As the final countdown to the 2024 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) is underway, excitement is building around numerous storylines for what has become consistently the most competitive ultramarathon on the planet. Over 2,500 runners will embark on the 108-mile (~170 kilometer) loop around Mont-Blanc, starting and finishing in Chamonix, France, and while passing through trails in the Italian and Swiss Alps along the way. Looking at the current course map, this year’s race will be run on the same trails as in 2023. We’ll have the opportunity to crown a new female champion, with last year’s women’s winner Courtney Dauwalter absent from this year’s start list, and only Katie Schide returning as a previous race winner (2022). In the men’s race, 2023 winner and now course record holder Jim Walmsley will be set to defend his title. Let’s take a deeper dive into the race fields below:
Athletes to Watch: Women’s Race
Following three straight top ten finishes which culminated in a UTMB win in 2022, American-living-in-France Katie Schide (USA/FRA; The North Face) took a year off from the full circuit around Mont Blanc last year to run the shorter Orsieres-Champex-Chamonix (OCC) race, where she took second. She’ll return again to UTMB in pursuit of another win, and with a dominant victory at WSER earlier this summer, Katie will attempt to join Nikki Kimball (2007) and Courtney Dauwalter (2023) as the only women to be victorious at both races in the same calendar year.
Earlier this summer, Fuzhao Xiang (CHN; Hoka) became the first Chinese athlete to finish on the podium of WSER, with the largest negative split ever recorded by an athlete at the race, en route to the third fastest finishing time in race history. Fuzhao has raced UTMB four times previously since 2018, and has progressively improved her result each time, including a fourth-place finish in 2023. She’ll certainly be gunning to finally earn a podium here at this year’s race.
Eszter Csillag (HUN; Hoka) rounds out the trio of female WSER podium finishers looking to repeat their success at UTMB. Apart from her performance earlier this summer and a win at the Translantau by UTMB 100k last fall, Eszter has had a quiet year of racing since her DNF at UTMB last year. Eszter did finish fifth in 2022, so she’ll be looking to successfully navigate this double in pursuit of another top ten finish.
Last year, Blandine L’Hirondel (FRA; Kiprun) became the first female athlete to ever podium in all three of UTMB’s flagship races (OCC, CCC and UTMB) in their career, with a third-place finish at UTMB. Following a busy summer of mid and short distance racing, including a second-place finish at the European Trail Championships in early June in Annecy, the former OCC and CCC champion returns for another shot at a race win at UTMB.
Despite having her debut at UTMB postponed by a year due to illness before last year’s race, 2-time OCC and 1-time CCC champion Ruth Croft (NZL; Adidas Terrex) will look to add a victory at UTMB to her string of dominant performances around Mont Blanc. She’s had a strong stretch of results over the past year including a victory at the Ultra-trail Cape Town 100k last fall, and two more wins at the Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB 100k, and Transvulcania Ultramarathon. Ruth is absolutely a favorite to compete for the win here this year.
Emily Hawgood (ZWE; Adidas Terrex) has had tremendous success in recent years with consistent top ten performances at WSER. She’s twice followed up those performances with top ten results at UTMB in 2021 and 2022, and last year cruised to a strong podium finish at CCC. Emily won at the Chianti Ultra Trail By UTMB 74k earlier this year, in addition to having her best career finish at WSER (4th), and should be in form to pull off another year of successful back-to-back WSER and UTMB finishes.
Returning for her fourth attempt at UTMB, Maite Maiora Elizondo (ESP; Vibram) has finished in the top 5 at UTMB twice previously, leveraging the best second half split in last year’s race (measured from Courmayeur to the finish) to earn a fifth-place finish. Maite has podiumed this year at the MIUT 115 and Val d’Aran by UTMB CDH 110k, and will surely bring her measured racing approach to the race this year.
After a year on the shelf while returning from injury, Marianne Hogan (CAN; Salomon) is hoping to have the form that propelled her to a second-place finish at UTMB in 2022, which featured an impressive battle with ultimate winner Katie Schide. Over the past calendar year, Marianne’s results have been highlighted by win at the Swiss Canyon Ultra Trail 111k, a podium at the Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k and a top ten finish at the Transvulcania Ultramarathon. AS someone who excels at mountain racing, Marianne should certainly be in the mix this year.
Martina Valmassoi (ITA; Salomon) debuted at UTMB last year following a win at the Traces du Duc de Savoie (TDS) race in 2022, but unfortunately had her race cut short by a pre-race illness that she wasn’t fully recovered from. Earlier this year, Martina won the MIUT 115 and as a career mountain athlete and skyrunner, she’ll surely be in contention this year.
