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Jim Walmsley is OUT of the 2026 UTMB after revealing a combination of an ongoing knee issue and illness a week ahead of the race forced him to abandon his bid for a second victory in Chamonix. The American’s withdrawal completes a remarkable double blow for the men’s race after Kilian Jornet announced on Thursday that he would not compete, with the Spaniard set to undergo surgery on his own knee problem. It means UTMB has lost its two highest-rated male entrants almost simultaneously.

Kilian Jornet has withdrawn from UTMB 2026 after revealing he will undergo surgery on a knee injury which has troubled him for several months. The trail-running legend had been due to make his eagerly-awaited return to the flagship 174km race around Mont Blanc, four years after claiming his fourth UTMB victory in 2022. But Jornet has now confirmed he will not be on the start line in Chamonix after a recent long training effort showed that the knee problem had not been resolved.

Anti-doping controls will be doubled at the 2026 HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc next week – with testing expanded beyond the elites to runners across all races and age-group categories. The move forms part of a significantly strengthened anti-doping programme for this year’s event, which takes place from August 24-30 and features the three UTMB World Series Finals – OCC, CCC and UTMB.

Reigning short-trail world champion Tove Alexandersson will head a star-studded field for OCC at UTMB Mont-Blanc later this month. The Swedish superstar tops a high-quality women’s start list which also features Swiss duo Judith Wyder and Maude Mathys, plus Olympic marathon bronze medallist Molly Seidel. And there is just as much quality on the men’s side, where Rémi Bonnet, Francesco Puppi and reigning short-trail world champion Frédéric Tranchand are among the leading contenders.

Western States champion Jennifer Lichter will headline a stacked field for the 2026 CCC as some of the world’s best trail runners battle for the biggest 100K title of the season. The American arrives in Chamonix fresh from a spectacular victory at Western States, while former CCC champions Yngvild Kaspersen and Toni McCann are among those standing in her way. One name missing is defending champion Martyna Mlynarczyk.

Kilian Jornet’s eagerly-awaited return to UTMB will see the trail-running legend face a spectacular men’s field in Chamonix later this month. The four-time winner will go up against two of the men who succeeded him as UTMB champions – Jim Walmsley and Vincent Bouillard – as well as a host of other leading contenders over the iconic 174km course around Mont Blanc.

Courtney Dauwalter will return to UTMB in 2026 as the American superstar bids to reclaim her crown on the trails around Mont Blanc. The three-time winner is one of the headline names on a stacked women’s start list for the 174km race, which features 9,900 metres of elevation gain and represents the 100M UTMB World Series Final.

Tom Evans, the reigning men’s champion at Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, will not defend his title in this year’s renewal of trail running’s blue riband event later this month. The Briton is part of a select group of athletes to win the sport’s two biggest 100-mile races – UTMB, which goes around Mont Blanc through France, Italy, and Switzerland, and Western States in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.

Romania’s Madalina Florea and Kenya’s Philemon Ombogo Kiriago ran out the impressive winners at the 53rd edition of the iconic Sierre-Zinal in the Swiss Alps. Serving as both a Golden Trails and WMRA World Cup race, the level of competition was incredibly high. It is a hugely important race for this year’s World Cup, coming at a pivotal time in the competition with many of the main players in the World Cup taking part.

Sierre-Zinal is also known as the race of five 4000s (La Course des Cinq 4000), as the route takes competitors in sight of five peaks of over four thousand meters: Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Obergabelhorn, Matterhorn, and Dent Blanche. It’s 31km long and with 2,200m of elevation gain, Sierre-Zinal is widely considered one of the world’s most coveted ultrarunning titles.