Running News Daily

Pure goosebumps in Chamonix.

Blandine L’Hirondel has conquered the 2026 UTMB Mont-Blanc in extraordinary fashion, completing one of the rarest achievements in trail running while becoming the first woman ever to break the 22-hour barrier on the iconic 100-mile course.

The French star stopped the clock at a sensational 21:54:49, smashing the previous women’s course record and etching her name into the history of the sport.

The scale of her performance becomes even clearer when placed alongside the recent record progression. L’Hirondel’s 21:54:49 eclipsed Katie Schide’s 22:09:31 from 2024, Ruth Croft’s 22:56:23 from 2025, Courtney Dauwalter’s 23:29:14 from 2023, and Schide’s 23:15:12 from 2022.

Most significantly, L’Hirondel became the first woman to run under 22 hours at UTMB.

But this was about far more than a number on the clock.

L’Hirondel’s victory was forged through a monumental battle of endurance, pain and determination. In the final kilometres, with exhaustion taking hold, the Frenchwoman suffered several heavy falls. Each time, she picked herself up and continued her relentless charge toward Chamonix.

Nothing was going to take the finish line away from her.

As she finally entered the streets of Chamonix, the home crowd erupted. Surrounded by roaring support, L’Hirondel fought back the emotion, raised her arms and crossed the finish line in 21:54:49, completing an unforgettable victory.

Falling down. Getting back up. Winning. That is trail running.

The achievement becomes even more remarkable because L’Hirondel has now completed a rare UTMB Mont-Blanc triple crown, winning all three of the event’s iconic races: the OCC, CCC and UTMB.

She first triumphed at the OCC in 2021, followed by victory in the CCC in 2022, before finally claiming the ultimate prize at UTMB.

With this achievement, L’Hirondel becomes only the third athlete in history — and the second woman — to complete the OCC, CCC and UTMB sweep.

It is a feat that demands extraordinary versatility, consistency and resilience across different distances and challenges. L’Hirondel has now conquered all three.

Her road to this moment had not been straightforward.

She finished third on her first UTMB appearance in 2023 and returned in 2024 to place fifth. But she kept coming back, determined to go one step further.

In 2026, everything came together.

With patience early in the race, resilience through the toughest sections and an extraordinary fighting spirit when her body was crying out for rest, L’Hirondel produced the performance of her life.

And she did it on home soil.

Ten years after Caroline Chaverot became the last French woman to win UTMB, L’Hirondel has brought the title back to France — and done so by breaking a barrier no woman had ever breached before.

From OCC to CCC to UTMB, Blandine L’Hirondel has completed a journey that very few athletes can even dream of making.

The triple crown is complete.

The 22-hour barrier is broken.

The women’s course record is hers.

And beneath the towering peaks of Mont-Blanc, in front of a roaring Chamonix crowd, L’Hirondel has written another unforgettable chapter in the history of trail running. 21:54:49, a historic triple crown and a record that now belongs to her — a truly remarkable moment for France and a breathtaking triumph on the world’s biggest trail-running stage.