Despite not being able to complete the loop at last years’ race due to injury flareups, Claudia Tremps (ESP; On Running) is hoping to be back on track for another top ten finish, at UTMB which she achieved in 2022. She’s podiumed at Transgrancanaria 127k, Istria 100 by UTMB Marathon and the Trail 100 Andorra by UTMB so far this year, and is seemingly in great form to repeat her success at UTMB.
Honorable Mentions: Katarzyna Solinska, Lucy Bartholomew, Fiona Porte, Anne-Lise Rousset, Abby Hall, Maryline Nakache, Manon Bohard, Eva Maria Sperger, Sabrina Stanley, Helen Mino-Faukner.
Athletes to Watch: Men’s Race
Jim Walmsley (USA; Hoka) returns to defend his title at UTMB, winning it last year in a record setting fashion. This year he faces the additional challenge of running it with Western States Endurance Run (WSER) recently under his belt, where he took his fourth win in a historical performance earlier this summer. Although Jim has yet to thread the needle with a win at both Western States and UTMB successfully in the same season (with two previous failed attempts in 2018 and 2021), he looks to finally solve this puzzle at this year’s race and join Kilian Jornet as the only other male runner to accomplish this potentially historic feat.
Having not finished further back than fourth place in his previous three attempts at UTMB, Mathieu Blanchard (FRA; Salomon) is a perennial contender at this race. With a win at the MaXi-Race earlier this season against some top competition, he’ll look to continue his success with another podium finish at this year’s race.
Following a disappointing DNF at last year’s race that left race followers wondering where he was for a significant length of time, Tom Evans (GBR; Adidas Terrex), a former UTMB podium finisher (2022) and CCC winner (2018) looks to execute in a year that he’s devoted completely to the pursuit of a UTMB title. He’ll build upon a successful season this year which has featured podium finishes at the always competitive Transvulcania Ultramarathon and Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB 120k races.
Germain Grangier (FRA, The North Face) was involved in a podium battle for the ages at last year’s race, where he finished third, and followed up with another podium performance at the extremely rugged Grand Raid De La Réunion just over a month later. The Frenchman has had a quiet year of racing, and has recently had a setback with a couple broken ribs a few weeks ago, but with three top ten finishes in the past 4 UTMB races, he should be right in the mix.
It’s becoming cliché at this point to discuss Ludovic Pommeret’s age (FRA; Hoka), but the now 49-year-old continues to demonstrate why he’s one of the best in the world. He had a record setting run at the Hardrock 100 Endurance Run (HR100) earlier this summer and will be lining up at the UTMB This will be Ludo’s seventh UTMB start, which has included 3 top five finishes, inclusive of a legendary come-from-(way!)-behind win in 2016. Interestingly, Ludo has also three of the top 25 most evenly split UTMB races on record.
The American expat Ben Dhiman (USA/FRA; Hoka) took his first crack at UTMB last year but ended up not completing the loop. He has a strong string of results since then however, with podiums at the Festival des Templiers, Trail 100 Andorra by UTMB and a win at the Madeira Island Ultra Trail 115 (MIUT 115), in addition to a hefty block of training over the summer, and is poised to make a splash at UTMB this year.
Hannes Namberger (GER; Dynafit) rightfully earned his title of the “King of Lavaredo” with a third career win at the midsummer race in June, demonstrating he’s fit enough to add to his two previous top ten finishes at UTMB. Although he’s been recently hampered by achilles tendon issues, Hannes has indicated that he’s eager and ready to compete at this year’s race.
With an electric 2023 season, Aurelien Dunand-Pallaz (FRA; Compressport) took back-to-back victories at the HR100 and Grand Raid De La Réunion. A podium finisher at UTMB in 2021, Aurelien has raced on to the podium at MaXi-Race earlier this year, but finished an hour off the lead and outside the top ten at the Marathon du Mont Blanc 90k in June. He’ll hope to show his true talent at the race this weekend.
With under-the-radar but well executed performances at UTMB, Arthur-Joyeux Bouillon (FRA; On Running) has snuck into the back end of the top ten in the past two years with steady and smart racing. He recently finished inside the top ten at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB 120k, just over an hour behind Hannes, but looks to be ready to run it back around Mont Blanc this weekend.
Honorable Mentions: Jiasheng Shen, Pau Capell, Raul Butaci, Christian Meier, Dmitry Mityaev, Drew Holmen, Jeff Mogavero.
The race starts at 6:00pm local time in Chamonix, France on Friday August 30 (12:00pm Eastern Daylight Time / 9:00am Pacific Daylight Time) and will be streamed live on the UTMB YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@UTMBMontBlanc
Make sure you get your Freetrail Fantasy picks in for all three of the UTMB World Series Finals (OCC, CCC, & UTMB). We will be picking 10-deep for the men’s and women’s competitions in each race.