Is there anything more ubiquitous than runners feeling stiff? That palpable loss of movement or decreased tissue extensibility, often accompanied by pain and reduced running performance, is a quintessential byproduct of the impact forces of running.

Stiffness management is also so commonplace that it propels the sales of foam rollers, massage sticks, and stretch ropes. It also keeps massage therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, and yoga instructors busy.

So, if some stiffness is normal in runners, how much is too much? And what happens when the same running volume and intensity make one person objectively much stiffer than another? Worst of all, what if a typical amount of running that used to feel fine now makes you feel profoundly stiff, sore, and miserable?

It could be the aging process. It could be your stride losing its killer edge. Or it could be joint instability.

Stiffness From Aging and Stride Inefficiency

It is common to blame progressive stiffness in runners on aging. Age-related reductions in nervous system firing and metabolic function lead to slow reductions in top-end speed and endurance. But progressive worsening of joint and soft-tissue stiffness is not a hallmark of aging. In fact, tissue mobility is one of the few physiological characteristics that need not worsen with age. So if stiffness does worsen, and swiftly, we can’t simply blame aging.

Likewise, stride inefficiency plays a huge role in tissue integrity. As I often say, “How we run plays the biggest role in how we feel.”

For most runners, running technique is static for most of their mileage. While there may be cases of significant efficiency loss at the end of extreme running efforts, most runners walk before resorting to compensatory movements that can cause severe stiffness.

In fact, I argue for reverse causality, that progressive stiffness is more likely to change one’s stride. If certain tissues become dense and rigid, they won’t allow normal movement. Most runners who have experienced progressive stiffness will tell you that their symptoms preceded an altered gait.

Joint Instability Defined

That leaves another factor that could lead to stiffness: joint instability. Joint instability is when excessive movement occurs between two or more bones in a system.

According to his seminal work on the topic, Manohar Panjabi, an orthopedics professor emeritus, outlines three key components of joint stability (1):

• Passive system. The bones and ligaments of a joint create stability through their inherent hardness.
• Active system. The muscles that surround joints provide dynamic stability through muscle-tendon force. This system is capable of rapid, high-force control responses, but it requires accurate activation from the nervous system.
• Neural system. The nervous system is constantly evaluating the demands on the joint, determining the activation and movement patterns needed to maintain stability. It does so by integrating all the senses, including those of the passive system, and then commanding the active system.

Thus, we can say joint instability develops if any of these three systems is disrupted from its natural role.

The Stability Tripod

For maximum efficiency and highest performance, the above-described tripod of stability must work well in all three dimensions.

Normal healthy joints have a small amount of play — a bit of slide and glide between the bones that is accessory to the big motions. When any system in the stability tripod is deficient, it can create excessive joint motion or inefficient movement.

Imagine three people carrying a couch. If one person is weaker, that slack must be taken up by the other two. But even if they do, they often strain excessively and carry the load inefficiently, sometimes even dragging it.

Similarly, for a joint to be functionally stable, it requires sufficient stability from those three systems. A deficient system must be made up for by the others. If that’s not possible, negative, and often painful, compensations may occur.

This includes, paradoxically, increased stiffness.

How Joint Instability Creates Stiffness

Efficient motor performance is a dance: Muscles work in harmonious coordination, firing with the right force and timing to produce movement with minimal effort and strain. When one or more elements of the stability system are deficient, the dance can become a tug-of-war, leading to stiffness.

Stiffness may result from:

• Poor movement coordination, resulting in less motion that requires more energy
• Muscle overuse from muscles firing excessively or in competition with other muscles
• Irritated joint surfaces and tissues from inefficient movement

This all causes:

• An acute reduction in both top-end speed and endurance, and a sensation of being stiff, slow, and heavy
• Disproportionally high joint mobility and tissue extensibility loss following activity
• Increased joint pain following activity

Stiff Masters Runners: Is It Actually Instability?

When an orthopedic medical professional thinks about a typical “instability client,” we jump to an image of a younger, highly athletic female, often doing high-intensity activity featuring extreme movements and positions. We imagine a person with a hypermobile body type and deficient passive system stability.

But what about life-long endurance runners, often male, who are generally over 40 years old and active, but generally at low intensity and with modest movement patterns? They seem to be the opposite, don’t they?

Through my clinical and coaching experience with endurance athletes over more than two decades, I’ve found that older runners are among the biggest sufferers of orthopedic instability and the issues that come with it, including chronic pain, weakness, repetitive injury, and limited running volume and intensity.

Undiagnosed Instability

Instability in masters athletes often goes unrecognized for a couple of reasons.

First, most instability issues in older populations are isolated to a single joint, or a few joints: the spine, shoulders, or hips. Most orthopedists are taught about the Beighton Index, which is a measure of passive tissue hypermobility throughout the body used to screen for instability. Few masters clients will ever test highly under that index. Instead, their instability is more subtle and isolated to a few joints.

