The story of the 2025 UTMB is one we’ll all remember, where Tom Evans (pre-race interview) and Ruth Croft (pre-race interview) weathered both stormy conditions and deep competition to become this year’s champions.
When it had all played out in the men’s race, Evans took off his sunglasses, raised his right hand for his signature salute, and yanked the finish line tape, roaring. With that gesture, it was official: Evans, the British runner returning after two straight DNFs, had won the 2025 UTMB in 19:18:58, overcoming some of the wettest and coldest conditions the race has seen since it began more than two decades ago.
“I’ve had two DNFs in the last two years, and then to take the victory today, hoping it proves to everyone that if you put your mind to it, then anything is achievable,” Evans said in the post-race interview over the loudspeaker near the finish line, minutes after he had won. The crowd cheered.
Tom Evans, 2025 UTMB champion. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The crowd was still cheering about 30 minutes later when Ben Dhiman (pre-race interview), an American living in France, capped his own signature performance with a second-place finish in 19:51:37. The U.K.’s Josh Wade used a strong second half of the race to come through in third in 20:05:06 to put two Brits on the podium.
In the women’s race, New Zealand’s Croft, a master tactician, utilized her astute pacing to take control of the race around two-thirds of the way through. She won in 22:56:23, improving on her second-place finish from last year and cementing herself as one of the top runners in the sport. She now has wins in the triumvirate of UTMB races: OCC in 2019, CCC in 2015, and now the big loop.
France’s Camille Bruyas (pre-race interview), who battled with Croft for a large part of the race, finished second in 23:28:48, while Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth capped a strong second half to take third in 24:16:39. Pre-race favorite Courtney Dauwalter (pre-race interview) faded late but managed to finish, while the race for the back half of the women’s top 10 was the closest of the day.
Ruth Croft arriving to daylight on the second day of running during the 2025 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
All of them were among the nearly 2,500 runners to start the race almost a day earlier, at 5:45 p.m. local time in Chamonix, France, on Friday, August 29. The task before them all was to run the biggest race on the ultrarunning calendar that circumnavigates Mont Blanc in the Alps, notorious for its elevation profile and technicality and famous for its competitiveness and resplendent scenery.
This year’s initial course was 178 kilometers (108 miles) with almost 10,000 meters (32,500 feet) of elevation gain, traversing through three countries — France, Italy, and Switzerland — and starting and ending in Chamonix. In addition to the typical challenges of completing a 100-plus-mile race, runners this year had to battle driving rain, wind, and even snow through the night. The course was modified in the Italian section, where the technical Pyramides Calcaires ascent and descent were removed due to the storm, shortening the course by about two kilometers and 200 meters of elevation, saving the leaders roughly 20 to 30 minutes of run time.
“I think we were blessed with very British weather,” Evans said in a separate interview after the finish. “The snow, rain, and then a bit of heat at the end.”
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Read on for full race details.
You can also check out more results from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc festival:
- 2025 TDS Results: Careth Arnold and Antoine Charvolin Win
- 2025 OCC Results: Jim Walmsley, Joyline Chepngeno Win Dramatic Races on Alternate Course
- 2025 CCC Results: Martyna Młynarczyk Wins Duel, Francesco Puppi Dominates
The start of the 2025 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 UTMB Men’s Race
The U.K.’s Tom Evans (pre-race interview) entered the Arnouvaz aid station at 102 kilometers (62 miles) like a man on a mission. Evans, who finished third at the 2022 UTMB and won CCC in 2018, stopped briefly to fill his bottle with cola before heading back out into the wet night. He had been running with the leaders for the entire race, but between Refuge Bertone at 89k and Arnouvaz, he passed early race pace pusher Théo Detienne (France) to take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.
Last year, Evans battled hydration and nutrition issues before dropping late in the race. This year, he seemingly adhered to his pre-race plan of staying patient.
“In order to get to the fun bit, you’ve got to go through the ‘happy to let people go’ and just hike a little bit, and just keep fueling, and keep hydrated,” Evans said in his pre-race interview. “Knowing that actually the race gets really fun from top of Grand Col Ferret, and it’s then actually fun. And you then think, Oh, this is why I do the sport. Rather than sitting on a rock just before you get to Bertone thinking, Why do I do this sport?”
It was at Grand Col Ferret that Evans made his definitive move. Ben Dhiman (pre-race interview) — who came through Arnouvaz shortly after Evans, looking more casual as he took some soup — said that he and Evans, teammates for Asics Europe, had been working together but that he couldn’t match Evans’ climb at this point.
