For the entrance of the sphere, the 2024 UTMB is already historical past. The iconic UTMB course, with its 176 kilometers (109.3 miles) and virtually 10,000 meters (32,500 toes) of elevation achieve, has topped new champions, as greater than 2,500 runners attempt to encircle the Mont Blanc massif from Chamonix, France, by means of Italy and Switzerland, earlier than ending again in Chamonix.
In the ladies’s race, American Katie Schide made certain there have been no comparable surprises on the high of the rostrum. In a commanding, almost wire-to-wire victory, Schide crossed the end line in 22:09:31 to interrupt Courtney Dauwalter’s course document by 21 minutes, safe her second win at UTMB, and full the Western States 100-UTMB double within the span of simply over two months.
“When I went out quick this 12 months, I wasn’t afraid like I used to be in 2022,” Schide stated after the race, referring to the primary 12 months she gained UTMB. “From two extra years of coaching, I had the arrogance to run my splits.”
Katie Schide claiming her second UTMB win in three years, this time in course-record time. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Kiwi Ruth Croft and Canadian Marianne Hogan completed in second and third, respectively, for a robust podium.
At the end line in Chamonix, Vincent Bouillard put his fingers on his head in disbelief and smiled towards the group: He had completed it.
In one of many greatest — and most surprising — breakthroughs within the historical past of the storied race, Bouillard, an unsponsored Frenchman who works in analysis and growth for Hoka, gained the 2024 UTMB in 19:54:23, to develop into the fifth runner to interrupt the legendary 20-hour mark and cement his identify in race lore.
“Winning UTMB was by no means anticipated,” stated Bouillard, a former observe and discipline athlete turned path runner. “I’ve been coming to this race since virtually the start for my work, however solely in my wildest goals would I win it.”
Vincent Bouillard after turning into the unlikely champion of the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Those wildest goals turned actuality on a scorching day in France, which noticed a number of of the pre-race favorites, together with American Jim Walmsley, the U.Ok.’s Tom Evans, and Frenchman Germain Grangier, drop out. Bouillard, together with second- and third-place finishers Baptiste Chassagne of France and Joaquín López of Ecuador, took benefit of the chance to finish a podium that maybe not many individuals predicted. But that, after all, is the fantastic thing about ultrarunning, particularly at a race as aggressive and deep as UTMB.
A particular due to HOKA for making our protection of UTMB attainable!
Read on for full race particulars.
You may also take a look at extra outcomes from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc pageant:
2024 UTMB Men’s Race
After lastly breaking by means of to develop into the primary American man to win UTMB final 12 months — with a course document, no much less — Jim Walmsley (pre-race interview) entered this 12 months’s race as one of many clear favorites. He had additionally gained, for the fourth time, the Western States 100 in late June to arrange an try and develop into the primary man since Kilian Jornet in 2011 to win the Western States 100-UTMB double.
In his pre-race interview, Walmsley projected calmness and perspective. “The playing cards that I’ve in my hand this 12 months are totally different,” he stated, “but in addition, I wouldn’t be lining up if I didn’t assume I had a probability to compete up entrance.”
And for almost 9 hours, that’s precisely what he did. Walmsley, sporting bib No. 2, began with the pack however took the lead by 35k because the climbing — and night time — set in. He ran on the entrance for the following a number of hours, stopping for two minutes on the Les Chapieux support station (51k), and got here into Lac Combal (70k) trying robust and nonetheless within the lead, leaving in lower than 90 seconds.
The begin of the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Kirsten Kortebein
But between there and Courmayeur at 83k, he started to wrestle, dropping 9 locations to tenth and 13 minutes off the lead. As he entered the massive support station that serves because the close to midway level of the race, he regarded tough. While the race leaders have been environment friendly with their stops, Walmsley sat to eat for a comparatively very long time and didn’t appear to be he needed to rise up. He would later formally drop, a powerful conclusion to a promising race for the champion. Winning the Western States 100-UTMB double nonetheless appears to be probably the most difficult feats in males’s ultrarunning.
“Jim has been struggling to shake a knee harm since Western States,” learn a put up on his Instagram story, “however needed to offer himself the prospect to see what the day would give him.”
Walmsley was not the one of the pre-race favorites to drop out. The U.Ok.’s Tom Evans (pre-race interview) — who adopted up a third-place end on the 2022 UTMB by successful the Western States 100 final 12 months — had a very comparable race to Walmsley, operating close to the entrance for the primary half of the race and getting into Courmayeur in second. He was a part of a massive chase pack that had handed Walmsley by 83k and spent lower than three minutes on the massive support station, leaving in third behind Frenchman Germain Grangier (pre-race interview) and eventual champion Vincent Bouillard, one other Frenchman.
