For the front of the field, the 2024 UTMB is already history. The iconic UTMB course, with its 176 kilometers (109.3 miles) and almost 10,000 meters (32,500 feet) of elevation gain, has crowned new champions, as more than 2,500 runners try to encircle the Mont Blanc massif from Chamonix, France, through Italy and Switzerland, before finishing back in Chamonix.
In the women’s race, American Katie Schide made sure there were no similar surprises at the top of the podium. In a commanding, nearly wire-to-wire victory, Schide crossed the finish line in 22:09:31 to break Courtney Dauwalter’s course record by 21 minutes, secure her second win at UTMB, and complete the Western States 100-UTMB double in the span of just over two months.
“When I went out fast this year, I wasn’t afraid like I was in 2022,” Schide said after the race, referring to the first year she won UTMB. “From two more years of training, I had the confidence to run my splits.”
Katie Schide claiming her second UTMB win in three years, this time in course-record time. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Kiwi Ruth Croft and Canadian Marianne Hogan finished in second and third, respectively, for a strong podium.
At the finish line in Chamonix, Vincent Bouillard put his hands on his head in disbelief and smiled toward the crowd: He had done it.
In one of the biggest — and most unexpected — breakthroughs in the history of the storied race, Bouillard, an unsponsored Frenchman who works in research and development for Hoka, won the 2024 UTMB in 19:54:23, to become the fifth runner to break the mythical 20-hour mark and cement his name in race lore.
“Winning UTMB was never expected,” said Bouillard, a former track and field athlete turned trail runner. “I’ve been coming to this race since almost the beginning for my work, but only in my wildest dreams would I win it.”
Vincent Bouillard after becoming the unlikely champion of the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Those wildest dreams became reality on a hot day in France, which saw several of the pre-race favorites, including American Jim Walmsley, the U.K.’s Tom Evans, and Frenchman Germain Grangier, drop out. Bouillard, along with second- and third-place finishers Baptiste Chassagne of France and Joaquín López of Ecuador, took advantage of the opportunity to complete a podium that perhaps not many people predicted. But that, of course, is the beauty of ultrarunning, especially at a race as competitive and deep as UTMB.
A special thanks to HOKA for making our coverage of UTMB possible!
Read on for full race details.
You can also check out more results from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc festival:
2024 UTMB Men’s Race
After finally breaking through to become the first American man to win UTMB last year — with a course record, no less — Jim Walmsley (pre-race interview) entered this year’s race as one of the clear favorites. He had also won, for the fourth time, the Western States 100 in late June to set up an attempt to become the first man since Kilian Jornet in 2011 to win the Western States 100-UTMB double.
In his pre-race interview, Walmsley projected calmness and perspective. “The cards that I have in my hand this year are different,” he said, “but also, I wouldn’t be lining up if I didn’t think I had a chance to compete up front.”
And for nearly nine hours, that’s exactly what he did. Walmsley, wearing bib No. 2, started with the pack but took the lead by 35k as the climbing — and night — set in. He ran at the front for the next several hours, stopping for two minutes at the Les Chapieux aid station (51k), and came into Lac Combal (70k) looking strong and still in the lead, leaving in less than 90 seconds.
The start of the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Kirsten Kortebein
But between there and Courmayeur at 83k, he began to struggle, dropping nine places to 10th and 13 minutes off the lead. As he entered the large aid station that serves as the near halfway point of the race, he looked rough. While the race leaders were efficient with their stops, Walmsley sat to eat for a relatively long time and did not look like he wanted to get up. He would later officially drop, a tough conclusion to a promising race for the champion. Winning the Western States 100-UTMB double still seems to be one of the most challenging feats in men’s ultrarunning.
“Jim has been struggling to shake a knee injury since Western States,” read a post on his Instagram story, “but wanted to give himself the chance to see what the day would give him.”
Walmsley was not the only of the pre-race favorites to drop out. The U.K.’s Tom Evans (pre-race interview) — who followed up a third-place finish at the 2022 UTMB by winning the Western States 100 last year — had a very similar race to Walmsley, running near the front for the first half of the race and entering Courmayeur in second. He was part of a large chase pack that had passed Walmsley by 83k and spent less than three minutes at the large aid station, leaving in third behind Frenchman Germain Grangier (pre-race interview) and eventual champion Vincent Bouillard, another Frenchman.
