From our special correspondent in Chamonix,
He could have pulled the blanket to him, as the presence of an American flag on the finish line suggested. His triumph over the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) this Saturday nevertheless made it possible to finally offer this supreme title to the United States, after an interminable shortage since the creation of the 171 km race (and 10,000 m of elevation gain) in 2003. But Jim Walmsley showed the sincere modesty that accompanies so much ultra-trail, including with the stars of the discipline. “My name accompanies a very strong contingent of American trail runners. Let’s not forget that, ”slipped the person concerned to the speaker of the UTMB.
This makes all the more sense since four hours later, her compatriot Courtney Dauwalter won her third coronation in Chamonix (after 2019 and 2021), after those of Krissy Moehl (2003 and 2009), Nikki Kimball (2007), Rory Bosio ( 2013 and 2014), and finally Katie Schide last year. But on the men’s side, you had to go back to 2016 and 2017 to find traces of a simple podium (Tim Tollefson both times). So how did we manage to switch from a fiasco that Jim Walmsley had fun putting into perspective with the French loser on the Tour de France, in an interview with 20 minutesto a thunderous Walmsley-Miller double this weekend?
“Of course, living in France helped me win”
“The key is that I felt strong enough in the hiking sections. That’s Beaufortain with its steep mountains”, spontaneously confided the big winner of the day, who was starting to build up a fine record of galley slaves here, despite a status of almost favorite each year (5th in 2017, abandonments in 2018 and 2021, 4th in 2022). And yes, our guy from Arizona made the choice in the spring of 2022 to move in with his partner in Arêches-Beaufort (Savoie), where he is almost a neighbor with his friend and four-time UTMB winner François D’Haene.
“Things did not go well for me in 2021 on the UTMB, remembers Jim Walmsley. So I had to change things. I devoted my training to my management of the climbs, which could only help me improve my race times. Living in France had a huge impact on my training, my way of thinking and my qualities on steep terrain. Of course, that helped me win today. “A recipe so successful that the triple winner (and time record) of the Western States (United States) passed hands down below the symbolic bar of 8 p.m. (7:37:43 p.m.), just like his unexpected runner-up Zach Miller (7:58:58 p.m.) on top of the market.
“We don’t realize how much it costs to dedicate ourselves to such a race”
By exaggerating a bit (it happens to us), it’s as if we were serenely entitled to a 100% Frenchie final (and Arthur) between Fils and Rinderknech on the Central of Roland-Garros in 2024. It is already necessary to see if these American trail runners felt that they did not take the preparation for a race as demanding as the UTMB seriously enough, which had meant that they had been chastised for so long by their French counterparts. A very authentic / funky character, like his mustache, Zach Miller (34) gave an answer to this subject this Saturday.
In the United States, most of our races remain more rolling than this one. So American trail runners train primarily to prepare for their country’s style of racing. It takes time to understand what should be done to be better prepared for the UTMB. Sometimes you don’t realize how much it costs to dedicate yourself to such a race. »
Let’s translate it: our American friends were historically adept at bollards with no real difference in height swallowed up in the forests, and this during the day and in hot weather. Or quite the opposite of the carnage they face when they land, often at the last minute, in Haute-Savoie. Moreover, it is interesting to note that Zach Miller himself, despite his success in 2015 on the CCC (100 km event in the UTMB Mont-Blanc), then his more mixed experiences on the UTMB (6th in 2016, 9th in 2017, dropouts in 2018 and 2019, then 5th in 2022), took time to design THE ideal preparation for this 20th edition.
“Jim has strength uphill, which was not the case”
“I do a lot of climbs and descents, and I was less concerned about my running volume to be carried out, confides the one who nevertheless lived for a long time at the foot of Pikes Peak (one of the summits of Colorado, 4,301 m) before to adopt the van life. There, my summer training was all on positive and negative elevation in Colorado, to face a race as steep as the UTMB can be, with its constantly alternating uphills and downhills. » Which pushes the Frenchman Germain Grangier, third this Saturday on the UTMB, to note: « Zach is perhaps one of the only Americans who trains a lot in very mountainous places in the United States ».
The life partner of the American Katie Schide also validates Jim Walmsley’s career plan which led him to Beaufortain: “It’s a long-term project. You can see that he is very good with the sticks now. He also did ski mountaineering in the winter, and he has strength uphill, which was not the case before”. Assets to type fatal accelerations as after the refueling of Champex (km 127), when Germain Grangier had just caught up with the flagship athlete of Hoka and Zach Miller had a comfortable lead in the lead of the race.
He clearly changed pace when he left Champex, comments Germain Grangier. For me, with my physical potential, it was impossible to follow him. It was the hardest moment of my race. I didn’t know if it was me who was exploding, or him who was doing a big acceleration. But when I saw that in an hour he had taken ten minutes from Zach, I realized that I wasn’t the problem. »
Counterexample Courtney Dauwalter
No, the problem is called Jim Walmsley (33), who intends to return to participate in the UTMB, where he has now unlocked the American meter. Besides, would Zach Miller be tempted to adopt the same strategy by moving in turn to the Alps? “I never say never but I like living in the United States all the same,” he smiles. I don’t think it’s imperative to come and live in France like Jim did. It can help but look at Courtney Dauwalter, she gives the impression of destroying everything she touches without living in France. »
Certainly, but such a career choice could make US men’s trail running even more the scarecrow of this UTMB, after having almost been a laughing stock. Realize: a year ago, Zach Miller was already finishing behind Jim Walmsley, but in fifth place, and with a slower time… by 90 minutes. Concerning the new king of Chamonix, his progress made thanks to his year and a half spent with us, are impressive, on the management of the cold, the night, the nutrition, the rhythm and the tactics of the race… except on the French . Invited to slip a word to a public in a trance on arrival, Jim Walmsley was content to stammer: “Thank you very much for… I don’t know how to say… for the support”. OK, even ski mountaineering is easier to learn than our language.