Kilian Jornet, who finished second in the Ultra Trail del Mont Blanc (UTMB) in a closely fought race with the Frenchman François d’Haene, said after racing for 19h 16m: “I came to race here because there’s a high standard and I wanted to enjoy real competition with the best runners in the world. And that’s how it turned out. François has run a great race and he deserved to win. I’m happy with second place after a difficult race".
 
The UTMB is one of trail running’s talismanic courses, run over 170 kilometres and with an overall ascent of 9,600m. The race starts near Mont Blanc and traverses three countries (France, Italy and Switzerland) across spectacular landscape. It’s a race that the world’s top athletes dream of taking part in, although each year only 2,300 get to do so.
 
Jornet has a long history in the UTMB. In 2008 he was the youngest competitor to take part and surprised everyone by running away with the race almost from the start. He would go on to win in the next two years, confirming his dominance in the trail running elite. Jornet returned this year with the event in its 15th year and, as he said before the start: “This year we wanted to climb Everest in August but we were refused a permit. I wanted to compete in August in a competition with top athletes and the UTMB met my requirements. I like to compete in events with a high standard where you can experience really good battles.”  
 
The race began on Friday, September 1 at 18:30 in the French Alpine village of Chamonix. It’s a race where cold and rain usually play a part and this year was no exception. The course was altered slightly and the start was delayed half an hour given the forecast of bad weather overnight
 
The runners set off through the streets of Chamonix under a grey sky but it wasn’t raining. The first stretches, which are always fast and lined with spectators, produced a leader group, Killian Jornet among them, relaxed and enjoying the atmosphere.
 
The first help point was at Contamines, at kilometre 31,2. Here the American Jim Walmsley took off like a rocket to take the lead, hoping to break the American jinx on this event. Jornet was in second place and took his time to eat and dress up warm, aware that he would pass most of the night at altitude. Close behind him was a group of runners, among them François d’Haene, who won the UTMB in 2015, Pau Capell, Xavier Thévenard and Zach Miller among others.
 
One of the toughest parts of the circuit begins at Contamines, taking the runners across the Italian border at the Col de la Seigne (km 60, 2,516m). Running in the rain, the runners then began to descend to the second help point at Courmayeur (km 77). There the race positions remained the same, with Jim Walmsley in front after a quick food stop. He was followed by the Frenchman D’Haene, who knows the race well and took his time to prepare himself, as did Jornet, who 8h02m into the race knew that it was barely half run and was looking forward to a good fight.
 
One of the hardest sections began then, in Switzerland, with the climb up the Grand Col Ferret (km 99, 2,537m) and the descent to Fouly (km 111). The race changed at this point with Jim Walmsley arriving at the feeding station with a long face. He took more than seven minutes to rest, time that D’Haene and Jornet exploited to retake the lead while the sun rose behind the impressive Alps.
 
At Champex-Lac (km 125) D’Haene had an 8-minute lead over Jornet who tried to hunt the Frenchman down, using a strategy that the triple UTMB winner used having lived in the area for years. However, D’Haene, an exceptional athlete, wasn’t going to make it easy. At Trient (km 142) the Frenchman had a lead of 16 minutes over Jornet who arrived visibly tired at the feeding station. Nevertheless, at Vallorcine (km 153) he had cut the lead down to five minutes and all the excitement of the race was concentrated in the final 19 kilometres.
 
D’Haene knew how to make the most of his advantage and was first to cross the line at Chamonix. Kilian Jornet arrived 15 minutes later, smiling and waving at the fans. He took the microphone to salute D’Haene: “François, you and I have both won three UTMBs so we have to meet again next year to end this draw, OK?” The Frenchman smiled enigmatically. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in at the UTMB in 2018.