2026 UTMB PREVIEW: WALMSLEY, JORNET AND DAUWALTER RETURN TO CHAMONIX
Organizers list 846 elite athletes across the three World Series Finals races in Chamonix this year, 34 more than in 2025. Women make up 46 percent of that group, and 54 nationalities are represented.
The 100-mile final starts from Chamonix at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, August 28. The loop around Mont Blanc covers 177 kilometers with about 9,900 meters of climbing, crossing France, Italy and Switzerland before returning to the town square where the race has finished since its first edition in 2003.
Three former men's champions are entered. The defending champion is not.
The men's race
Tom Evans won in 2025 in 19:18:58 on a rerouted course, running through snow and high wind after two consecutive DNFs at UTMB. He does not appear on the 2026 elite start list.
That leaves Jim Walmsley as the highest-ranked man in the field on the UTMB Index at 967. Walmsley won in 2023 in 19:37:43, still the fastest ratified time in race history. The 2025 course was diverted for weather, so Evans ran faster without taking the record.
Kilian Jornet returns for the first time since his 2022 win, when he ran 19:49:30. He carries a UTMB Index of 948, second in the field, and has spent the years since on ski mountaineering projects and summit link-ups rather than 100-mile racing.
Vincent Bouillard is the third former winner entered. He took the 2024 title in 19:54:23 as a near-unknown working as an engineer, then set the course record at the Western States 100 this summer.
Behind them the field stays dense. Ben Dhiman finished second in 2025 in 19:51:37 and Josh Wade third in 20:05:06. Jiasheng Shen was eighth and holds a UTMB Index of 903. Caleb Olson, Hannes Namberger and Jonathan Albon are also entered.
The depth is a change from a decade ago, when a few names decided the result and the rest of the field raced for a finish. Four men on this start list have already won a Chamonix final or stood on the UTMB podium, and the Index gap between Walmsley at the top and Shen in the top tier is 64 points.
The women's race
Ruth Croft defends. The New Zealander won in 2025 in 22:56:23 and became the first woman to take all three World Series Finals titles, having previously won the OCC and the CCC. She won the Tarawera Ultramarathon for a fourth time in early 2026.
Courtney Dauwalter has won here three times, in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Her 2021 win came in 22:30:54 and her 2023 win in 23:29:14. A fourth title would leave her alone at the top of the women's win list.
Katie Schide will not start. She holds the women's course record at 22:09:31 from 2024, the fastest time any woman has run at the race, and withdrew with a foot injury.
Blandine L'Hirondel steps up after winning the CCC in 2022 in 11:40:55. Fuzhao Xiang, Riley Brady and Sunmaya Budha are also in, giving the front of the race four continents.
What the day decides
Weather has settled the last two editions as much as fitness has. The 2025 race sent runners over the high cols in blizzard conditions with half a foot of snow underfoot, and the diversion that followed is why the fastest winning time in race history sits outside the record books.
Course changes at Chamonix are made in the hours before the start, and they change what the race asks for. A dry, cold night on the full 177-kilometer route favors the runners who can hold climbing pace deep into Saturday. A shortened route compresses the field and rewards speed.
Walmsley and Jornet have not raced each other over 100 miles since 2022. Both are past 35 now, both have won here, and both arrive with something to prove against a generation that came up while they were doing other things.