Jim Walmsley and Tom Evans main the 2024 UTMB in Les Contamines at 31k. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
By Refuge Bertone at 88k, although, he started to look fatigued and although he remained within the high 5 till 101k, by Grand Col Ferret at 106k he had dropped 23 locations to twenty eighth. He would additionally later drop — one other high contender out of the race.
“Tom has sadly needed to withdraw. He is okay and with household and mates,” learn a put up on his Instagram story. “Fueling turned a difficulty by means of the night time and you’ll be able to’t run this race on empty.”
The carnage, sadly, didn’t cease there, both. Grangier regarded robust for greater than 115k, operating in second and charging up the hill at Grand Col Ferret at 106k and trying calm at La Fouly 10 kilometers later, solely six minutes behind Bouillard. He stayed in second because the morning got here, however regarded fatigued by Trient at 146k, the place he would additionally drop.
Frenchmen Mathieu Blanchard, who famously battled Jornet on the 2022 UTMB for a second-place end, and Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (pre-race interview), who gained each the Hardrock 100 and Diagonal des Fous in 2023, each dropped at 69k, whereas Spain’s Pau Capell, the 2019 UTMB winner, dropped at Courmayeur like Walmsley.
Germain Grangier runs into Champex-Lac throughout (128.5k) the 2024 UTMB. He would drop late within the race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
None of that is to remove from the brilliance of Bouillard or the opposite high finishers, who survived the historic carnage and warmth to come back away with some performances of a lifetime.
It begins and ends, after all, with Bouillard, who was on few folks’s radar when the race started. Last 12 months, Bouillard, who doesn’t even have a photograph on his official UTMB web page, gained the Kodiak 100 mile and Gorge Waterfall 100k, however few anticipated him to compete on the world’s best path race.
He did precisely that. Wearing bib No. 139, Bouillard ran within the lead pack in the beginning of the race, coming by means of Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme at 46k in ninth, and methodically working his method as much as the entrance, getting into Lac Combal at 70k in second. By Courmayeur, he had taken the lead and spent lower than three minutes refueling earlier than heading again into the early morning darkness.
From there, he wouldn’t relinquish the lead, operating the remainder of the race comparatively unchallenged as he continued to look robust and easy because the solar rose. Later within the morning, he would cross the end line to seal a robust and shocking win.
Men’s champion Vincent Bouillard descends into Vallorcine (158k), on his approach to successful the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Sarah Brady
While Bouillard gained by almost half-hour, there was a true race behind him. France’s Baptiste Chassagne ran within the high 20 for a lot of the first 60k and entered Courmayeur in eleventh. By 129k, he and fellow Frenchman Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon, who had taken the other method by operating at or close to the entrance from the beginning, have been inside seconds of one another in fourth and fifth place, respectively, and 34 minutes behind Bouillard. Chassagne continued to look and run robust, getting into Trient at 146k in second simply forward of Ecuador’s Joaquín López, the place he would stay till he crossed the end line in 20:22:45 for his most spectacular end of his six-year streak of a high 10 at a UTMB Mont Blanc pageant race.
Baptiste Chassagne was fairly stoked to take second on the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
López, in the meantime, had a very comparable race to Chassagne, operating within the high 30 in the beginning of the race earlier than shifting into tenth place by the point he left Courmayeur. Over the ultimate half of the race, he moved up even additional, and was simply 4 minutes behind Chassagne at 161k. He couldn’t in the end catch him, however he did maintain off Germany’s Hannes Namberger (pre-race interview) to complete third in 20:26:22.
Joaquin Lopez at Champex-Lac (128.5k), on his approach to ending in third place on the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Namberger, a two-time top-10 finisher at UTMB, had one other robust race to complete fourth in 20:31:54, trying like he would possibly nab a spot within the high three with a quick end.
The ageless Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview) of France, who simply over a month in the past set the course document on the Hardrock 100, had one other stellar efficiency, shifting up from forty seventh at 40k, all the way in which to tenth by 100k, earlier than choosing off a number of runners in entrance of him to complete fifth in 20:57:48. It was his second straight fifth-place end.
Joyeux-Bouillon held on for sixth, whereas American Cody Lind bumped into seventh place. Spots eight by means of 10 — Spain’s Manuel Anguita together with Frenchmen Gautier Bonnecarrère and Yannick Noël — have been separated by solely 4 minutes, with Bonnecarrère and Noël showing to tie for ninth in 21:45:16.