Secondly, this type of instability is shrouded in a murky mess of stiffness and soreness. This ranges from run-of-the-mill orthopedic tissue mobility loss to more focal, painful, and problematic stiffness that resembles injury. Many runners have stiff hips because they sit too much. But some have hip stiffness — often accompanied by increased pain and reduced performance — due to hip joint instability and compensatory movement patterns.

How do we know which is which? When should a runner consider their chronic stiffness the result of instability?

Four Signs of Clinical Instability in Older Populations

If you’re wondering if you have instability masked as something else, these are some possible signs.

1. Too Much Mobility

While masters athletes may not present as traditionally hypermobile, they are more mobile than they should be. Unless they perform specific lifelong activities that demand a full range of motion, like a consistent yoga practice, older runners with good mobility are likely to have passive system hypermobility.

What constitutes relative hypermobility? Here are a few “age-graded” mobility metrics that might suggest a masters runner has too much passive tissue mobility:

• Neck. Rotation greater than 80 degrees or side bending greater than 50 degrees
• Low back. Can easily get your fingers to the floor during a toe touch or a lumbar extension greater than 45 degrees (able to look to the ceiling or behind during a standing backbend)
• Hips. Flexion greater than 130 degrees
• Shoulders. Flexion or abduction greater than 180 degrees

2. Chronic Stiffness

As we’ve said, instability creates chronic stiffness through incorrect, excessive muscle contraction. That resultant excess motion can cause joint irritation.

3. Mobility Comes and Goes Quickly

A modest amount of mobility work that quickly creates mobility but is just as quickly lost is the real hallmark of failure in the active and neural systems. This generally means these systems are not controlling motion efficiently.

4. Mobility Is Highly Responsive to Stabilization Exercises

This is the most powerful sign, and also the best news. A signal of instability in masters populations is when targeted stability exercises result in immediate improvements in strength, joint mobility, and overall function. So while this may mean you have joint instability, it also means you can easily improve it by re-programming the neural system. Slow, controlled motions at the hip, for example, can create immediate and profound changes in hip mobility, as well as in running speed and endurance.

Three Strategies to Overcome Joint Instability

Once you have determined that joint instability is a factor in your stiffness, weakness, or performance decline, here are three strategies to tackle the issue.

1. Stop Over-Mobilizing

Most runners with chronic stiffness realize how temporary the results of their foam rolling and stretching routine are, but they might not know they could actually be making it worse by creating laxity.

Instead, perform a modest amount of mobility work — just enough to dispatch any focal stiffness — then follow with stability work.

2. Stabilize

Perform stabilization exercises targeting the joints and movement systems that are most salient to you. While this often requires the help of a professional, most runners can hedge their bets on:

• Lumbar spine core activation (Diagonal Chop exercise)
• Trunk and glute activation (Short and Long exercise)
• Three-dimensional hip stabilization (Joe’s Hip Six Pack exercises)

Test your motion, strength, and running speed, perform these stabilization exercises, and then test again. Major changes are a sign of instability and the importance of this stabilization work for you!

You’ll want to train stability consistently and frequently. For example, I recommend my clients with hip instability perform one set of one to three of the six-pack exercises linked above for activation, prior to any running activity, then all six exercises — two to four sets of each — as a focused workout, twice weekly. This provides the neural system activation for efficient movement while building up the muscular system for peak strength and endurance to meet the demands of running far and fast.

3. Move Efficiently

Lastly, hone your neural system by refining your stride:

• Consider running posture, including a balanced, neutral spine and hip hinge
• Think about propulsion, a vertical hip strategy maximizing hip and core utilization and minimizing landing stress

Consistently check in with mirrors, cameras, or your local running expert.

Don’t Give Up

If stiffness and tightness are stubborn to stretching, if hands-on work creates rapid changes that never seem to stick, and if parts of the body are too mobile, you might have joint instability.

Excessive stiffness isn’t a normal byproduct of running or aging, so don’t accept it as the status quo. It’s time to get stable!

Call for Comments

• Do you suspect that you suffer from joint instability?
• Have you tried stabilizing joints? What was your experience?

Notes/References

1. Manohar M. Panjabi, “Clinical Spinal Instability and Low Back Pain,” Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology 13 (2003): 371–379.

Stiffness, Joint Instability, and the Strategies to Fix Them in Runners by Joe Uhan.

The best long distance trail runners in the world are set to race at the 2026 UTMB! Kiwi Ruth Croft will be back following her win last year against a group that includes three-time winner Courtney Dauwalter of the U.S., past OCC and CCC winner Blandine L’Hirondel of France, and many others.

The race starts at 5:45 p.m. Central European Summer Time on Friday, August 28, 2026. The big loop around Mont Blanc will go for 177 kilometers (110 miles) with more than 9,900 meters (32,000 feet) of climbing across France, Italy, and Switzerland.

