Here we go! The weeklong group of UTMB races in Chamonix, France, is certainly the year’s biggest week of ultrarunning, and one of the first races is the 148-kilometer TDS.
An acronym for Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie, the TDS race left Courmayeur, Italy, with nearly 1,600 runners just before midnight local time on Monday, August 26, 2024, and gathered about 9,300 meters of elevation on its way to Chamonix. That’s about 92 miles and 30,500 feet of elevation gain. TDS is considered more technical than either of the longer UTMB or CCC races and is on more remote trails.
2024 TDS Women’s Race
Ariane Wilhem (Switzerland) ran the downhill six miles from miles 51 to 57 seven minutes faster than then-leader Emilie Collomb (Italy) to temporarily take the lead, but further back Marie Dohin (France) was full of run.
Dohin climbed past Wilhem and into the lead heading up to Barrage de la Girotte at mile 66. Ten miles later, Dohin held a nine-minute lead over Wilhem, and the pair further separated from each other the rest of the way. Dohin, who was fifth at this race in 2021, was the race winner in 24:06, and Wilhem held onto a second-place finish in 24:42.
Marie Dohin, the 2024 TDS women’s winner. All photos courtesy of UTMB.
Despite a shorter course than last year’s rerouted race and with better weather this year, the winning time was around 30 minutes slower than in 2023.
Céline Finas was third in 25:41.
French women took six of the top 10 finish positions.
2024 TDS Women’s Results
1 – Marie Dohin (France) – 24:06:01
2 – Ariane Wilhem (Switzerland) – 24:42:03
3 – Céline Finas (France) – 25:41:1
4 – Aleksandra Narkowicz (Poland) – 25:56:30
5 – Wen-Fei Xie (China) – 27:35:30
6 – Julia Harnie (France) – 28:38:54
7 – Elisabetta Negra (Italy) – 29:27:06
8 – Charlotte Allain (France) – 29:37:30
9 – Léa Simond (France) – 29:55:58
10 – Laura Mayniel (France) – 30:00:31
Ariane Wilhem, the 2024 TDS second-place woman.
2024 TDS Men’s Race
Thibault Marquet (France) hit the top of the Passeur Pralognan at mile 38 in a lead group alongside Aleksei Beresnev (competing as a neutral athlete) and Aleix Toda Mas (Spain) and quickly separated from them over the next two downhill miles. Beresnev would fall way back, and Toda Mas would end up not finishing. Marquet led the race the rest of the way, and at the end, he was well clear of second place.
Marquet dipped under the 19-hour mark with an 18:59:36 finish, running 37 minutes quicker than Christian Meier did when he won the 2023 race on a longer course and in snow.
Marquet was 12th on the full UTMB course in 2022.
Thibault Marquet, the 2024 TDS men’s winner.
No one had a stronger second half than runner-up Alban Berson (France). Just inside the top 20 early on, Berson was still only in eighth at mile 45. He moved up quickly and held that second-place spot from mile 66 through the finish in 19:56:40. Berson raced UTMB in 2022, also finishing one spot behind Marquet in 13th.
Alban Berson, the 2024 TDS second-place man.
Gautier Airiau (France) overtook a fading Simon Gosselin (France) with about 10 miles to go to move into third. Airiau finished in 20:07, and Gosselin did not finish. Airiau had a similar second-half charge to Berson.
All of the top five finishers were French.
2024 TDS Men’s Results
1 – Thibault Marquet (France) – 18:59:36
2 – Alban Berson (France) – 19:56:40
3 – Gautier Airiau (France) – 20:07:22
4 – Nicolas Gourdon (France) – 20:30:53
5 – Kevin Roux (France) – 20:44:53
6 – Ales Sedlak (Czech Republic) – 21:03
7 – Zai-Ran Li (China) – 21:13:57
8 – Marijn Sinkeldam (The Netherlands) – 21:14:40
9 – Jason Schlarb (U.S.) – 21:21:06
10 – Clément Mugnier (France) – 21:26:36
