The 2026 UTMB left Chamonix two hours behind schedule on Friday evening after forecasters confirmed a risk of thunderstorms over the Mont Blanc massif for the end of the day. Rather than send 2,500 runners into an exposed first climb during the worst of it, organisers moved the start from 5.45pm to 7.45pm and shifted every aid station window, assistance point and cut-off back by the same margin. The final finishers now have until 6.30pm on Sunday rather than 4.30pm.
The change is more consequential than a simple delay. The opening section from Chamonix to Saint-Gervais and Les Contamines is the fastest ground on the 177-kilometre loop, and it is normally covered in daylight. Starting at dusk means the entire field runs the first three hours under headtorch, and the second night, which the leaders usually avoid altogether, now sits closer to the finishing hours for anyone outside the front dozen. Pacing plans written around sunrise at Courmayeur have had to be redrawn on the move.
By the early kilometres the men's race had already found its shape. Ben Dhiman, second here in 2025, took the lead from Baptiste Chassagne between Les Contamines at roughly mile 20 and La Balme at mile 25.5, and the American has been the most visible figure at the front through the night. In the women's race Blandine Hirondel led through the French valley sections with Rachel Entrekin less than half a minute behind her, the pair pulling clear of an unusually cautious chasing group.
Courtney Dauwalter, a three-time champion and the most decorated runner in the field, passed Notre Dame de la Gorge in sixth and has raced conservatively throughout, a strategy consistent with her tenth place here in 2025 and with a course that punishes early enthusiasm. The absences make the front of the race harder to read than usual: Kilian Jornet, Jim Walmsley, Tom Evans, Ruth Croft and Vincent Bouillard are all missing, removing every recent champion from the start list and leaving no obvious favourite in either race.
Attention now turns to the Grand Col Ferret, the highest point of the route at 2,537 metres and traditionally the place where the men's race is decided, and to the long Swiss descent that follows. On current progress the leading men are expected in Chamonix in the middle of Saturday afternoon, with the leading women some hours later. Whether the delayed start has cost the field time or spared it a soaking will only be clear when the second wave of weather arrives over the massif.