Croft was second in 2024 and came back to win last year’s race in exceptionally poor weather. Dauwalter was there too but faded in the race’s second half to finish 10th. Katie Schide’s 22:09 finish in the race’s 2024 edition is recognized as the course record.

Prize money goes 10 deep, and totals 119,000 Euro, split evenly between the men and women, with the race winners each earning 20,000 Euro. That’s just over $23,000.

See the full entrants list.

Also, be sure to read our in-depth 2026 UTMB men’s preview.

You bet that iRunFar will be covering the 2026 UTMB! Tune in to our UTMB live race coverage starting at 5:45 p.m. CEST (9:45 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time) on Friday, August 28. Stay tuned!

Returning Top 10 Women

Six of last year’s top 10 finishers will return for 2026. Last year’s second- and third-place finishers, Camille Bruyas (France) and Katharina Hartmuth (Germany), won’t be back, nor will sixth- and eighth-place Magali Mellon (France) and Lauren Puretz (U.S.).

Ruth Croft – 1st, 22:56:23

If you overlook a hypothermia-induced drop at the 2025 Transvulcania, you’ve got to go back to 2020 to find a race in which 2025 UTMB champ Ruth Croft finished off the podium. She was ninth at the Golden Trail World Series stage race in 2020. Since then, the New Zealander took third at the 2023 Ultra Pirineu Marathon and has been first or second in everything else. At UTMB, she was second in 2024 behind Katie Schide’s course-record run, and then she won last year’s race. Elsewhere at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival, Croft won OCC in 2019 and 2018, and CCC in 2015. With last year’s UTMB win, she became the first woman to win all three of the UTMB World Series Finals distances. Alongside Nikki Kimball, Courtney Dauwalter, and Schide, Croft is the fourth woman to win both the Western States 100 and UTMB. In 2026, Croft won the Tarawera 100k for the fourth time, finished second at the Ultra-Trail Australia 50k, and won the MaXi-Race Annecy 58k. She’s the favorite for this year’s race, though no woman has repeated as UTMB winner since Rory Bosio won in 2013 and 2014.

Anna Carlsson – 4th, 24:39:42

Last year’s fourth-place run was Anna Carlsson’s first UTMB finish. The Swede dropped in her first attempt in 2021. This year, she won both the EcoTrail Paris 80k and the Trail Verbier St. Bernard 77k. Her Trail Verbier St. Bernard time was nearly an hour faster than her 2025 time. Can she go an hour faster at UTMB, too? If so, that puts her in rarified air at the finish line.

Lucy Bartholomew – 7th, 24:51:32

Lucy Bartholomew has finished UTMB inside the top 10 in three straight years. Before last year’s seventh place, she was 10th in 2024 and 2023. Bartholomew’s been running great recently. The Aussie has been second at both Transvulcania and the Lavaredo Ultra Trail this year, and in both cases, the race winner ran a course record in front of her. Last year at UTMB, her limiting factor was a fall and a knee injury before the midway point, so we are keen to see her healthy potential this year.

Claudia Tremps – 9th, 25:05:07

Spain’s Claudia Tremps was ninth, eighth, and ninth in three UTMB finishes in 2025, 2024, and 2021. That’s really consistent, but another one isn’t a guarantee, as she also dropped in 2023. This year, Tremps tied for second at Transgrancanaria with Mélanie Delasoie, dropped at the Canyons 100k, and finished fourth at the Val d’Aran 110k.

Courtney Dauwalter – 10th, 25:50:38

Courtney Dauwalter has won UTMB three times, but ran into trouble last year. The American led through the halfway mark, and then struggled over the race’s second half to take 10th. Her three wins came in 2023, 2021, and 2019, with that 2023 win right after victories at Western States 100 and the Hardrock 100 in a legendary summer. So far in 2026, Dauwalter won the Chianti 120k with a thrilling late-race push ahead of Rachel Entrekin in third. She was then second to Entrekin at the Cocodona 250 Mile and then won Hardrock in July for the fourth time. The Hardrock-UTMB double historically goes better than the Western States-UTMB double, but Dauwalter still needs recovery that Croft and others don’t. Though it’s just 48 days from when Dauwalter finished Hardrock to when she lines up at UTMB, she is likely the biggest threat to Croft’s chances of a second win.

More Favorites for the 2026 UTMB Top 10 Women

Blandine L’Hirondel

French all-star Blandine L’Hirondel has raced at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival every year since 2021. That first year, she won OCC. A year later, in 2022, she won CCC. She got close to the triple crown with third- and fifth-place finishes at UTMB in 2023 and 2024, and then went back to CCC in 2025 to finish fourth. She’ll try to join Croft in winning OCC, CCC, and UTMB. So far this year, L’Hirondel set a new course record at Transvulcania ahead of Bartholomew, in addition to competing in a few shorter races. We place her as one of the women’s favorites.

