General UTMB Stats
2407 starters, 1681 finishers, 725 DNF (69.8%) - this is the highest finisher rate in UTMB race history for the full loop. Finisher rates for the previous 10 races here for reference:
Liam@aidstationfirebThe final #UTMB finisher numbers are in! This year had the HIGHEST FINISHER RATE EVER for the full loop! Finisher rates over the last 10 races: 2026 - 69.8% 2025 - 66.8% 2024 - 63.7% 2023 - 65.4% 2022 - 68.2% 2021 - 64.8% 2019 - 61.2% 2018 - 69.4% 2017 - 66.5% 2016 - 57.5%6:13 PM · Aug 30, 2026 · 13K Views1 Reply · 4 Reposts · 45 Likes419 women started the race, the most in UTMB history and a 15% increase over last year’s starter count, the previous highest in UTMB history.
267 women finished the race, also the most in UTMB history and a 20% increase from last year’s total finisher count, the previous highest in UTMB history.
The men’s elite field (which I am loosely defining as the top 50 people who recorded a split through Les Contamines) had 50% finish rate (25 drops, 25 finishers).
The women’s elite field (same definition as above) had a 58% finish rate (21 drops, 29 finishers). Both the men’s and women’s elite field finisher rates mirror what we saw in 2025.
The winners of the UTMB races had their UTMB scores announced at the Awards Presentation on Sunday: Ben Dhiman recorded a 995, and Blandine L’Hirondel an 829. Ben’s score is the highest ever recorded.
For reference, 992 was the previous highest, scored by Jim Walmsley at Ultra Trail Chianti by UTMB 120k last year, and Philemon Kiriago at Sierre-Zinal earlier this month.
The highest representation on the UTMB start line was from France (obviously), with 871 participants. 90 different countries were represented on the start line this year.
Countries receiving first-time representation on the start line include:
Senegal (Mouhamed Diop, 43:16:01)
United Arab Emirates (Ahmad Youssef Janahi, 37:50:11)
Qatar (Khalid Alqahtani, withdrawn at La Fouly)
Bangladesh (Partho Saha, 45:22:38)
Burma (Kyaw Swar Myint, 45:16:45)
Mauritania (Hamidou Dia, 42:45:26)
Sri Lanka (Danushka Sonnadarage, 41:50:30)
Nicaragua (Carlos Noguera Solis, 36:48:42)
Maldives (Shirhaan Hameed, 40:55:29)
Blandine L’Hirondel is the first French female to win since Caroline Chaverot in 2016. This breaks an eight race streak that has seen victories in the women’s race from athletes hailing from Spain, Italy, the United States and New Zealand.
Blandine L’Hirondel joins Xavier Thevenard and Ruth Croft as the only other athletes to have won UTMB, CCC and OCC in their career. Blandine achieved this feat over the course of five years, the shortest timespan of the three (Xavier six years and Ruth ten years).
Ben Dhiman becomes the second American male to win, joining Jim Walmsley who won in 2023. Ben becomes the first person to crack the 19-hour barrier (on any UTMB full loop course) in race history.
Anne-Sofie Pollestad becomes the first Norwegian female athlete to achieve a top ten finish at UTMB.
The United States put two men (Ben Dhiman and Caleb Olson) on the podium for only the second time in UTMB history, the other time being in 2023 (where Jim Walmsley and Zach Miller placed first and second).
The United States placed three women in the top ten (Rachel Entrekin, Emily Schmitz, Careth Arnold) for the third time in UTMB history, and all three in the top five for the first time. 2023 (Courtney Dauwalter, Leah Yingling, Sabrina Stanley) and 2019 (Courtney Dauwalter, Katie Schide, Rory Bosio) were the other years where the US had three women in the top ten. This is also the second time the United States has put two women on the podium, the other being in 2022 (Katie Schide and Kaytlyn Gerbin)
This year's women's podium was only separated by 22m39s, the second tightest in race history, second only to the 2018 women's race (11m23s). The women’s second vs. third place battle was decided by only a gap of 1m34s, the slimmest margin in UTMB history.
The women’s top ten was separated by 2h10m07s, the second tightest in UTMB history (2018 was separated by 1h27m51s)
This year’s men’s podium was separated by 31m54s, the fourth tightest in UTMB history. The men’s second vs. third place battle was separated by 46 seconds, the closest battle for second in UTMB history (excluding the handhold tie finish between Tofol Castaner and Iker Karrera in 2014).
The men’s top ten was separated by 1h41m54s, the second tightest in UTMB history (second to 2016, where it was separated by 1h27m16s) for courses with the full loop.
Race Dynamics
For the first time since 2021, the gap between the 1-2 female runners was less than 5 minutes leaving the Courmayeur aid station (80km in). We’ve been accustomed to such large gaps between Katie Schide or Courtney Dauwalter and the second place runner for the better part of the last decade, that having some real tension at this stage of the race was refreshing.
