Trail & UltraAnalysis
The summer 100-mile racing got faster
Course records at Western States, the fastest UTMB ever run and the closest finish in the history of the Chamonix races. A season defined by depth, cool weather and the stars who weren’t there.
Two races define the 100-mile season: Western States in California in June, and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in the Alps at the end of August. This year both produced the fastest racing in their histories, and both did so without several of the sport’s most famous names at the finish.
Western States: cool, dry and very fast
The 2026 Western States 100, held on 27–28 June, enjoyed the third-coolest temperatures in the race’s history and, unusually, no snow in the high country, according to iRunFar. The result was a rewrite of the record book.
France’s Vincent Bouillard, the surprise UTMB champion of 2024, won the men’s race in 13 hours 46 minutes, taking more than 20 minutes off the course record of 14:09:28 that Jim Walmsley set in 2019. Behind him, Italy’s Francesco Puppi, running his first 100-miler, finished second in 13:51:08, with American Ryan Montgomery third in 13:53:55.
Jenn Lichter of the United States won the women’s race in about 15 hours 28 minutes, just inside the course record of 15:29:33 set by Courtney Dauwalter in 2023. Riley Brady was second in 15:42:14 and Marianne Hogan third in 15:51:44.
The benign conditions showed up throughout the field. The finish rate of 87 per cent was the highest in the race’s history, iRunFar reported, and 136 runners earned the silver buckle for finishing inside 24 hours.
Walmsley did not finish, and nor, according to race reports, did Kilian Jornet.
UTMB: a storm, a shorter course, and a record that isn’t one
Two months later in Chamonix, the weather pushed in the opposite direction. Organisers delayed the start of UTMB by two hours because of a forecast storm and rerouted the course to avoid the exposed, technical Pyramides Calcaires section in Italy. The race was run over 173 km with more than 9,900 metres of climbing.
On that course, American Ben Dhiman ran away from the field. He took the lead at Notre-Dame de la Gorge, 36 km in, and extended it at every checkpoint: 14 minutes at Lac Combal, 22 minutes at the Grand Col Ferret, more than half an hour by Vallorcine. He finished in 18:16:29, the fastest time ever run at UTMB, though not a course record because of the reroute.
Dhiman, second to Britain’s Tom Evans in 2025, became only the second American man to win UTMB, after Walmsley in 2023. France’s Baptiste Chassagne was second in 18:47:38 and American Caleb Olson third in 18:48:24, the first time three men had broken 19 hours at the race. The entire men’s top ten finished under 20.
France’s Blandine L’Hirondel won the women’s race in 21:54:49, the first sub-22-hour women’s time at UTMB. Having already won the shorter OCC and CCC races in previous years, she became only the second woman, after New Zealand’s Ruth Croft, to win all three of the Chamonix finals. American Rachel Entrekin was second and Emily Schmitz third.
The shorter OCC produced what Men’s Journal called the closest finish in UTMB history: Lauren Gregory beat Naomi Lang by three seconds, 6:08:07 to 6:08:10.
The missing names
The season will also be remembered for who was absent. At UTMB, defending champion Tom Evans did not start; Walmsley and Jornet withdrew, citing injuries after dropping out of Western States; and Croft, the 2025 women’s champion, withdrew, saying that her heart and mind wanted to be elsewhere. Courtney Dauwalter dropped out at Lac Combal.
What changed
Three things stand out from this season.
Conditions matter more than ever. The fastest-ever times at both races came when the weather was kind or the course was altered. Ultra records are increasingly a product of the day as well as the athletes, and comparisons across years need care.
Depth is rising. At Western States, iRunFar’s analysis of the gap between first and tenth place showed the women’s field tightening year on year: closer, in 2025 and 2026, than the men’s. At UTMB, ten men under 20 hours speaks for itself.
Durability is the new frontier. The winners this summer were not the athletes who ran fastest early but those who were still running well after 15 hours. Sports scientists increasingly describe this “durability”, how well an athlete’s physiology holds up as fatigue accumulates, as a performance factor in its own right, distinct from peak fitness. On this summer’s evidence, it is what wins 100-mile races.
