F40-44 at UTMB 2026: Thévenot surges late to claim the crown

• Anne Cécile Thévenot, 24:05:12 — wins F40-44 with the fastest women's split on the Grand Col Ferret→La Fouly leg, climbing from 31st among women to 9th over the final third of the race.
• Anne-Sofie Pollestad, 24:08:08 — runner-up by just 2:56, owner of the 3rd-fastest women's split on Col de la Seigne→Lac Combal, and the most aggressive climber in the field: from 66th among women at the first checkpoint to 9th at the penultimate one.
• Céline Finas, 25:37:08 — completes the podium, running a composed, consistent race that held her in the 15th–33rd range among women throughout before landing 15th at the finish.
• 46 finishers completed 174 km and 9,700+ meters of climbing through France, Italy, and Switzerland — all within UTMB's 45h 30min limit.

Anne Cécile Thévenot's win was built on patience and a devastating late surge. Through the first half of the race she sat around 30th among women, seemingly content to let the field sort itself out. Then came the Grand Col Ferret→La Fouly stretch — the highest and most exposed section of the circumnavigation of the Mont-Blanc massif — and Thévenot posted the fastest women's split of the entire field on that leg. From 31st among women heading into that segment, she emerged in 10th, and ultimately crossed the line in Chamonix in 24:05:12 at a 13:22/mi average to take F40-44.

Anne-Sofie Pollestad told the opposite story in terms of trajectory — not a late surge but an early one. She was 66th among women at the first checkpoint and had already rocketed to 9th by the penultimate one, powered in part by the 3rd-fastest women's split on the Col de la Seigne→Lac Combal leg. By the finish her 24:08:08 had her just 2 minutes and 56 seconds behind Thévenot — a razor-thin gap after more than 24 hours of racing across three countries. Two very different race shapes, separated by less than three minutes.

Céline Finas rounded out the podium in 25:37:08, her 11th-fastest women's split on the Refuge Bonatti→Arnouvaz leg a sign of sustained strength deep into the race. Behind her, Kristi Knecht (4th, 26:18:42) and Katie Asmuth (5th, 26:53:11) each cracked the 27-hour mark, with Knecht posting the 8th-fastest women's split on Champex-Lac→La Giète and Asmuth the 11th-fastest on Arnouvaz→Grand Col Ferret — two athletes who found their best legs precisely when the course demands it most. Julie Lesage (6th, 26:57:44) and Aurélie Grange-Paul (7th, 27:31:03) kept the top seven remarkably tight, all within about 86 minutes of each other across a 174 km mountain loop.