Blandine L’Hirondel of France won the UTMB women’s race on 28-29 August 2026 in 21:54:49, the first woman to break 22 hours and the fastest women’s time recorded at UTMB, 14:42 faster than Katie Schide’s 22:09:31 from 2024. Because the route was changed (3.1 km shorter and 215 m flatter after the Pyramides Calcaires section was cut), it does not count as an official course record.
An open race
Two-time winner Katie Schide did not start after an injury-hit season, and defending champion Ruth Croft withdrew before the race, so a new champion was guaranteed. Three-time winner Courtney Dauwalter was about nine minutes back at roughly 52 km, fell to 12th by Lac Combal, and withdrew; she later returned to Chamonix to support the finishers. The women’s start was pushed back about two hours because of forecast thunderstorms.
How it unfolded
L’Hirondel was prominent from the start and reached Saint-Gervais 36 seconds ahead of American Rachel Entrekin. The two were separated by only eight seconds at Lac Combal, after which L’Hirondel pulled away steadily, reaching 15:33 ahead at Grand Col Ferret and 38:44 at Trient. Falls on the climb to La Flégère and the descent cut into her margin, but she kept her composure. At Vallorcine she led Entrekin by 40:09 with 18.3 km left.
Entrekin, in her first UTMB, then closed 19:04 over the final stretch, mostly in the last seven kilometres into Chamonix. L’Hirondel walked that descent in 54:21, while Emily Schmitz ran it in 38:20. L’Hirondel still won by 21:05, and Entrekin held off Schmitz for second by 94 seconds.
Top 10
1. Blandine L’Hirondel (FRA) 21:54:49. 2. Rachel Entrekin (USA) 22:15:54. 3. Emily Schmitz (USA) 22:17:28. 4. Careth Arnold (USA) 23:05:20. 5. Jazmine Lowther (CAN) 23:21:55. 6. Katarzyna Dombrowska (POL) 23:27:34. 7. Lucy Bartholomew (AUS) 23:44:29. 8. Antonina Iushina (AIN) 23:49:58. 9. Anne Cécile Thévenot (FRA) 24:02:00. 10. Anne-Sofie Pollestad (NOR) 24:04:56.
Who she is
L’Hirondel, 35, spent several years working in hospital medicine alongside trail running. She won OCC in 2021 and CCC in 2022, and now becomes only the second woman, after Croft, and the third person, after Xavier Thévenard, to win OCC, CCC and UTMB. She is the first French woman to win UTMB since Caroline Chaverot in 2016.
The lesson is a classic ultrarunning one: a huge lead late in a 100-miler is not safe, and managing the final descent matters as much as the first climb.
Sources
Updated November 14, 2026.
Photo: arnepetter (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons
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