The U.K.’s Tom Evans climbing over the course high point at Grand Col Ferret in a storm during the 2025 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
It was a manifestation of Evans’ training block for this race, which focused on long repetitions of heavy uphill work. He spent the last two months in France and said a typical workout was running with a weighted pack up a climb, hiding it in a tree, and then running down and back up without the pack.
“I had to go on my own and sort of be this mountain monk,” said Evans, who recently became a father and ran in a hat with his daughter’s name, Phoebe, written on the inside.
What no one could have truly prepared for was the weather: a cold, wet, windy slog through the night hours that made viewers of the livestream grateful for their warm beds.
“It threw everything at you,” Evans said. “In trail running, you need a big toolbox and lots of good tools in your toolbox, and UTMB this year, you needed everything to be able to run fast, hike in mud, do snow, do rain, look after yourself in the big mountains. This year, it was just everything.”
The U.S.’s Ben Dhiman in the later stages of the 2025 UTMB, on his way to finishing second. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Winning UTMB after two straight DNFs and three months after becoming a father was especially gratifying.
“I think it’s proof that you can’t fail, you can just learn from your mistakes,” Evans said. “It might take one, it might take two, but I am incredibly proud to have learned from my mistakes and executed a really good race and winning the biggest and most beautiful trail race in the world.” Indeed, Tom Evans won the most competitive trail ultra in 19:18:58.
For Dhiman, who had also DNFed the last two years at this race, it was a similar redemption story. Dhiman, an American who lives and trains in the French Pyrenees, had similar nutrition and hydration issues in the historic heat of last year’s race and vowed to run a different race.
Théo Detienne of France was one of the people’s favorites all race. After helping to set the men’s race pace for long parts of the first half, he eventually dropped. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
“I think especially this year, we don’t have Kilian [Jornet] or Jim [Walmsley], so everybody’s saying, ‘Well, who’s going to step up?’” Dhiman said in his pre-race interview. I hope we all kind of step up and behave with some maturity here. But if not, I am going to certainly attempt to run a smarter race than I did last year.”
Mission accomplished for Dhiman, who ran with the lead group for the first half of the race before breaking away with Evans after Arnouvaz. He couldn’t quite match Evans’ legs for the last half after Grand Col Ferret but still broke the mythical 20-hour mark. Ben Dhiman crossed the finish line to take second in 19:51:37.
Detienne, who won this year’s Mont-Blanc 90k, had taken the lead at La Combal at 72k, after helping to push the pace in the distance before that, and looked happy to be leading at Courmayeur, the unofficial halfway point of the race. He was among a pack of leaders in the middle parts of the race that included Evans, Dhiman, Jonathan Albon — a British runner living in Norway — and Frenchmen Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz and Germain Grangier (pre-race interview). By Arnouvaz, though, he looked more fatigued, running in third behind Evans and Dhiman before being passed by several others and eventually dropping at Trient at kilometer 145.
Aurélien Dundand-Pallaz pushed the pace in the early miles of the 2025 UTMB. The Frenchman dropped from the race after halfway. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Other notable drops were pre-race favorite France’s François D’Haene (pre-race interview), who was seeking to become the first five-time winner of UTMB, at Lac Combal at 72k; Albon, who was among the top five for nearly the whole race before dropping at Champex-Lac at 128k; Grangier, who took third in 2023, at La Fouly at 1146; American Hayden Hawks (pre-race interview), who had knee surgery in late spring, at Les Chapieux around 52k; and Kiwi Dan Jones at Courmayeur at 84k.
Three-time UTMB champion François D’Haene at the start of the 2025 race. He eventually dropped 72 kilometers into the race with a leg injury. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Josh Wade, who dropped from the 2023 race before finishing 11th last year, was among the many who took advantage. Wade ran among the top 10 for the majority of the first half of the race before methodically moving his way into podium contention: At Arnouvaz, he was seventh, by Grand Col Ferret, he was sixth, at La Fouly, not long after, he was fifth, and then by Champex-Lac, he was third, a position he wouldn’t relinquish. Josh Wade took third in 20:05:06.
The U.K.’s Josh Wade was a dark horse pick for many. After running in the back half of the men’s top 10 in the first half of the race, he moved up later to take second. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
China’s Ji Duo, who like Evans and Dhiman DNFed last year, had an extremely strong last 70k to move from 10th at La Fouly to a fourth-place finish in 20:15:05, while France’s Thibaut Garrivier used a similar approach to finish fifth in 20:20:25.
China’s Ji Duo had a fantastic second-half performance to take fourth at the 2025 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The ageless Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview), less than two months after winning the Hardrock 100 for the second year in a row, picked off runners in the second half of the race — because of course he did — to finish sixth in 20:40:34.