Fu-Zhao Xiang

Chinese runner Fu-Zhao Xiang is historically a prolific racer. She raced ultra distances at least eight times last year, but that number is only around two for this year. In 2026, she placed seventh at Western States 100 and had won the Buffalo Stampede 100k earlier. Last year, she was second at Western States but only 13th at CCC. On the big UTMB loop, she dropped in 2024 and was fourth and seventh in 2023 and 2022.

Rachel Entrekin

It’ll be Rachel Entrekin’s first time racing UTMB, and that creates a challenge in itself. You’ve got to go back to Dauwalter’s first win in 2019 for the last time a UTMB rookie won. The American has had her greatest success at the Cocodona 250 Mile. She won last year’s race and then shot to international fame with an overall win and overall course record this year. She beat Dauwalter there both times. She carried a 20-plus-race win streak into 2026, with some fans wishing her to race at globally competitive events. Entrekin answered that call with a third-place finish behind Dauwalter at this year’s Chianti 120k. The win streak stopped, but Entrekin showed she’s world-class. Before Chianti and Cocodona, Entrekin also won this year’s Coldwater Rumble 100 Mile in 16:19, and she’s a past High Lonesome 100 Mile winner too, among other wins.

Sunmaya Budha

Sunmaya Budha is the new Lavaredo 120k course record holder. She won this year’s race ahead of Bartholomew in second. She also won last year’s Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k and was second at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail. Budha, hailing from Nepal, was second at CCC in 2022 behind winner L’Hirondel and ahead of third place Abby Hall. She did drop at OCC in 2024, however. Budha is one of a couple of top runners debuting at 100 miles with this race.

Abby Hall

Abby Hall was third and second at CCC in 2022 and 2021. The American came back from a serious injury to win the 2025 Western States 100. After that, she dropped at UTMB in 2025 and dropped at Western States in 2026. In between, she won the December 2025 McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 Mile and was fifth at the Black Canyon 100k in February 2026. Hall’s Western States win last year shows she has the talent to compete with the world’s best, so let’s see.

Riley Brady

Another American runner, Riley Brady, is on a great performance streak of late. Brady was second at Western States 100 in June 2026, won the Canyons 100k in April 2026, and was third at the Gorge Waterfalls 30k earlier this year, too. Last year, they dropped at Western States but came back to win the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile. Brady raced once in Chamonix before, dropping at CCC in 2024. Brady identifies as non-binary and competes in the women’s division.

Careth Arnold

The current ascendancy of American Careth Arnold’s career is a joy to watch. With years of results to her name, the last year’s been particularly exciting with her winning the 2025 TDS, taking second at the Canyons 100k, and second again at the 2026 Hardrock 100 behind Dauwalter. Also like Dauwalter, Arnold’s trying that 48-day double back from Hardrock.

Martina Valmassoi

After a year away, Italy’s Martina Valmassoi is back at UTMB. She was ninth in 2024 after dropping in 2023. And she won TDS in 2022 after dropping in 2021. Valmassoi’s been pretty great this year after coming back from an injury, winning both the Trail 100 Andorra 105k and the Monte Rosa WalserWaeg 82k.

Rachel Drake

From the U.S., Rachel Drake’s best results to date have been in races under 100 miles. She won this year’s Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 56k and was third at the Broken Arrow 46k. In 2024, she won both the JFK 50 Mile and the Black Canyon 100k. Drake was eighth at Western States 100 in 2024, too, for her only 100-mile finish so far. At the UTMB Mont Blanc festival, Drake was sixth and 21st at the 2023 and 2021 OCC, and seventh at the 2019 CCC.

Jazmine Lowther

From Canada, Jazmine Lowther had an incredible second half at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail. She finished fourth, just off the podium, moving up late. That same kind of pacing likely won’t win UTMB, but it could get her on the podium. Lowther was third at this year’s Madeira Island Ultra-Trail. Also, last year, she was eighth at OCC, and in 2022, she was fourth at CCC.

Ida Nilsson

Ida Nilsson from Sweden missed starting this year’s Western States 100 with an injury and dropped out of this year’s Mont Blanc 90k. She hasn’t finished an ultra since running 21st at last September’s Trail World Championships Long Trail. And she hasn’t raced at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival since 2023, when she dropped from CCC. She dropped at CCC in 2022, too, but was third in 2018. We believe this will be her first start of the big loop.

Fiona Pascall

Fiona Pascall from the U.K. scored eighth- and fifth-place finishes at Western States 100 in 2026 and 2025. She was 15th at CCC last year but dropped at UTMB in 2024.

Henriette Albon

This will be the first 100 miler for Norway’s Henriette Albon. She won Transgrancanaria in both 2026 and 2025. At UTMB World Series races, she was sixth at both the 2022 CCC and 2021 OCC.