Ludovic Pommeret completed the 2024 UTMB in fifth place, the identical place as final 12 months. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2024 UTMB Men’s Results
- Vincent Bouillard (France) – 19:54:23
- Baptiste Chassagne (France) – 20:22:45
- Joaquín López (Ecuador) – 20:26:22
- Hannes Namberger (Germany) – 20:31:54 (pre-race interview)
- Ludovic Pommeret (France) – 20:57:48 (pre-race interview)
- Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon (France) 21:12:12
- Cody Lind (U.S.) – 21:33:16
- Manuel Anguita (Spain) – 21:41:01
- Gautier Bonnecarrère (France) – 21:45:16
- Yannick Noël (France) – 21:45:18
- Josh Wade (U.Ok.) – 21:52:09
- Thibaut Baronian (France) – 22:07:48
- Aubin Ferrari (France) – 22:33:07
- Kamil Leśniak (Poland) – 22:47:34
- Jonathan Moncany (France) – 22:58:01
- Juuso Simpanen (Finland) – 23:11:39
- Guillaume Deneffe (Belgium) – 23:12:54
- Alexis Sevennec (France) – 23:18:51
- Marián Priadka (Slovakia) – 23:22:52
- Canyon Woodward (U.S.) – 23:26:04
Cody Lind took seventh on the 2024 UTMB, his debut at this occasion. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
2024 UTMB Women’s Race
Just two months in the past, Katie Schide (pre-race interview), an American dwelling in France, led the Western States 100 from wire to wire and almost broke the course document en path to a commanding win. On Saturday in France, Schide someway improved on that efficiency: She once more gained in dominating style, however this time additionally nabbed the course document to cap probably the most spectacular doubles in ultrarunning historical past. (Of course, final 12 months, Courtney Dauwalter, who didn’t race UTMB this 12 months, gained every race within the Western States 100-Hardrock 100-UTMB triple.)
In her pre-race interview, Schide, who lives and trains in France, admitted that her major focus this season was on the Western States 100 and that she took the runner’s insurance coverage for UTMB when she signed up in January in case she canceled.
After she dominated an impressively deep and aggressive discipline on Saturday, although, it was exhausting to imagine UTMB was not the highest race on her calendar this 12 months.
Katie Schide in La Floria simply 4k from the end and a new UTMB course document. Photo: iRunFar/Amiria Macbeth
Schide went out quick and stored that assertive tempo for almost a complete day of operating. She was twenty first general on the first support station at 13k; New Zealand’s Ruth Croft (pre-race interview) and Canadian dwelling in France Marianne Hogan (pre-race interview), the eventual second- and third-place finishers have been, respectively, 118th and 72nd general there.
Schide didn’t take her foot off the gasoline and continued to run along with her attribute calm, energy, and smile, getting into the Lac Combal support station at 70k in 7:34, trying centered. By Courmayeur at 83k, she was 50 minutes below course-record tempo and almost 40 minutes forward of Hogan, and by La Fouly at 116k, she was almost an hour below document tempo.
The solely query from there was if she would set the document. With Hogan shedding 10 minutes in 12 kilometers by 141k to fall to 40 minutes again, Schide’s win appeared near inevitable, particularly with the way in which she was operating. Just earlier than Vallorcine at 158k, Schide’s lead on the course document had lessened to 32 minutes and a few kilometers later she was working exhausting and taking encouragement from followers. With 4 kilometers to go, she smiled because the crowds cheered her on, understanding that historical past was simply minutes away.
She reached Chamonix and the celebration started. Schide smiled to the group and gave a number of excessive fives earlier than crossing the end line greater than 20 minutes quicker than any lady had completed earlier than, and the double was full.
Katie Schide after successful UTMB for the second time. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
If Schide was chasing historical past, Croft was chasing dozens of runners in entrance of her. Croft, who was pressured to withdraw earlier than the beginning of final 12 months’s race resulting from sickness, got here into UTMB as one of many favorites, having gained the Tarawera Ultramarathon and Transvulcania earlier this 12 months. She ran conservatively in the beginning, coming by means of 31k in sixth place subsequent to American Amanda Basham, 22 minutes off the lead, and later falling to ninth place virtually 38 minutes again simply over 10 kilometers later.
