Jim Walmsley has won the UTMB Chianti 120k race in a ferocious time just shy of 10 hours after carving out a major lead over Kilian Jornet and Vincent Bouillard at the 50k mark, putting his disappointing DNF in last year's UTMB finals well and truly behind him.
"It was really, really hard. Super muddy all day," says Walmsley, still looking fresh as a daisy at the finish line despite an average 12k per hour (7.4 miles per hour) pace. He's been scouting out the course in rainy conditions for the past week and says it was useful for today's wet conditions.
"It wasn't easy for me but very, very rewarding," says Walmsley.
The runners took off from Radda at 4am local time and the three leaders – the last three winners of the UTMB finals – ran as a pack for several hours. At the 3:42:00 mark, however, Walmsley took advantage of a long, runnable descent and cleanly dropped Jornet and Bouillard, putting to bed any fears that his performance at the Mesquite Canyons 50k was a fluke.
After running neck-in-neck with Bouillard for the entire race, the goat himself Jornet surged ahead to take second place some 28 minutes behind Walmsley, with Bouillard arriving just seconds behind him.
"I was a bit stronger on the uphills, he was passing on the downhills," says Jornet of the battle, who says the race was more technical than he expected.
"It was great to win with Jim doing a master class on trail running."
Jornet was plagued by TFL pain for more than half the race, while Bouillard battled GI issues.
"For sure there was more pressure," says Bouillard of racing against ultras biggest stars, and of his new status as a Hoka-sponsored runner.
"The sport can be so incredible and the competition is great when you're around such amazing humans."
Ultimately, the pair have bagged their golden tickets for Western States, something Bouillard says will be outside his comfort zone, and the three will race together again in June.
Bouillard and Walmsley were both running in the same Hoka Tecton X prototype with super soft soles and big bounce while Jornet was racing is in his Nnormal Kjerag 2s which have better lugs than the first edition for gripping on the muddy terrain on the course today.
Over in the women's race, Britain's Fiona Pascall has crossed the finish line first in 12:34:59 after holding the lead for several hours. Finland's Johanna Antila looks set to take second place and Azara Garcia de los Salmones is holding strong in third place.
Abby Hall got off to a strong start but was slowed down after a toilet break and has been in fourth for the second half of the race. Fabiola Conti has dropped out with no details given.
