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Thanks also to Goodr for its support of our UTMB coverage. While this change suited some runners and was a disadvantage to others, in the end, it probably made very little difference in the outcome of any of the placings in the race.Ī special thanks to HOKA for making our coverage of UTMB possible! Late in August, race organizers announced a change in the final segment of the race that added just under two kilometers (about 1.2 miles) to the overall distance but replaced a steep climb and technical descent with much gentler forest running, albeit still a climb. on Friday, September 1, 2023, on a slightly modified course. This year, 2,814 starters headed out from Chamonix at 6 p.m. The field heads off from Chamonix, France, for a long run in the mountains in the 2023 UTMB.

With its high level of prestige as the grand finale of the UTMB Mont Blanc festival, huge crowds come to watch the greats of the sport race over the rugged and wild course where anything can, and does, happen. It’s fair to say that this is the most competitive trail ultramarathon of the year, and the event serves up all the excitement that is expected of it. With a start in Chamonix, France, the final race at the end of a week of all things trail running and racing, the course leaves town and climbs quickly into the mountains into France, Italy, and then onto Switzerland before returning to Chamonix to the biggest finish line in the sport. He becomes the first American man to win this iconic European race.Īt 172 kilometers (106.5 miles) in length and with some 10,000 meters (32,800) feet of climbing, the UTMB circles Mont Blanc in the Alps on one is arguably the most iconic course in trail ultrarunning. But it in the end, it was Walmsley, the meticulous student of UTMB, who would finally be able to put all the pieces together and reach Chamonix first with a time of 19:37:43, a new course record.

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After his second summer spent in Europe with a full focus placed on UTMB, would he finally be able to put together the race that everyone thought that he could? Would there finally be an American man who would crack the code of UTMB? It it wasn’t going to be Walmsley, could it be Zach Miller ( pre-race and post-race interviews) instead?įor much of the race, it would have been difficult to discern which of the two Americans, or really any of the men running in the top 10, would come away with the victory as the lead changed hands multiple times and the gaps grew into the double-digit minutes on multiple occasions. And with Kilian Jornet out due to injury, it was anyone’s race.īut, truth be told, most eyes were probably trained on Jim Walmsley ( post-race interview). Her runaway victory resulted in a time of 23:29:14.įor the men, with nine out of the top 10 men from 2022 returning, the depth of the field was unquestionable. Dauwalter once again showed that she is in a league of her own, leading the race from 32 kilometers in and never looking back. of trail ultrarunning would handle a third 100-mile race of her summer. But just seven weeks removed from setting a new course record at the Hardrock 100, which was just three weeks after doing the same at the Western States 100, no one knew how her seemingly super-human body and mind would hold up.īut really, in hindsight, it was silly for anyone to worry about how the G.O.A.T. If one were to ignore everything that Courtney Dauwalter ( pre-race and post-race interviews) had previously done this summer, she would have been the odds-on favorite.

On the women’s side, only a handful of the top 10 from the 2022 race were returning.

The 2023 UTMB was filled with question marks about who would end up standing on the top step of the podium, both for the men and women.