Fermín 2026. Other July 9 shows included The Zawose Queens at Plaza de la Compañía at 23:30. The full 14-concert schedule on the Castillo stage alone spans July 6 through July 13, with Ojete Calor, Boney M, Marlena, Hofe, Isabel Aaiún, Koma, and Motxila 21 among the acts appearing across the full festival week.
Compiled by Encierro.com from Navarra.com and the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona concert schedule.