But by 88k, with about half of the race in entrance of her, Croft had moved as much as fifth, subsequent to Emily Hawgood of Zimbabwe, who lives within the U.S, and from there she stored shifting up. At the Grand Col Ferret at 106k, she was in fourth behind Schide, Hogan, and 2023 third-place finisher Blandine L’Hirondel of France, however Croft didn’t dangle round: She broke into a run as quickly as she began the descent.
Ruth Croft flying by means of Champex-Lac (128.5k). Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
By 129k, she had handed L’Hirondel and was in third place, trying quick and decided. At Trient, 17 kilometers later and about a half-hour behind Hogan, Croft was the one lady to run by means of all the part and appeared to be on the hunt.
By 158k, she had minimize Hogan’s result in 14 minutes and regarded the stronger of the 2, flying downhill and making up time. Between there and the climb as much as La Flégère, Croft lastly handed Hogan and left six minutes forward. With 4 kilometers to go, she was in second and flying to the end. She’d attain it in 22:48:37, simply over 22 minutes forward of Hogan, in her debut on the race.
Hogan, who completed second in her 2022 UTMB debut, had one other robust race, operating in second for a lot of the day with a smile on her face, earlier than fading late. She didn’t let falling to 3rd dampen her spirits, high-fiving followers and having fun with their cheers at La Floria 4 kilometers from the end after being handed by Croft. After crossing the road in 23:11:15, she was greeted by a massive workforce on the end to have a good time her second podium end in three years.
Marianne Hogan operating by means of Champex-Lac in second. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Behind the highest three, there have been extra robust performances. China’s Lin Chen completed fourth in 24:16:33, whereas L’Hirondel put all of it on the road for a fifth-place end. The ever-smiling Hawgood, a paragon of consistency who seemingly all the time finishes within the high 10 of main path races, was about 22 minutes behind her in sixth with a time of 24:58:19, her third top-10 end at UTMB and quickest by greater than an hour-and-a-half.
Lin Chen in Champex-Lac on her approach to taking fourth on the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
That theme of velocity was exemplified by the quartet of Sabrina Stanley of the U.S., Claudia Tremps of Spain, Martina Valmassoi of Italy, and Lucy Bartholomew of Australia, who completed in seventh by means of tenth, respectively, with a unfold of solely 23 minutes. And maybe there aren’t any higher illustrations of the depth of the ladies’s discipline than Stanley, who handed Tremps late to enhance her time from final 12 months’s ninth-place end by roughly 90 minutes, and Bartholomew, who completed in tenth for the second 12 months in a row — however with a time 1 hour and 45 minutes quicker than final 12 months’s.
Sabrina Stanley ending seventh on the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
2024 Women’s Results
- Katie Schide (U.S. dwelling in France) – 22:09:31 (new course document, previous course document: 22:30:54, Courtney Dauwalter, 2021) (pre-race interview)
- Ruth Croft (N.Z.) – 22:48:37 (pre-race interview)
- Marianne Hogan (Canada dwelling in France) – 23:11:15 (pre-race interview)
- Lin Chen (China) – 24:16:33
- Blandine L’Hirondel (France) – 24:35:54
- Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe dwelling in U.S.) – 24:58:19
- Sabrina Stanley (U.S.) – 25:32:10
- Claudia Tremps (Spain) – 25:39:37
- Martina Valmassoi (Italy) – 25:42:02
- Lucy Bartholomew (Australia) – 25:55:31
- Alyssa Clark (U.S.) – 26:25:13
- Maite Maiora (Spain) – 26:50:35 (pre-race interview)
- Eszter Csillag (Hungary dwelling in Hong Kong) – 27:01:09 (pre-race interview)
- Mari Fenre (Norway) – 27:05:54
- Alexis Crellin (U.S.) – 27:12:25
- Maryline Nakache (France) – 27:16:18
- Johanna Antila (Finland) – 27:33:13
- Claire Bannwarth (France) – 27:47:58
- Noor Van Der Veen (The Netherlands) – 27:57:13
- Manon Bohard Cailler (France) – 28:07:06
Emily Hawgood operating by means of Courmayeur (83k) on her approach to one other high end. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Coverage Thanks
Thanks a lot to the sphere workforce of the next people who helped iRunFar cowl this race: Tim Peeeters; Kirsten Kortebein; Craig Murphy; Anthony and Anna Ellison; Fabrice and Tom Van De Cauter; Simon, Gina and Greta Atwood; Jeevan Lama; Andrew Block; Jakub Pediač; Yannick Guitard; Amiria MacBeth; Luca Yannick; Randy Gaylord; Monique Stuut; Ashley Saloga; Casey Wyatt; Olivia Rissland; Marissa Harris; and Ellie Greenwood.