Jim Walmsley and Tom Evans leading the 2024 UTMB in Les Contamines at 31k. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
By Refuge Bertone at 88k, though, he began to look fatigued and though he remained in the top five until 101k, by Grand Col Ferret at 106k he had dropped 23 places to 28th. He would also later drop — another top contender out of the race.
“Tom has sadly had to withdraw. He is okay and with family and friends,” read a post on his Instagram story. “Fueling became an issue through the night and you can’t run this race on empty.”
The carnage, unfortunately, did not stop there, either. Grangier looked strong for more than 115k, running in second and charging up the hill at Grand Col Ferret at 106k and looking calm at La Fouly 10 kilometers later, only six minutes behind Bouillard. He stayed in second as the morning came, but looked fatigued by Trient at 146k, where he would also drop.
Frenchmen Mathieu Blanchard, who famously battled Jornet at the 2022 UTMB for a second-place finish, and Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (pre-race interview), who won both the Hardrock 100 and Diagonal des Fous in 2023, both dropped at 69k, while Spain’s Pau Capell, the 2019 UTMB winner, dropped at Courmayeur like Walmsley.
Germain Grangier runs into Champex-Lac during (128.5k) the 2024 UTMB. He would drop late in the race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
None of this is to take away from the brilliance of Bouillard or the other top finishers, who survived the historic carnage and heat to come away with some performances of a lifetime.
It starts and ends, of course, with Bouillard, who was on few people’s radar when the race began. Last year, Bouillard, who does not even have a photo on his official UTMB page, won the Kodiak by UTMB 100 mile and Gorge Waterfall 100k, but few expected him to compete at the world’s most competitive trail race.
He did exactly that. Wearing bib No. 139, Bouillard ran in the lead pack at the start of the race, coming through Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme at 46k in ninth, and methodically working his way up to the front, entering Lac Combal at 70k in second. By Courmayeur, he had taken the lead and spent less than three minutes refueling before heading back into the early morning darkness.
From there, he would not relinquish the lead, running the rest of the race relatively unchallenged as he continued to look strong and smooth as the sun rose. Later in the morning, he would cross the finish line to seal a strong and surprising win.
Men’s champion Vincent Bouillard descends into Vallorcine (158k), on his way to winning the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Sarah Brady
While Bouillard won by nearly 30 minutes, there was a true race behind him. France’s Baptiste Chassagne ran in the top 20 for most of the first 60k and entered Courmayeur in 11th. By 129k, he and fellow Frenchman Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon, who had taken the opposite approach by running at or near the front from the start, were within seconds of each other in fourth and fifth place, respectively, and 34 minutes behind Bouillard. Chassagne continued to look and run strong, entering Trient at 146k in second just ahead of Ecuador’s Joaquín López, where he would remain until he crossed the finish line in 20:22:45 for his most impressive finish of his six-year streak of a top 10 at a UTMB Mont Blanc festival race.
Baptiste Chassagne was pretty stoked to take second at the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
López, meanwhile, had a very similar race to Chassagne, running in the top 30 at the start of the race before moving into 10th position by the time he left Courmayeur. Over the final half of the race, he moved up even further, and was just four minutes behind Chassagne at 161k. He could not ultimately catch him, but he did hold off Germany’s Hannes Namberger (pre-race interview) to finish third in 20:26:22.
Joaquin Lopez at Champex-Lac (128.5k), on his way to finishing in third place at the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Namberger, a two-time top-10 finisher at UTMB, had another strong race to finish fourth in 20:31:54, looking like he might nab a spot in the top three with a fast finish.
The ageless Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview) of France, who just over a month ago set the course record at the Hardrock 100, had another stellar performance, moving up from 47th at 40k, all the way to 10th by 100k, before picking off several runners in front of him to finish fifth in 20:57:48. It was his second straight fifth-place finish.
Joyeux-Bouillon held on for sixth, while American Cody Lind ran into seventh position. Spots eight through 10 — Spain’s Manuel Anguita along with Frenchmen Gautier Bonnecarrère and Yannick Noël — were separated by only four minutes, with Bonnecarrère and Noël appearing to tie for ninth in 21:45:16.