Similar to what was seen for the better part of the last decade, the stretch from Courmayeur to Gran Col Ferret serves as the crux of the race, and most frequently the stretch where commanding leads are expanded or significantly diminished.
Not since Pau Capell’s heroic solo run in 2019 (where he’s earned a 5+ min gap 13 miles into the race) have we seen a male leader take a lead so early in a race. Ben took until La Balme (40k) to take a ~2min lead, which was never relinquished.
Over the race history, this is only the fourth time we’ve had a male runner essentially “solo” run >75% of the race course en route to a win (Pau Capell 2019, and Kilian Jornet in both 2008 and 2009).
Stoppage Time
*This is cumulative time auto-summed by the UTMB Live timing website for the following major checkpoints, and is not a complete representation of all aid station stop time across the race course: Les Chapieux, Courmayeur, La Fouly, Champex-Lac, Trient and Vallorcine. These cumulative times should be interpreted in terms of what they represent directionally, and not absolutely.
Total aid station stoppage time for the men’s podium finishers was Ben Dhiman (9:23), Baptiste Chassagne (14:02), Caleb Olson (12:38). When compared to the previous four years:
2025: Tom Evans (13:03), Ben Dhiman (13:04), Josh Wade (14:14)
2024: Vincent Bouillard (18:48), Baptiste Chassange (19:06), Joaquin Lopez (13:00)
2023: Jim Walmsley (14:45), Zach Miller (13:44), Germain Grangier (10:44)
2022: Kilian Jornet (16:13), Mathieu Blanchard (11:05), Tom Evans (20:48).
Total aid station stoppage time for the women’s podium finishers was Blandine L’Hirondel (21:41), Rachel Entrekin (12:33), Emily Schmitz (19:33). When compared to the previous four years:
2025: Ruth Croft (16:09), Camille Bruyas (20:42), Katharina Hartmuth (26:44)
2024: Katie Schide (16:36), Ruth Croft (12:09), Marianne Hogan (17:58)
2023: Courtney Dauwalter (16:31), Katharina Hartmuth (25:58), Blandine L’hirondel (28:06)
2022: Katie Schide (25:32), Marianne Hogan (25:47), Kaytlyn Gerbin (27:51)
Notable Section Splits
Ben Dhiman completed the climb from La Balme to Col du Bonhomme in 52m33s, the fastest in race history. The previous fastest split from this section was Kilian Jornet (2009, 54m9s).
Rachel Entrekin completed the climb from La Balme to Col du Bonhomme in 1h03m32s, the fastest on the day but only the sixth fastest in race history. The fastest split on this climb was Katie Schide’s heroic effort of 57m45s, the only woman to ever crack one hour on this section.
Ben Dhiman completed the climb from Les Chapieux to Col de la Seigne in 1h16m02s, the fastest in race history. The previous fastest split from this section was Jim Walmsley (2024, 1h19m19s).
Rachel Entrekin completed the climb from Les Chapieux to Col de la Seigne in 1h30m33s, the fastest in race history, and only seconds faster than Rory Bosio’s 1h30m37s split from her 2013 victory.
Virgile Moriset ascended the Gran Col Ferret from Arnouvaz in 47m00s, the fastest split ever recorded on this section of the course.
Ben Dhiman descended from the Gran Col Ferret to Champex-Lac in under two hours (1:59:55), the first person to ever go under 2 hours on this section at UTMB on any course iteration.
Baptiste Chassagne completed the climb from Trient to Les Tseppes in 40m30s, the fastest on course this year, and the second fastest in UTMB history (which has used this particular climb since 2023). Jim Walmsley still has the in-race segment record from his 2023 race, in 38m42s.
Emily Schmitz completed the climb from Trient to Les Tseppes in 51m42s, also the fastest on course this year, and the second fastest in UTMB history. Ruth Croft is the only woman to have completed this section faster, where she did so in her 2024 race (50m00s).
Caleb Olson completed the climb from Vallorcine to La Flegere (this is the modified route that has been used since 2023; the Tetes au Vents course has not been used since the 2022 year) in 1h29m13s, the fastest on course this year, and the second fastest in UTMB history. Jim Walmsley still has the fastest time on this climb from his 2023 race, in 1h28m07s.
Rachel Entrekin completed the climb from Vallorcine to La Flegere in 1h54m28s, the second fastest in UTMB race history (same as above). Again, Ruth Croft is the only woman to have completed this climb faster in 1h44m34s from here 2024 race.
Caleb Olson’s descent from La Flegere into the finish line in Chamonix is by far the fastest in UTMB history, clocking an insane 29m07s, and nearly three and a half minutes faster than the previous fastest descent (David Laney, 32m39s in 2015). While there have been minor adjustments to the in-town approach to the finish line through Chamonix over the years, this is a monumental mark regardless.
Anne Cécile Thévenot’s descent from La Flegere to the finish was also the fastest in UTMB history, in 36m55s, bettering Ruth Croft’s split of 39m50s by nearly 3 minutes (again noting minor changes to the approach to the finish line in town).
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