Lin Chen

No Chinese woman finished inside the top 10 last year. Lin Chen and her countrywoman Xiang give the country their best chances this year. A year ago, Chen dropped out of UTMB, but she was fourth in 2024. She started the year with drops at both Tarawera 100k and the Chianti 120k, but won the Chongli 168k in July. She finished an hour better than in 2025 at Chongli.

Kaytlyn Gerbin

Going back to 2022, American Kaytlyn Gerbin took third at UTMB. Following time off for motherhood, major surgery, and recovery — along with some mega adventure running mixed in — Gerbin is back into big racing. In 2025, she won the Cascade Crest 100 Mile ahead of taking fifth at the 205-mile Tor des Géants. And earlier this year, she took second at the Mt. Fuji 100 Mile.

Eszter Csillag

Eszter Csillag’s most notable finish at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival over the years has been a fifth-place UTMB finish in 2022. She also got as high as fourth at the CCC back in 2021. Elsewhere, the Hungarian has finished third at the 2024 and 2023 Western States 100. So far this year, she took fifth at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail behind first- and second-place Budha and Bartholomew.

Eleanor Davis

It looks like the U.K.’s Eleanor Davis is debuting at 100 miles with this race. She’s been at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival a couple of times over the years, taking 12th at the 2025 CCC and eighth at the 2022 OCC.

Ekaterina Mityaeva

It would not be a surprise if and when neutral athlete Ekaterina Mityaeva cracks the UTMB code and ends up on the podium, but despite a long and successful ultra career, she’s not gotten there just yet. This year, she’s been third at the Mont Blanc 90k, an event she’s won or podiumed at numerous times. Going way back, she placed fourth at the 2019 UTMB, but she has not finished this race in two subsequent attempts, including last year.

Mélanie Delasoie

We believe the Swiss athlete Mélanie Delasoie has four prior attempts at UTMB, including a 15th last year, her best performance to date. Earlier this year, she tied for second at the 2026 Transgrancanaria with Tremps.

Even More Fast 2026 UTMB Women

• Shea Aquilano (U.S.) – 6th 2026 & 2025 Black Canyon 100k; 16th 2025 Western States 100
• Katie Asmuth (U.S.) – 5th 2026 Tarawera 100k; 4th 2023 Western States 100
• Stephanie Auston (Australia) – 2nd 2026 Ultra-Trail Australia 100 Mile; 9th 2026 Tarawera 100k
• Amanda Basham (U.S.) – 3rd 2026 Canyons 100 Mile; 10th 2025 Chianti 120k
• Naomi Brand (South Africa) – 4th 2025 Tarawera 100 Mile; 2nd 2024 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 Mile
• Katarzyna Dombrowska (Poland) – 1st 2026 Val d’Aran 100 Mile; 1st 2026 Ultra-Trail Australia 100k
• Mari Klakegg Fenre (Norway) – 3rd 2026 & 1st 2025 Val d’Aran 100k; 16th 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail; 14th 2024 UTMB
• Céline Finas (France) – 6th 2026 Mont Blanc 90k; 8th 2026 Transvulcania
• Nicolette Griffioen (South Africa) – 1st 2025 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 Mile; 1st 2025 Mountain Ultra Trail 100 Mile
• Genevieve Harrison (U.S.) – 4th 2026 Canyons 100 Mile; 3rd 2025 Kodiak 100 Mile
• Antonina Iushina (Neutral) – 1st 2026 Ultra-Trail Australia 100 Mile; 1st 2025 Chiangmai Thailand 100 Mile
• Jennifer Lemoine (France) – 1st 2026 Grand Raid Ventoux 125k; 17th 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail
• Anna Li (China) – 2nd 2026 Trail Alsace 100k; 3rd 2025 Ultra-Trail Ninghai 100k
• Anna Louden (U.S.) – 9th 2026 Lavaredo Ultra Trail; 6th 2025 Javelina 100 Mile
• Emilie Mann (Canada) – 3rd 2026 Ultra-Trail Australia 100k; 6th 2025 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k; 1st 2024 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
• Sandi Nypaver (U.S.) – 1st 2025 Grindstone 100 Mile; 6th 2024 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
• Emily Schmitz (U.S.) – 20th 2025 CCC; 12th 2024 Western States 100
• Corinne Shalvoy (U.S.) – 3rd 2026 Desert RATS 100k; 2nd 2025 Javelina 100k
• Aroa Sío (Spain) – 2nd 2026 Val d’Aran 100 Mile; 23rd 2025 CCC; 8th 2022 UTMB
• Anne-Cécile Thévenot (France) – 18th 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail; 7th 2024 CCC
• Li-Ping Wang (China) – 3rd 2026 Chongli 100 Mile
• Leah Yingling (U.S.) – 3rd 2026 Speedgoat 50k; 8th 2023 UTMB

Call for Comments

• Can Ruth Croft repeat, will Blandine L’Hirondel win the last piece of the OCC-CCC-UTMB triple crown, will Courtney Dauwalter get her fourth victory, or will someone else run away with it?
• What else are you thinking about in the 2026 UTMB women’s field?
• Who would you move up in the rankings? And what did we miss that readers should know about?

