August 15, 2026
8:00am Mountain Time
UTMB 2026 will bring together returning UTMB Legends and a new generation of contenders on the flagship 174 km course with 9,900 m of elevation gain. Five designated UTMB Legends entered are Kilian Jornet (ESP, UTMB Index 948), a four-time winner in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2022; Jim Walmsley (USA, UTMB Index 967), the 2023 UTMB winner who also won the 2025 OCC; Vincent Bouillard (FRA, UTMB Index 941), the 2024 UTMB champion and this year’s Western States winner with a new course record; Courtney Dauwalter (USA, UTMB Index 859), a three-time UTMB winner in 2019, 2021 and 2023; and Ruth Croft (NZL, UTMB Index 823), the defending 2025 champion and the only woman to have won all three UTMB World Series Finals.
The women’s race pits defending champion Ruth Croft (UTMB Index 823) against Courtney Dauwalter (UTMB Index 859), with key challengers including Riley Brady (USA, UTMB Index 826), Fuzhao Xiang (CHN, UTMB Index 823), Sunmaya Budha (NEP, UTMB Index 814), Abby Hall (USA, UTMB Index 808), Blandine L’Hirondel (FRA, UTMB Index 807), who won the 2025 Diagonale des Fous and the 2022 CCC and was on the 2023 UTMB podium, Lucy Bartholomew (AUS, UTMB Index 799) with three top-10 finishes in the last three editions and a second place in the 100M at this year’s La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB, and Rachel Entrekin (USA, UTMB Index 781), who set the course record at Cocodona earlier this season; on the men’s side Jim Walmsley (USA, UTMB Index 967) and Kilian Jornet (ESP, UTMB Index 948) are among the top-ranked, joined by Ben Dhiman (USA, UTMB Index 946) who was second to Tom Evans in 2025 (Evans is not competing), Caleb Olson (USA, UTMB Index 946), Hannes Namberger (GER, UTMB Index 941), Vincent Bouillard (FRA, UTMB Index 941), Jonathan Albon (GBR, UTMB Index 939), and Jiasheng Shen (CHN, UTMB Index 903), who finished eighth in 2025 amid a broader Asian contingent that placed three Chinese runners in the 2025 top 10.
