Under this year’s UTMB spotlight, the “wave of withdrawals” became an important sign even before the race began.

Kilian Jornet, Jim Walmsley and last year’s champion Tom Evans were all absent, leaving the men’s field seemingly without a leader before the gun — a situation not seen in years. Last year’s women’s champion Ruth Croft also regretfully announced her injury-forced withdrawal two days before the start.

The absence of the superstars opened the stage for new legends and set a tone of uncertainty for this Alpine carnival from the outset.

With the “Valhalla” emptied, who will step into it?

Although, because of a weather-related delayed start and a slight route adjustment (bypassing the Pyramides–Calcaires section), the race will not count as an official course record.

Still, Ben Dhiman's 18:16:29 is jaw‑dropping. He became the first to break the 19‑hour mark and is the second American man to win the title after Jim Walmsley.

What’s more startling is that Ben Dhiman himself said he had something left in reserve. If Baptiste Chassagne and Caleb Olson had pushed him a bit harder, he might have pushed on further — in which case a Sub‑18 would not have been out of the question.

Of course, the runner-up and third-place finisher also managed to finish inside 19 hours.We must admit: UTMB has fully evolved from a "contest of endurance and survival" into a 170km long-distance super‑marathon.

For athletes, the margin for error in today's ultra-distance trail races is growing ever smaller.

When Blandine L'Hirondel crossed the finish line in Chamonix, we witnessed another legend being born — she became the second trail runner, after Ruth Croft, to complete the UTMB Grand Slam.

Although in recent years more East African athletes have begun to emerge in trail running, these East Africans — whose builds resemble marathoners — mostly still compete only in "short-distance races," such as the Golden Trail Series.

In races over 50 km like the OCC, it's still difficult for them to crack the top three (last year Joyline Chepngeno is excluded because she was ruled to have committed an anti-doping violation after failing a drug test).

However, Kenyan Nashon Kiplimo made history, taking second place in the men's race on this year's nearly 60 km OCC course. OCC was also the longest distance he has raced in his career to date.

Nashon Kiplimo's success has, to some extent, changed the stereotype that East African athletes cannot perform well in long-distance trail races.

After targeted uphill and downhill training, in the future in 50 km-category races like these,East African athletes will have a good chance to show even greater dominance.

When the focus shifts from the podium to the entire field of trail runners, the data reveals another side.

China does not lack athletes in the world's top 10%, but the next 25%—the backbone of participants—accounts for as much as 39–49%, presenting a "dumbbell-shaped" distribution.

The severe thinness of China's trail-running middle tier is dramatically magnified at UTMB.

Finish rate plunged to 58.9%; the gap was mainly due to missed cutoffs. China’s cutoff-miss rate was 18.9%, nearly three times that of the non-Chinese group.Runners often find themselves able to keep moving but unable to maintain the cutoff pace.

In the UTMB category, withdrawals clustered on the Italian section between 67–104 km,where a long descent is immediately followed by a re-ascent — precisely our specific weak spot.

From OCC and CCC to UTMBwhat increases is not just distance, but the complexity of energy and fueling management.Shen Jiasheng, who held a steady top-20 position through the first half of the UTMB field but was forced to withdraw, is a snapshot of this issue.

In the future,only when 25%–50% of the “core tier” deepens will Chinese trail running move from “having a few strong athletes” to “being competitive overall.”