2026 UTMB Women’s Preview by Justin Mock.

After a year of news around environmentally friendly race policies, red-light headlamp requirements, and local government challenges, the 2026 UTMB is nearly here!

The race goes off at 5:45 p.m. Central European Summer Time on Friday, August 28, and of course, it’s the year’s most competitive 100 miler. There’s a 4:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon cutoff to finish the 177-kilometer (110 miles) circuit of Mont Blanc for a field of nearly 2,000 runners. The three-country course again runs through France, Italy, and Switzerland before returning to France and has more than 9,900 meters (32,000 feet) of climbing.

Can this year’s men’s race be nearly wide open? Four-time winner Kilian Jornet of Spain is coming back, but he has a knee injury that caused him to drop from the Western States 100 in June and not race Sierre-Zinal in early August. American Jim Walmsley, the 2023 race winner and course record holder in a time of 19:37, is signed up too, but he’s also challenged by a knee injury that caused him to drop from this year’s Western States. Ben Dhiman, an American living in France and the 2025 UTMB runner-up, has to be the race favorite, then.

Last year’s race was one of the wettest and coldest ever, and about 20 to 30 minutes of run time were cut when the race was rerouted to avoid the exposed Pyramides Calcaires section in Italy. That negated any course record potential. The U.K.’s Tom Evans pulled away from Dhiman in the second half to win with a 33-minute gap. Evans is not returning this year after dropping from the Hardrock 100 in July.

There is prize money, too, and 119,000 Euro will go 10 deep, split evenly between the men and women, with the race winners each earning 20,000 Euro. That’s just over $23,000.

Read on to see the top entrants in the men’s race, and you can also check out the full entrants list.

Also, be sure to check out our 2026 UTMB women’s preview.

Of course, iRunFar is covering the 2026 UTMB! Tune in to our UTMB live race coverage starting at 5:45 p.m. CEST (9:45 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time) on Friday, August 28.

Returning Top 10 Men

Five of last year’s top 10 men are back. Last year’s race winner, Tom Evans (U.K.), will not return, and 2025 fifth- and sixth-place men Thibaut Garrivier (France) and Ludovic Pommeret (France) are also not on the start list for any race during the UTMB Mont Blanc festival. Last year’s fourth-place Ji Duo (China) is instead running CCC, and 10th-place Jia-Ju Zhao (China) is running OCC.

Ben Dhiman – 2nd, 19:51:37

There’s no Western States 100 in Ben Dhiman’s legs to recover from, and definitely no Hardrock 100 either, like some of the other top runners. Dhiman’s got one peak race for the year, and it’s UTMB. It takes most runners years to get UTMB even close to right, and that was the case for Dhiman. An American living in France, Dhiman dropped at UTMB in both 2024 and 2023. Last year, he finished second, 33 minutes behind Evans, for his first UTMB finish. In 2026, he’s been fifth at Transvulcania and second at the Mont Blanc 90k. Those weren’t wins, but Dhiman may very well be ready to win on the biggest stage.

Josh Wade – 3rd, 20:05:06

Josh Wade helped give the U.K. two 2025 UTMB podium spots, and he did it with a big jump, going from a DNF in 2023 to 11th in 2024 and all the way up to third last year. Wade’s UTMB prep in 2026 mirrors that of 2025. He has changed the distances in some cases but gone to the same events. Wade was third at Transgrancanaria in both 2026 and 2025. In 2026, he won the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 80k but dropped from the event’s 100k last year, and dropped from this year’s Lavaredo 80k after taking eighth at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail last year. Wade lamented the recent Lavaredo drop on social media but called it “the right thing to do when my goal for this year is UTMB.”

Yannick Noël – 7th, 21:03:41

France’s Yannick Noël knows his way around the Chamonix Valley, and in six starts at UTMB Mont Blanc festival, he’s finished every time. That’s something to celebrate. At UTMB, Noël was seventh in 2025 and 10th in 2024. In 2023, he was third at TDS, and then he was 15th at CCC in 2022, 11th at UTMB in 2021, and 12th at TDS in 2019. He likely won’t win, but is a safe bet for a strong finish. So far in 2026, Noël was 12th at the Chianti 120k, third at the MaXi-Race Annecy 100k, and first at the Lakeland Trails Ultra 100k.

