The competitive heart of UTMB week began in the dark and the rain. The 2026 TDS set off from Courmayeur at 11:50pm on Monday night, sending its field over 148 kilometres and 9,300 metres of climbing to Chamonix, and by Tuesday evening France had swept both podiums. Sarah Vieuille won the women's race in 22:08:16 after leading from the opening climb, while Remy Brassac took the men's title in 19:28:43 as the only survivor of the early leading trio.
Vieuille's performance was remarkable for its authority. Racing in Chamonix for the first time, she was already clear of the field with Anna Tarasova at the 2,603-metre course high point of Col Chavannes at mile 13, then broke away alone on the long descent that followed. Her lead stretched to 39 minutes at Beaufort before compatriot Alice Meignie began eating into it over the final climbs, but the gap never fell below 19 minutes. Meignie finished second in 22:30:29 and American Alyssa Clark, who mastered the technical Beaufortain crossing to move onto the podium, was third in 22:54:19. Pre-race favourites Tarasova and Ida-Sophie Hegemann both dropped, Hegemann for the second consecutive year.
The men's race was a war of attrition. Brassac ran the first half alongside fellow French runners Louison Coiffet and Clovis Chaverot, with Mont Blanc 90k champion Coiffet exiting at Bourg Saint-Maurice and Chaverot, who had led for most of the first 67 miles, finally dropping after mile 72. American Tyler Green climbed as high as third before his race ended at Beaufort. That left Brassac, fourth at the Val d'Aran 110k in July, to manage the closing mountains alone. Pierre-Adrien Hivert improved from ninth last year to second in 20:14:26, while Italy's Davide Rivero, third in 20:42:43, was the only non-French finisher in the men's top 10.
Conditions gave the race an extra edge. Overnight rain and cold fog blanketed the early climbs, and the course, restored to its full clockwise route after weather shortened it in 2025, reminded everyone why TDS is regarded as the most technical of the week's long races. Veteran American ultrarunner Jeff Browning was evacuated from the course by helicopter, according to race-week reports from Chamonix, underlining how unforgiving the Beaufortain terrain can be even for the most experienced mountain runners.
The times deserve context. Vieuille finished barely half an hour outside Audrey Tanguy's 2019 course record of 21:36:15, and nearly two hours faster than the winning time from 2024, the last edition run on this full course. Brassac's mark compares similarly well with recent editions. With TDS decided, attention in Chamonix now turns to the week's World Series Finals: OCC on Thursday, CCC on Friday morning, and the main event, UTMB itself, setting off on Friday evening.