Ludovic Pommeret finished the 2024 UTMB in fifth place, the same position as last year. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2024 UTMB Men’s Results
- Vincent Bouillard (France) – 19:54:23
- Baptiste Chassagne (France) – 20:22:45
- Joaquín López (Ecuador) – 20:26:22
- Hannes Namberger (Germany) – 20:31:54 (pre-race interview)
- Ludovic Pommeret (France) – 20:57:48 (pre-race interview)
- Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon (France) 21:12:12
- Cody Lind (U.S.) – 21:33:16
- Manuel Anguita (Spain) – 21:41:01
- Gautier Bonnecarrère (France) – 21:45:16
- Yannick Noël (France) – 21:45:18
- Josh Wade (U.K.) – 21:52:09
- Thibaut Baronian (France) – 22:07:48
- Aubin Ferrari (France) – 22:33:07
- Kamil Leśniak (Poland) – 22:47:34
- Jonathan Moncany (France) – 22:58:01
- Juuso Simpanen (Finland) – 23:11:39
- Guillaume Deneffe (Belgium) – 23:12:54
- Alexis Sevennec (France) – 23:18:51
- Marián Priadka (Slovakia) – 23:22:52
- Canyon Woodward (U.S.) – 23:26:04
Cody Lind took seventh at the 2024 UTMB, his debut at this event. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
2024 UTMB Women’s Race
Just two months ago, American living in France Katie Schide (pre-race interview) led the Western States 100 from wire-to-wire and nearly broke the course record en route to a commanding win. On Saturday in France, Schide somehow improved on that performance: She again won in dominating fashion, but this time also nabbed the course record to cap one of the most impressive doubles in ultrarunning history. (Of course, last year, Courtney Dauwalter, who did not race UTMB this year, won each race in the Western States 100-Hardrock 100-UTMB triple.)
In her pre-race interview, Schide, who lives and trains in France, admitted that her primary focus this season was on the Western States 100 and that she took the runner’s insurance for UTMB when she signed up in January in case she canceled.
After she dominated an impressively deep and competitive field on Saturday, though, it was hard to believe UTMB was not the No. 1 race on her calendar this year.
Katie Schide in La Floria just 4k from the finish and a new UTMB course record. Photo: iRunFar/Amiria Macbeth
Schide went out fast and kept that assertive pace for nearly an entire day of running. She was 21st overall at the first aid station at 13k; New Zealand’s Ruth Croft (pre-race interview) and Canadian living in France Marianne Hogan (pre-race interview), the eventual second- and third-place finishers were, respectively, 118th and 72nd overall there.
Schide did not take her foot off the gas and continued to run with her characteristic calm, strength, and smile, entering the Lac Combal aid station at 70k in 7:34, looking focused. By Courmayeur at 83k, she was 50 minutes under course-record pace and nearly 40 minutes ahead of Hogan, and by La Fouly at 116k, she was nearly an hour under record pace.
The only question from there was if she would set the record. With Hogan losing 10 minutes in 12 kilometers by 141k to fall to 40 minutes back, Schide’s win seemed close to inevitable, especially with the way she was running. Just before Vallorcine at 158k, Schide’s lead on the course record had lessened to 32 minutes and a few kilometers later she was working hard and taking encouragement from fans. With four kilometers to go, she smiled as the crowds cheered her on, knowing that history was just minutes away.
She reached Chamonix and the celebration began. Schide smiled to the crowd and gave several high fives before crossing the finish line more than 20 minutes faster than any woman had done before, and the double was complete.
Katie Schide after winning UTMB for the second time. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
If Schide was chasing history, Croft was chasing dozens of runners in front of her. Croft, who was forced to withdraw before the start of last year’s race due to illness, came into UTMB as one of the favorites, having won the Tarawera Ultramarathon and Transvulcania earlier this year. She ran conservatively at the start, coming through 31k in sixth place next to American Amanda Basham, 22 minutes off the lead, and later falling to ninth place almost 38 minutes back just over 10 kilometers later.
But by 88k, with about half of the race in front of her, Croft had moved up to fifth, next to Emily Hawgood of Zimbabwe, who lives in the U.S, and from there she kept moving up. At the Grand Col Ferret at 106k, she was in fourth behind Schide, Hogan, and 2023 third-place finisher Blandine L’Hirondel of France, but Croft did not hang around: She broke into a run as soon as she started the descent.