Jia-Sheng Shen – 8th, 21:11:59

Jia-Sheng Shen from China has been coming to Chamonix since at least 2018. He was sixth at OCC that first year and then finished fifth, fourth, and second at CCC in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Shen moved up to the big loop in 2024 but dropped out, only to return to finish eighth last year. He’s been a little off the expected mark in 2026. He was sixth at Tarawera 100k, 16th at Transvulcania, and dropped at the Zegama Marathon.

Rod Farvard – 9th, 21:18:24

Rod Farvard was last year’s top U.S.-residing American man. It was his third and best UTMB finish after going 17th and 22nd in 2023 and 2022. Farvard reached a higher level in 2024, finishing second at the Western States 100 and 15th at CCC that same year. In 2026, Farvard has been 11th at Madeira Island Ultra-Trail (MIUT) and first at the Trail 100 Andorra 100k.

More Favorites for the 2026 UTMB Top 10 Men

Vincent Bouillard

France’s Vincent Bouillard was the surprise 2024 UTMB winner. He dropped at the 2025 Western States 100 but came back to set a remarkable course record there in June 2026. Alongside Evans, Kilian Jornet, and Jim Walmsley, Bouillard is part of a small group of men who have won both Western States and UTMB. Only Jornet has ever won both in a single summer, and he did it in 2011. If Bouillard could match that feat, it’d be extraordinary.

Kilian Jornet

Common sense says not to bet against Kilian Jornet, but I might this time. The Spanish all-timer has won UTMB four times. That was in 2022, 2011, 2009, and 2008. He’s won the Hardrock 100 five times, most recently in 2022, and the Western States 100 one time, in 2011. With two wins at Diagonale des Fous too, he’s the only man to have ever won all four of the world’s most iconic 100 milers. At shorter distances, he’s won Sierre-Zinal 10 times and the Zegama Marathon 11 times. It’s an unbelievable history, but Jornet was 43rd at this year’s Zegama Marathon in mid-May after running near the front for most of the race. Afterward, he admitted to a knee injury that was so bad that it was painful to walk down stairs. It perhaps wasn’t a big surprise when he dropped at Western States in June. Maybe Jornet’s gotten some treatment, maybe the UTMB terrain will be more favorable to the injury, maybe he’s Kilian Jornet and it doesn’t matter, or maybe that injury might again be a real problem.

Jim Walmsley

Any time Jim Walmsley lines up, there’s a chance he might win. He became the first American man to win UTMB in 2023, and he holds the race’s course record. A year after his UTMB win, he won the 2024 Western States 100 for the fourth time but dropped at the 2024 UTMB. Last year, Walmsley won OCC, and just a month later, won the Trail World Championships Long Trail. That was in September 2025, and Walmsley hasn’t finished a race since. He dropped from Western States in June earlier this year with a knee injury. Walmsley might win UTMB this year, but if not healthy, it might be his fourth UTMB drop, too.

Jonathan Albon

Four men have won both Western States 100 and UTMB, but only Xavier Thévenard has won all the UTMB World Series Finals — OCC, CCC, and UTMB. The U.K.’s Jonathan Albon could be the next to do so. He tried last year, after winning CCC in 2023 and OCC in 2021, but dropped out of UTMB. Albon’s been less good at the 100-mile distance compared to the top finishes he’s amassed at basically every other distance. He was sixth at Western States in 2024 for his only finish at the distance to date. Even so, Albon’s resume proves he has all the potential to win UTMB.

Baptiste Chassagne

France’s Baptiste Chassagne has only a little more 100-mile experience than Albon, but that includes three finishes, two of which were really good. Chassagne won the 2025 Diagonale des Fous, was second at the 2024 UTMB, and was 10th at the 2023 UTMB. That one 100 miler per year seems to be working well for Chassagne. This year, he won Grand Raid Ventoux 90k and was fourth at the Mont Blanc 90k, where he was 24 minutes behind second-place Dhiman.

Hannes Namberger

Hannes Namberger from Germany was fourth at UTMB in 2024 and is the king of the Lavaredo Ultra Trail. He won this year’s race for the fourth time and in doing so regained his course record from Dhiman, too. Namberger was second at Transgrancanaria this year too, five minutes behind winner Albon.

Zach Miller

The U.S.’s Zach Miller finished second at the 2023 UTMB after battling Walmsley. That followed a fifth-place finish in 2022, drops in 2019 and 2018, and ninth- and sixth-place finishes in 2017 and 2016. Before that, Miller won CCC in 2015. Most recently, Miller took fifth at the Western States 100 in June with a time of 14:20.

Joaquín López

Ecuador’s Joaquín López will carry a continent’s hopes around Mont Blanc, as a South American favorite. He was third at the 2024 UTMB and 32nd at OCC last year before a 13th-place run at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail. This year, López was second at the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100 Mile in May behind Beñat Marmissolle.