There was a close race for the last four spots of the top 10. The next four runners — France’s Yannick Noël, China’s Jia-Sheng Shen, American Rod Farvard, and China’s Jia-Ju Zhao — all came within 17 minutes of one another. They all used patient approaches — Farvard’s late surge brought him from 23rd at La Courmayeur to a ninth-place finish — in a year that rewarded them. Early pace pusher Dunand-Pallaz ultimately crossed the line in 20th place.
France’s Ludovic Pommeret, age 50 years young, took sixth at the 2025 UTMB after pacing smart all race and weathering the storms. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 UTMB Men’s Results
- Tom Evans (Asics) – 19:18:58 (pre-race interview)
- Ben Dhiman (Asics) – 19:51:37 (pre-race interview)
- Josh Wade (The North Face) – 20:05:06
- Ji Duo (Hoka) – 20:15:05
- Thibaut Garrivier (Hoka) – 20:20:25
- Ludovic Pommeret (Hoka) – 20:40:34 (pre-race interview)
- Yannick Noël (Inov8) – 21:03:41
- Jia-Sheng Shen (The North Face) – 21:11:59
- Rod Farvard (Hoka) – 21:18:24
- Jia-Ju Zhao (Kailas Fuga) – 21:19:47
Tom Evans, 2025 UTMB men’s champion, before the start. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 UTMB Women’s Race
Kiwi Ruth Croft (pre-race interview), who used a strong second half of the race to finish second behind course record holder Katie Schide last year, took lessons from last year to improve on her performance this time around.
All smiles, she gave high-fives and hugs to the crowd near the finish chute before lifting the tape to cap a career-defining achievement.
“I knew if I wanted to have a chance of doing well, I needed to start a bit more aggressively than I did last year,” Croft said in the post-race interview at the finish line. “And then as soon as it started to get cold, I knew that I just needed to survive the night, so I backed off quite a bit and just made sure that I was trying to stay as warm as possible. And then as soon as day broke, I was able to start moving a bit better.”
Croft relied on her experience earlier this year to help her stay warm through the cold, wet, and windy night hours.
“I DNFed Transvulcania from hypothermia in May, so that really helped me for the conditions last night,” she said, laughing.
New Zealand’s Ruth Croft at Lac Combal, 72 kilometers into the 2025 UTMB. Despite a night of storms, she emerged strong to lead the race’s final third and win. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
She had a similar smile when she took the lead before Champex-Lac at 129 kilometers, nearly 16 hours into the race. It was well won: She had been battling with France’s Camille Bruyas (pre-race interview) and the U.S.’s Courtney Dauwalter (pre-race interview) for the majority of the race up to that point.
Up until Lac Combal at 72k, Croft was running in either second or third behind Bruyas and Dauwalter, and by Arnouvaz at 102k, she was more than 17 minutes behind Dauwalter’s lead and about seven behind Bruyas.
Courtney Dauwalter leading the race early. She would lead the race until after 120 kilometers, before falling back in the field. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
But she kept plugging away, chipping into the lead: 12 minutes back at Grand Col Ferret at 107k, eight minutes back coming down the descent, and in the lead by 129k. For Croft, who’s known for her tactical racing strategies, this was a master class in pacing.
By 142k, Croft had built an 11-minute lead over Bruyas, and it only grew from there. After a focused — and mercifully dry — final 30k, Ruth Croft crossed the finish line to win in 22:56:23.
“I just want to try and improve on last year,” Croft said in her pre-race interview, typically understated. That, of course, would be hard to do, given that she finished second last year, but she did it still.
Camille Bruyas, who was returning to UTMB for the first time since her second-place finish in 2021, would ultimately take second again in 23:28:48. It’s another strong 100-mile race to add to her list of strong second-place finishes: the Hardrock 100, Diagonale des Fous, and now UTMB twice.
Like Croft, Bruyas put herself in the mix early. She was fourth behind Dauwalter, Croft, and Katarzyna Dombrowska (Poland) from 45k to 72k, but by Courmayeur, she had passed Croft and Dombrowska to move into second, just over six minutes behind Dauwalter.
She lost some ground over the next two aid stations but remained in second. By Grand Col Ferret, she was nine minutes behind Dauwalter and commenting on the wonderful weather, which by that point featured blowing snow.
Camille Bruyas ran strong all of the 2025 UTMB to take second for the second time, following up on her similar 2021 performance. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Dauwalter found herself in a familiar place in the early morning on Saturday: leading deep into a 100-mile race. She had led the race from 45k all the way until La Fouly at 116k, looking happy and focused throughout. At Courmayeur, she was greeted by cheers and was leading the race in 9:32 elapsed.
