Norway's Yngvild Kaspersen produced the most improbable comeback of UTMB week on Friday, running through the entire front of the women's CCC field in the closing 50 kilometres to win in 12:01:14 and become the first woman to take the title twice. Kaspersen, who also won in 2023, was outside the top ten and 20 minutes behind the leader at the halfway checkpoint in Champex-Lac, a deficit that would ordinarily end a race rather than begin one.
Her recovery was methodical rather than sudden. By the 79km checkpoint at Trient she had jumped seven places into third and cut the gap to China's Miao Yao to 11 minutes; by Vallorcine at 90km that margin was four and a half minutes. Toni McCann of South Africa passed Yao first, Kaspersen went by shortly afterwards, and in the final ten kilometres the Norwegian moved clear of a podium that contained three former champions. McCann took second in 12:06:14 and Yao third in 12:15:41, with Jennifer Lichter fourth and New Zealand's Caitlin Fielder fifth after a strong second half.
The men's race followed a very different pattern. Seventeen runners crested the opening 1,400-metre climb to Tete de la Tronche within a minute of one another, and the first seven were still separated by ten seconds at Arnouvaz 26km in. Hans Troyer of the United States forced the issue on the long descent into Switzerland, but Italy's Cristian Minoggio matched him at Champex-Lac and then broke him on the climb to Trient, gaining three minutes in a single ascent. Minoggio led the last 40 kilometres to win in 10:21:48.
Miguel Arsenio of Portugal eventually worked past Troyer for second in 10:27:25, with the American third in 10:33:29. Luke Grenfell-Shaw was the leading Briton in fourth, 10:47:23, and Simon Paccard took fifth. Because the UTMB start had been pushed back two hours by the storm forecast, Minoggio, Arsenio and Troyer all crossed the line in Chamonix before the 100-mile field had left the town; finishers immediately behind them had their arrivals paused during the start ceremony, with times adjusted accordingly.
Comparisons with the record books were beside the point. Weather forced two course alterations before the gun and a third during the race itself, first rerouting a landslide-affected section between La Fouly and Praz de Fort, then dropping the route down into Martigny and skipping the traditional Bovine climb, and finally removing the late La Flegere ascent. The revised course measured 108 kilometres with 6,200 metres of climbing. As the UTMB World Series Final over 100km, the race carried a 76,000 euro prize purse paying ten deep, with 13,000 euros to each winner, and offered three Western States 100 Golden Tickets in each field.