American runner Jim Walmsley won the 20th edition of the Ultra-trail of Mont-Blanc in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie) on Saturday. His compatriot Courtney Dauwalter won the women's category, her third victory in the prestigious sporting event. France landed third place in both categories.
The 33 year-old from Arizona, who moved to the region in 2022 became the first American man to be crowned in the famous mountain race.
He covered the grueling 173 km trail in 19 hours 37 minutes and 43 seconds.
Based in the French Alps since 2022, Walmsley crossed the finish line with more than fifteen minutes in advance on his compatriot Zach Miller, in second place.
Frenchman Germain Grangier came in third place, almost ten minutes behind Miller.
For the women's race, it was fellow American Courtney Dauwalter who won her third Ultra-Trail of Mont Blanc in 23 heures 29 minutes and 14 seconds.
She was tailed by German runner Katharina Hartmuth and Frenchwoman Blandine L'Hirondel in third place.
The course, which dips from France into Italy and Switzerland, and passes through Courmayeur, the Grand Col Ferret and Champex has a total positive elevation gain of around 10,000 metres.
Over 2,000 runners from around the world participated in the event, created in 2003.
It was originally designed to be completed by hikers in seven days but to be considered a "finisher" of the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail (UTMB, to give it its French abbreviation) you have to cross the finish line in 46 hours and 30 minutes.
Emotional victory
"I think what made the difference was that I felt good at altitude," Walmsley told the press.
"I had a lot of difficult moments during the course, I thought about giving up, but my backpack started to get lighter at the end of the race. I changed shoes and gave a new life at my feet during a pitstop and I had the legs to accelerate".
"This victory is very emotional and I hope it's the first of a long series".
Serving in the military until 2015, Walmsley has been one of the world's best ultra-distance runners on the planet for years. It was his 5th participation in the Mont Blanc race.
Last year, he had been in the lead for nearly 100 km before seeing victory slip away from him in favor of the Spaniard Kilian Jornet, finally finishing 4th.
Jornet didn't compete this year due to injury.
"The second half of the race was very, very hard for me, my body didn't want to move forward and my stomach hurt," Dauwalter told the press after the race on Saturday evening.
"I almost lost my lunch in the streets of Champex-Lac, but I managed to drag myself to the finish line".
The 38-year-old former science teacher from Colorado is notably the only woman to have won the four most prestigious ultra-trails in the world: the Ultra-trail of Mont Blanc (2019, 2021, 2023), the Diagonale des Fous in Réunion (2022), the Western States (2018, 2023) and the Hardrock 100 (2022, 2023).
These last three trophies in races of more than 160 km (Western States, Hardock 100, UTMB) were won in just three months from June to August this year.
(with AFP)