In the kilometers that followed, though, Croft and Bruyas began to chip into her lead, and in the 13k between La Fouly and Champex-Lac, both had passed her.
Camille Bruyas finishing in second at the 2025 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
By Trient at 147k, she was the first woman to walk the descent and stopped to hug her nephew. That smiling-through-the-suffering mentality epitomized her final 30k of the race, when she was visibly struggling, especially on the descents, but still wore a smile and clapped for her legions of fans.
“It was a privilege to get to race against her finally,” Croft said. “She’s the G.O.A.T. Always has been and always will be.”
Ruth Croft, 2025 UTMB champion. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Katharina Hartmuth, a German living in Switzerland who finished second at UTMB in 2023, overcame an injury-riddled last two years, plus a disappointing (for her) third-place finish at this year’s Hardrock 100, to put in a strong performance at UTMB. At 52k, she was in ninth, but by Refuge Bertone at 89k, she was in fifth. She’d remain in that spot until 129k, where she was cracking jokes and had halved her gap to the fourth-place Lucy Bartholomew (Australia). By 142k, she had passed Bartholomew to take fourth, looking focused, and by 165k, she had passed Dauwalter to get to third. Katharina Hartmuth would finish there, in third place in 24:16:39, for her second podium finish at the race.
Katharina Hartmuth of Germany experienced challenges early in the 2025 UTMB, but surged in the race’s final segments to take third. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
The race for the rest of the top 10 was fierce. At 165k, with about 13k to go, Anna Carlsson (Sweden), Bartholomew, Maëlle Deruaz (France), Magali Mellon (France), Claudia Tremps (Spain), and Lauren Puretz (U.S.) were separated by only 26 minutes. By Chamonix, all of them had passed Dauwalter, who finished in 10th.
Spain’s Claudia Tremps at Lac Combal during the storms of the 2025 UTMB. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
In the end, Carlsson, who DNFed at UTMB in 2021, held on for fourth in 24:39:42, while Deruaz passed Bartholomew in a late surge but couldn’t quite catch Carlsson. She capped an impressive second half to finish fifth in 24:43:02.
The race for sixth was maybe the best of the day: With only four kilometers to go in a 178-kilometer race, Bartholomew and Mellon were separated by just a few seconds and seemed to race down the descent to Chamonix. It was Mellon who could push harder in the final miles, finishing sixth in 24:48:12 in only her second-ever 100-mile race. Bartholomew was close behind in 24:51:32 to improve on last year’s 10th-place finish.
Lucy Bartholomew early in the 2025 UTMB. She ran in the women’s top 10 most of the race, running strong but suffering a knee injury in a fall that would eventually limit her performance. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Puretz took the honors of top American by finishing eighth, just over three minutes behind Bartholomew. Tremps, in ninth, completed her third top-10 finish at UTMB in 25:05:07.
Like in the men’s race, some of the pre-race women’s favorites ran in contention for portions of the race, before exiting, including American Abby Hall (pre-race interview), China’s Lin Chen (pre-race interview), and Dombrowska. On the other hand, other top runners like the U.S.’s Heather Jackson and Zimbabwe’s Emily Hawgood (pre-race interview) were still out on course at the publication of this article.
2025 UTMB Women’s Results
- Ruth Croft (adidas Terrex) – 22:56:23 (pre-race interview)
- Camille Bruyas (Salomon) – 23:28:48 (pre-race interview)
- Katharina Hartmuth (Hoka) – 24:16:39
- Anna Carlsson (Asics) – 24:39:42
- Maëlle Deruaz (Ardent Sports) – 24:43:02
- Magali Mellon (Inov8) – 24:48:12
- Lucy Bartholomew (Salomon) – 24:51:32
- Lauren Puretz – 24:54:57
- Claudia Tremps (On Running) – 25:05:07
- Courtney Dauwalter (Salomon) – 25:50:38 (pre-race interview)
Coverage Thanks
Thanks so much to the following individuals who helped iRunFar cover this race: Tim Peeters; Deki Fourcin; Chloe Naquin; Hattie Owen; Fabrice and Tom Van De Cauter; Simon Mawby and Gina Atwood; Jeevan Lama; Luca Yannick; Florent Lesueur and Sofiia Gaitan Lesueur; Randy Gaylord; Monique Stuut; Kristyna Rihova; Sam Roelants; Casey Wyatt; Olivia Rissland; Marissa Harris; and Ellie Greenwood.
Ruth Croft (right) and Camille Bruyas at the 2025 UTMB finish line after finishing first and second, respectively. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
