Jim Walmsley, after winning the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail.utmb
Jim Walmsley (Phoenix, USA; 33 years old) had to lose himself in order to literally find himself. It was his Western States debut, the Fetish 100 mile (160.9 km) race in the United States, which he debuted in 2016 and which he led from start to finish. Or almost. After 90 miles, with a lead of more than an hour to the second and 17 minutes under the record, he left the course and ended up crying on a highway. After losing everything, he retraced his steps and reached the finish line at walking pace accompanied by his mother. “It’s about being resilient, failure is part of the journey. You have to constantly think about the long-term goal. I have stopped races in many places, but at that moment I felt that it was important to finish.” After 18 hours and 45 minutes he was twentieth; four hours less than the current record (14 hours 09 minutes). That day he showed he wasn’t going to give up. And with that in mind, on Saturday he became the first American to win the 171 kilometers of the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail, the holy grail of ultra distance.
The price of a style and life change. American ultras are lighter and more predictable; Winning in the Alps required getting used to a slower, more technical style: less running and more walking. This conversion forced him to shorten his schedule and move to France. After years of failed attempts – in 2022 it exploded on the home straight – he completed his task at the finish in Chamonix. “I felt joy, relief and many other emotions coming together. It’s a special moment. I have dedicated my entire life to achieving this goal,” he says.
After nearly 20 hours of running, Walmsley arrives on the mountain bike with a smile that rewards his sacrifices. “At the moment it’s easy to say it was worth it, but you need to take a broader look. Beyond race, we have grown a lot as people; Having UTMB is just a bonus. The hardest thing was asking my wife to leave a place where she was very happy,” he admits. François D’Haene, four-time winner, was his agent in the purchase of the house and his great motivator. “We love competing with each other, without him this adventure wouldn’t have been the same,” he emphasizes.
After reaching the destination, he has not yet decided whether he will return home. “I have to process that and then new ideas will come,” he says. He will spend the rest of the year in France and still has four visas left. “The plan is to reevaluate where we want to spend more time. At the moment we really like the atmosphere in the small town we live in.”
A former monastery week
Walmsley explains the magic of the UTMB by its international focus to bring together the ultra-distance elite and by allowing more runners than American events. “You surround the highest mountain in Europe, it’s a cool story, a reason for people to improve themselves,” he emphasizes. He jokes about the fact that he is traveling through three countries: France, Italy and Switzerland: “You have to remember to come back to Bonjour.”
Part of what it takes to beat the best distance runners in the world is managing pressure. “It’s a long process. The pressure normalizes from year to year. I try to take away his value and believe that he is no different from the other breeds. I’ve been under pressure since I’ve been here, but it’s hard to say how much of it is my own pressure and how much of it is from other people. “We all think the world revolves around us,” he admits. His reaction to last year’s fiasco was a week before the monastery race, which he admits: “Yeah, I got a little derailed. There are many things that contributed to me winning this year. “Little decisions like that added up.”
His prize is to occupy the winner’s throne, something that is valued. “It means being part of a very elite club. There aren’t many people who have won it, and there won’t be many who will. “It’s very cool.” After conquering paradise, he no longer wants an odyssey. How many UTMB do you want to win? “One”. Sighs. And he goes back to his bike.
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