In 2008, while the world's attention was fixed on the Beijing Olympics, in faraway Chamonix, France,a Hong Kong trail runner quietly took his place on the UTMB start line. His name was Zeng Xiaoqiang; he was a firefighter, and that year he was the only Chinese face at UTMB.
Zeng Xiaoqiang ultimately finished in 28:00:23, placing 42nd among men. Forty-second may not seem spectacular today, but it was the first footprint left by a Chinese trail runner in the UTMB category.
Afterward Zeng continued to improve: in 2010 he rose to 20th (men's), and in 2013 moved up further to 17th (men's).
On the women's side,Wu Xiuhua (founder of VibramHK100)，studied abroad early in life; she and her husband were both lawyers, yet she fell in love with running in the mountains.
In 2010 she became the first Chinese woman to start and finish the UTMB category, clocking 18:55:15 to place 33rd among women, in an overall field of 492.That experience cemented her resolve to found VibramHK100, allowing her to share her love of the mountains with more people.
In 2012 the Chinese five‑star red flag was raised at the UTMB finish for the first time.
Huang Long finished in 13:54:42, placing 48th among men and 52nd overall, becoming the first athlete from mainland China to finish the UTMB category. On the women's side, Xing Ruling also went to Chamonix; due to rain the race was shortened to 105 km, and she finished in 17:33:08.
In 2013, 50-year-old Grandma Xing set out again; this time she took on the full UTMB course (168 km), finishing in 36:26:16, becoming the first Chinese woman to complete the full UTMB course and taking third in her age group.
From one runner to a group
In the "pioneering era" of Chinese trail runners in the UTMB category, every result and every placing was earned step by step.
In 2014, Zeng Xiaoqiang ran 23:52:03, breaking the 24-hour barrier, again finishing 17th in the men's field, becoming the first Chinese person in history to go under 24 hours. From that year, Chinese trail running experienced an explosion.2016 was a landmark year: the number of mainland China participants across UTMB categories reached 185, and with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan athletes included the total was 292.That year, Ma Yanxing finished the UTMB despite an injury, clocking 34:05:44 to place 17th among women — the first time a Chinese female runner cracked the top 20 on the full course.On the men's side, Qin Yanzhong finished in 29:15:06, the best result for mainland China men that year. Yu Lei completed the UTMB category for three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016.In 2017, Ma Yanxing returned to Chamonix and, with 29:56:40, placed 12th among women, further improving the best ranking for Chinese women.In 2018 and 2019, the number of mainland China entrants in the UTMB category was 123 and 124 respectively, with 70 finishers in each year.In post-pandemic 2022, Xiang Fuzhao finished in 27:14:21 to place seventh among women, continuing to push the highest ranking for Chinese female athletes. Deng Guomin finished in 23:04:39 to place 20th among men.Chinese names
Breaking into the UTMB top five
In September 2023, at the finish in Chamonix, a bespectacled Chinese runner dashed under the arch.Xiang Fuzhao, nicknamed 'Arale',with 24:50:33 she claimed fourth place in the UTMB women's category. This was not just a placing; it was, at the time,the best-ever result by any Chinese athlete (male or female) in the UTMB category.。During the race she was briefly in second place, sweeping along the Alpine ridgelines like the wind in the first half. In the second half, as her strength faded, Katharina Hartmuth and Blandine L’Hirondel overtook her in succession. But she clung to fourth place until the end.A year earlier Xiang Fuzhao had already finished seventh among women. From seventh to fourth, she moved up three places in one year — one step short of the podium.Just one year later, another Chinese female athlete,Chen Lin, competing in UTMB for the first time, finished fourth in the women's field with a time of 24 hours 16 minutes 33 seconds.Not only did it equal the highest ranking by a Chinese woman that Xiang Fuzhao had set the previous year, it also made Ge Geling become.fastest Chinese woman ever on the UTMB course.On August 30, 2025, history was rewritten again,three Chinese men simultaneously finished in the top ten of the UTMB field, an unprecedented breakthrough.A young Tibetan from Ganzi, SichuanSilang Duoji, braving low temperatures, wind and snow,crossed the line in 20 hours 15 minutes 05 seconds to take fourth place in the men's field. This is the best-ever result for a Chinese man at UTMB, and also the fastest finishing time and highest placing for an Asian man at the race.During the race, between 80 km and 115 km, 四郎多吉 went through a physical "bottleneck"—so exhausted he could hardly run, and his position fell to 11th. He himself said he felt the top ten was definitely out of reach then. But he held on, his condition slowly recovered, and he clawed his way back up the standings bit by bit.Less known is that the 34-year-old 四郎多吉 only began trail running at 24. Before that, he was a cowherd in Walong Village, Julong Township, Daocheng County; tending cattle and going up the mountains to dig matsutake was his daily routine. The wind and snow of Mont Blanc, which others see as an extreme challenge, are to him a "familiar difficulty"—he knows how to live with and overcome it.Behind him,Shen Jiasheng finished eighth in the men's event with a time of 21 hours 11 minutes 59 seconds, and Zhao Jiaju finished tenth with a time of 21 hours 19 minutes 47 seconds.Notably, the 2025 race altered its opening section due to landslides and falling rocks, and canceled the high-point section because of complex weather. Under those challenges, Chinese runners still delivered a historic result.This was no longer the solo show of a single prodigy, but a reflection of the overall rise in China's trail-running strength. Behind them are scientific training systems, iterative improvements in professional gear, and a growing maturity in China's trail-running scene.From 2008, when Zeng Xiaoqiang stood alone on the starting line in Chamonix, to 2025, when Si Lang Duoji, Shen Jiasheng, and Zhao Jiaju simultaneously reached the top ten in the UTMB field, it took Chinese trail runners a full 17 years.More Chinese trail runners are on their way to this year's UTMB field—can they sustain the momentum to break through again, or even reach the podium? Chamonix on August 28 will reveal the answer.