Ruth Croft flying through Champex-Lac (128.5k). Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
By 129k, she had passed L’Hirondel and was in third place, looking fast and determined. At Trient, 17 kilometers later and about a half-hour behind Hogan, Croft was the only woman to run through the entire section and looked to be on the hunt.
By 158k, she had cut Hogan’s lead to 14 minutes and looked the stronger of the two, flying downhill and making up time. Between there and the climb up to La Flégère, Croft finally passed Hogan and left six minutes ahead. With four kilometers to go, she was in second and flying to the finish. She’d reach it in 22:48:37, just over 22 minutes ahead of Hogan, in her debut at the race.
Hogan, who finished second in her 2022 UTMB debut, had another strong race, running in second for most of the day with a smile on her face, before fading late. She didn’t let falling to third dampen her spirits, high-fiving fans and enjoying their cheers at La Floria four kilometers from the finish after being passed by Croft. After crossing the line in 23:11:15, she was greeted by a large team at the finish to celebrate her second podium finish in three years.
Marianne Hogan running through Champex-Lac in second. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Behind the top three, there were more strong performances. China’s Lin Chen finished fourth in 24:16:33, while L’Hirondel put it all on the line for a fifth-place finish. The ever-smiling Hawgood, a paragon of consistency who seemingly always finishes in the top 10 of major trail races, was about 22 minutes behind her in sixth with a time of 24:58:19, her third top-10 finish at UTMB and fastest by more than an hour-and-a-half.
Lin Chen in Champex-Lac on her way to taking fourth at the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
That theme of speed was exemplified by the quartet of Sabrina Stanley of the U.S., Claudia Tremps of Spain, Martina Valmassoi of Italy, and Lucy Bartholomew of Australia, who finished in seventh through 10th, respectively, with a spread of only 23 minutes. And perhaps there are no better illustrations of the depth of the women’s field than Stanley, who passed Tremps late to improve her time from last year’s ninth-place finish by roughly 90 minutes, and Bartholomew, who finished in 10th for the second year in a row — but with a time 1 hour and 45 minutes faster than last year’s.
Sabrina Stanley finishing seventh at the 2024 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
2024 Women’s Results
- Katie Schide (U.S. living in France) – 22:09:31 (new course record, old course record: 22:30:54, Courtney Dauwalter, 2021) (pre-race interview)
- Ruth Croft (N.Z.) – 22:48:37 (pre-race interview)
- Marianne Hogan (Canada living in France) – 23:11:15 (pre-race interview)
- Lin Chen (China) – 24:16:33
- Blandine L’Hirondel (France) – 24:35:54
- Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe living in U.S.) – 24:58:19
- Sabrina Stanley (U.S.) – 25:32:10
- Claudia Tremps (Spain) – 25:39:37
- Martina Valmassoi (Italy) – 25:42:02
- Lucy Bartholomew (Australia) – 25:55:31
- Alyssa Clark (U.S.) – 26:25:13
- Maite Maiora (Spain) – 26:50:35 (pre-race interview)
- Eszter Csillag (Hungary living in Hong Kong) – 27:01:09 (pre-race interview)
- Mari Fenre (Norway) – 27:05:54
- Alexis Crellin (U.S.) – 27:12:25
- Maryline Nakache (France) – 27:16:18
- Johanna Antila (Finland) – 27:33:13
- Claire Bannwarth (France) – 27:47:58
- Noor Van Der Veen (The Netherlands) – 27:57:13
- Manon Bohard Cailler (France) – 28:07:06
Emily Hawgood running through Courmayeur (83k) on her way to another top finish. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Coverage Thanks
Thanks so much to the field team of the following individuals who helped iRunFar cover this race: Tim Peeeters; Kirsten Kortebein; Craig Murphy; Anthony and Anna Ellison; Fabrice and Tom Van De Cauter; Simon, Gina and Greta Atwood; Jeevan Lama; Andrew Block; Jakub Pediač; Yannick Guitard; Amiria MacBeth; Luca Yannick; Randy Gaylord; Monique Stuut; Ashley Saloga; Casey Wyatt; Olivia Rissland; Marissa Harris; and Ellie Greenwood.
