The 2026 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc delivered history-making performances at the front of the pack — but for every champion crowned in Chamonix, a trail of shattered dreams stretched 108 miles around Mont Blanc.
While Ben Dhiman and Blandine L’Hirondel etched their names into UTMB legend with record-breaking finishes, some of ultrarunning’s biggest names never made it across that finish line.
Stomach bugs, knee injuries, lingering fatigue, and the mountain’s sheer brutality conspired to take down an astonishing roster of pre-race favorites — including two former champions who both quit at the exact same checkpoint, just 13 minutes apart.
Here’s the full, brutal story of who fell — and why.
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The Numbers Don’t Lie: UTMB 2026 Was Merciless
Of the 2,406 runners who lined up in Chamonix, 725 did not finish — a DNF rate of 30.1%, or roughly three in every ten starters.
Women fared harder than men statistically, with 152 of 419 female starters (36.3%) pulling out, compared to 574 of 1,988 men (28.9%). Two checkpoints swallowed the most victims: Courmayeur at mile 50, where 138 runners called it, and Arnouvaz just 11 miles later, where another 122 threw in the towel.
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Evening thunderstorms forced a two-hour delay before Friday’s start, but skies cleared in time for a 7:49 p.m. departure on August 29. Conditions turned near-perfect — cool temperatures, a tacky trail — which almost certainly contributed to the slightly lower overall DNF rate compared to 2025’s brutal 33.2%.
Before the Gun Even Fired: Walmsley and Jornet Both Out
Two of ultrarunning’s most iconic names didn’t even make it to the start line.
2023 UTMB champion Jim Walmsley, 36, withdrew days before the race due to a persistent knee injury — the same issue that forced him out of Western States earlier this summer.
I have to train a bit around what I can handle, focus more on PT exercises, and looking forward to take some time to cheer on friends this week.
On that very same day, four-time UTMB champion Kilian Jornet, 38, announced strikingly similar news. He had completed a grueling 56-mile, 15,000-foot training run on the course the day before — essentially a DIY recon mission — only to feel his knee problem resurface after five hours of feeling strong.
I saw after five hours when I was feeling very good, the pain and all the other problems were again there. I decided to not run UTMB and to focus on some interventions to solve the problem for good.
Jornet delivered that update in a video — with his youngest daughter on his back. Even in heartbreak, the man has style.
The Chamonix Stomach Flu Claimed Its First Victims Early
Canyon Woodward of North Carolina — who finished eighth at Western States in June — became the first elite casualty on the course, dropping at Les Contamines (mile 20) after the dreaded Chamonix stomach flu caught up with him mid-race.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Friday I felt good enough to get out of bed and decided to give it a whirl. I felt good and ran well for about 16 miles, then I think my stomach caught wind of the scale of the adventure I was plotting and said heck no.
China’s Fuzhao Xiang — a two-time Western States runner-up and former top-four UTMB finisher — also exited at Les Contamines. She had been managing an ankle injury all summer and had pre-agreed with her team to make a go/no-go call at mile 20. Despite her coach’s reservations, she chose to start.
Every kilometer on the trail, along with the entire lead‑up to the race, was a battle. A struggle with my own mind, and a fight against injury. I have no regrets about choosing to start.
Lac Combal: Where Champions Go to DNF
Mile 42. The same checkpoint. Thirteen minutes apart. Two former UTMB champions, done for the day.
Courtney Dauwalter, 41 — three-time UTMB champion and the undisputed queen of ultrarunning — had entered this race just one month after winning the Hardrock 100 *again*, in a course-record time *again*. Reports suggest an early wrong turn dropped her out of contention near the 31-mile mark, and she steadily faded through the field before stepping off at Lac Combal.
We fully believed. We didn’t know if Hardrock still lingered, we didn’t know how my body would do, and we were ready for any result as long as we tried. Because how do you know if you don’t give it a shot?
French star Vincent Bouillard — who won Western States in a course record just months earlier and triumphed at UTMB in 2024 — had led the race through mile 14 before the mountain terrain began to expose him. He, too, called it at Lac Combal.
Bouillard hasn’t publicly explained his withdrawal, but the pattern is hard to ignore: racing Western States and UTMB in the same summer is a historically brutal ask, and the data backs it up.
Also joining them at that same 42-mile checkpoint was Rod Farvard, who had been a genuine podium threat after winning the Andorra 105K in June. A pre-existing knee injury, manageable in training, became unmanageable under race intensity.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Knee did not hold up unfortunately. Manageable through training but racing hard really aggravated it by the time we got to Notre Dame. Hobbling down descents so it was an easy call but for sure bummed! Long road of rehab ahead.
Late-Race Heartbreak: Blisters, Burnout, and a Refusal to Quit
Chris Myers — Western States runner-up in 2025 — had done everything right in preparation, even spending an extended training camp in the Alps. He climbed as high as third place during the race. Then his foot betrayed him entirely.
The Monday before the race my foot started to swell painfully and I ultimately made the decision to start taking antibiotics the day before the race. The result was a downward spiral.
Italy’s Martina Valmassoi ran a stunning first half — sitting fourth through the course’s most demanding section in her home country — but was burning through her reserves from the opening miles without realizing it. She made the smart call near mile 99 rather than risk turning discomfort into a serious injury.
And then there was Zach Miller — fan favorite, former runner-up, and *the* guy who simply refuses to stop. He was still in contention through mile 50, yo-yoing between fifth and seventh, before the wheels came off in Switzerland. Reports from the course suggest he was spotted sitting trailside, still determined to push on. His race ultimately ended at Vallorcine, mile 95, with whispers he may have been pulled from the course.
Miller wasn’t alone in his suffering. The entire North Face racing squad — Jon Albon, Josh Wade, Elsey Davis, and Kaytlyn Gerbin — also DNFed, with reports suggesting the Chamonix flu had swept through their team house before race day even began.
UTMB giveth. And in 2026, UTMB most certainly took away.
