Ludovic Pommeret France - 20:40:34 The Best Half Marathons for First-Timers Treadmills On Sale Now.
The 33-year-old former British army officer battled rain, snow, and sleet, a strong field of international runners, and about 31,000 feet of elevation gain and loss on the weather-shortened 103-mile race around the Mont Blanc massif on Friday and Saturday, en route to winning in 19 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
Thibaut Garrivier France - 20:20:25 Ruth Croft Wins UTMB in Frigid Conditions Health - Injuries.
Evans, fellow British runner Jonathan Albon, and U.S. runner Ben Dhiman were in the mix early in the race after runners departed Chamonix in a constant drizzle that soon turned into a downpour. By the time runners began to climb up to the Col de la Seigne mountain pass between France and Italy, the weather turned much colder, and they tramped through more than 6 inches of snow in blizzard conditions.
The snow and cold weather continued for the next 30 miles or so through Italy and didn’t let up until Evans ran through Arnuova, Italy, and surged prior to the 8,170-foot Grand Col Ferret mountain pass into Switzerland. He opened up a 12-minute gap on Dhiman and never looked back, as temperatures warmed up and clear skies prevailed. Evans ran strong over the final 35 miles through Switzerland and back into France, even though trails were muddy and wet after three days of consistent rain.
Evans had a sizable lead when he reached the huge throng of fans at the aid station in the French town of Vallorcine. He relaxed a bit and whooped it up with the thousands of fans, running through a tunnel of spectators reminiscent of a scene from the Tour de France.
From there, he made the final climb up the La Flégère ski area before running the final downhill trail into Chamonix. Dhiman, originally from Cincinnati but living in France the past three years, also finished UTMB for the first time after two failures, taking second in 19:51:37, while Josh Wade of the UK was third in 20:05:06.
Evans called the win a career moment but only the second best thing that’s happened to him this year. Earlier this spring, his wife, Sophie, gave birth to their first child, daughter Phoebe.
“My goals today weren’t to win. My goals today were to be able to look at myself in the mirror after the race and be proud of what I’ve achieved,” Evans said after the race. “I stuck with a plan of just being really, really patient. And then at Arnuova, it kind of just all opened up and got a little bit of a gap, and from there I thought, ‘Right, here’s my opportunity, let’s try and take it.’ I think with these things, if you try and if you try too hard to win, which I have done previously, it’s really difficult. So it was difficult anyway. But this year it was all about letting the race come to me, and it’s just the most incredible, spectacular race, and to have a victory at UTMB is a dream come true.”
Men’s Top 10 Results - UTMB Mont-Blanc 2025
- Tom Evans (Great Britain) - 19:18:58
- Ben Dhiman (United States) - 19:51:37
- Josh Wade (Great Britain) - 20:05:06
- Ji Duo (China) - 20:15:05
- Thibaut Garrivier (France) - 20:20:25
- Ludovic Pommeret (France) - 20:40:34
- Yannick Noël (France) - 21:03:41
- Jiasheng Shen (China) - 21:11:59
- Rod Farvard (United States) - 21:18:24
- Jiaju Zhao (China) - 21:19:47
Brian Metzler is a Boulder, Colorado, writer and editor whose work has appeared in Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Outside, Trail Runner, Ludovic Pommeret France - 20:40:34, and Red Bulletin. He’s a former walk-on college middle-distance runner who has transitioned to trail running and pack burro racing in Colorado.
