It finally took twenty years to see an American triumph at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), in Chamonix. Jim Walmsley, 33, won the 20th edition of the famous mountain race on Saturday September 2. Native of Arizona and installed in the French Alps since 2022 to prepare this grueling trail of 173 kilometers and 10,000 meters of elevation gain around the roof of Europe, Walmsley crossed the finish line in 19 hours 37 minutes and 43 seconds, more than fifteen minutes ahead of his compatriot Zach Miller, first pursuer. Frenchman Germain Grangier is in third place, nearly ten minutes behind Miller.

The two Americans have been in the lead since the start of the evening on Friday, near the town of Contamines (Hautes-Savoie), located about thirty kilometers from the start. And it was even Zach Miller, 5th in 2022, who led the dance all night, on the Italian part of the track.

But, arriving in Switzerland, Jim Walmsley, announced as one of the favourites, accelerated on the climb to Forclaz before overtaking Miller, then widening the gap to Chamonix. “I had a lot of tough times on the course, I thought about giving up. But I changed shoes and gave new life to my feet during a pitstop. It’s a lot of emotion this victory and I hope it’s the first of a long series, “said this slender athlete (1.82 m), former soldier and considered one of the best runners in the world. ultramarathon of the planet for years.

Last year, Jim Walmsley raced in the lead for almost 100 kilometers before he exploded and saw victory elude him in favor of Spaniard Kilian Jornet, eventually finishing 4th. This was his 5th participation in the UTMB. Since the creation of the event in 2003, no competitor from the United States had yet won around the roof of Europe.

Walmsley beat Spaniard Kilian Jornet’s time of the previous edition (19 hours 49 minutes and 30 seconds) but his performance is not considered an official record because the layout has been modified and slightly simplified due to the disastrous weather that affected the Mont-Blanc region this week.

Dauwalter crushed the competition

A little later in the day, it was her compatriot Courtney Dauwalter who crossed the finish line in Chamonix in the women’s race – her third success in the UTMB – in 23 hours 29 minutes and 14 seconds. The American crushed the competition, posting a 40-minute lead at the finish over her pursuer, the German Katharina Hartmuth.

Dauwalter, 38, also achieved an unprecedented feat of any genre in the history of the very long distance: a victory in three major races in the same year after his successes at the beginning of the summer on the Western States and the Hardrock 100, two other ultra-trail monuments.

An atypical phenomenon of trail running, who started running in the mountains at only 25 years old, she took the lead in the middle of the night, in the Italian part of the course. She had a lead of more than an hour at daybreak after having put her main competitors at a distance: the French Blandine L’Hirondel, who was in third position at more than 30 minutes when the American crossed the line, and China’s Fuzhao Xiang.

Dauwalter’s track record is impressive. She is notably the only woman to have won the four major ultra-trails in the world: the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (2019, 2021, 2023), the Diagonale des fous, in Reunion (2022, a breath away from the podium male), Western States (2018, 2023) and Hardrock 100 (2022, 2023).

She also holds the women’s record for the Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra, a hilly 6.7 kilometer loop to be covered in a maximum of one hour until there is only one competitor left. In 2020, it lasted 68 hours, almost three days… covering 455 kilometers.