Caleb Olson

Caleb Olson won the Western States 100 in 2025. Since then, a lot’s changed. The American no longer has the same coach, is now a full-time runner, and his 14:11 Western States time is now only the race’s sixth-fastest time. Olson hasn’t been great since that Western States win, either. He dropped early with an injury at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail, and went on to win the 2025 Grampians Peak Trail 100 Mile. After injury early in 2026, Olson was second at the Twisted Fork 30k, 25th at the Broken Arrow 46k, and fourth at the Speedgoat 50k. If Olson has his 2025 fitness, he could win.

Andreas Reiterer

At this year’s Lavaredo Ultra Trail, Italy’s Andreas Reiterer was tied for second with Tobias Geiser some 10 minutes behind race winner Namberger. He was sixth at the 2026 Transvulcania, a minute behind Dhiman in fifth, an event where he placed second in 2025. Earlier this year, he was second at the Chianti 120k, too. Reiterer has raced CCC the last five years with mixed results. He was 11th in 2025, third in 2022, and fourth in 2021, but dropped in 2024 and 2023. We think this is Reiterer’s 100-mile debut.

Chris Myers

American Chris Myers was there with Olson for much of the 2025 Western States 100 and finished second, but like Olson, did not return to the race this year. Also like Olson, he didn’t have a great end of 2025 and dropped at both CCC and the Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k. This year has gone better, though, and Myers won the Mt. Fuji 100 Mile and took third at the Eiger Ultra Trail 51k.

Canyon Woodward

There are always a lot of top-level drops at UTMB, but American Canyon Woodward has made it to the UTMB finish four straight years. He was 13th in 2025, 20th in 2024, 28th in 2023, and 45th in 2022. Woodward’s improvement arc should land him in the top 10 this year. Going back to his third-place finish in 12:19 at the 2025 Javelina 100 Mile in October, Woodward has been racing on a higher level. This year, he took fourth at the Black Canyon 100k, fifth at the Canyons 100k, and eighth at Western States 100.

Drew Holmen

Like a few others, American Drew Holmen has been injured for at least part of 2026. He hasn’t raced since finishing second at the Gorge Waterfalls 100k in April. Holmen was third and fifth at CCC in 2025 and 2023, and in between, he had a tough UTMB in 2024 when finishing 41st. That CCC podium last year, though, shows high upside potential for Holmen at UTMB.

Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon 

Frenchman Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon has three top-10 finishes at UTMB where he was sixth in 2024, ninth in 2023, and seventh in 2022. His results this year haven’t been on par with what he’s done in the past. In 2025, he won the Val d’Aran 100 Mile but later had a DNF at the Diagonale des Fous. In 2024, the year of his highest UTMB finish, he placed ninth at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail.

Germain Grangier

After finishing third at the 2023 UTMB and second at Diagonale des Fous a couple of months later, Germain Grangier of France has spent the last few years trying to resolve a long-term medical issue that has caused his legs to lock up during longer races. The issue seemed mostly resolved when he finished third at the 2025 Hardrock 100, but he was a DNF at UTMB later last year, mirroring his 2024 DNF there as well. Grangier has been open about his search for answers, sharing on his Instagram that the problems ultimately come from a lack of blood flow to his legs and may be a result of nerve compression leading to ischemia, an arterial overpressure problem, or potentially an autoimmune disease. If Grangier has found a solution to the issue, he has the potential to run at the top of the field again.

Tobias Geiser

At this year’s Lavaredo Ultra Trail, Italy’s Tobias Geiser tied for second alongside Reiterer, about 10 minutes behind race winner Namberger. He didn’t do as well as Reiterer at Transvulcania and the Chianti 120k, though. Geiser dropped at Transvulcania and was fourth at Chianti. He raced CCC the last two years, dropping both times. We believe this will be his first 100-mile race.

Jean-Philippe Tschumi

Jean-Philippe Tschumi has had a lot of success at Diagonale des Fous. The Swiss runner was second, third, and second there in 2024, 2023, and 2022. At the UTMB Mont Blanc festival, he dropped at UTMB in 2025 and 2023, and was seventh at CCC in 2022.

Antoine Charvolin

French runner Antoine Charvolin shot up the ranks with a win at TDS last year. His results have been mixed since, though. He dropped at SaintéLyon at the end of 2025, and dropped at the Trail Verbier St. Bernard 80k in July of this year. In between, he won the 2026 Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 56k and was third at the 2026 European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships 52k.

Still More Fast Men at the 2026 UTMB

• Manuel Anguita (Spain) – 2nd 2025 Val d’Aran 100k; 3rd 2025 Transvulcania
• Arnaud Bonin (France) – 4th 2025 & 10th 2024 CCC
• Gautier Bonnecarrère (France) – 1st 2026 Val d’Aran 100k; 15th 2026 Transvulcania; 9th 2024 UTMB
• Raul Butaci (Romania) – 14th 2026 Transvulcania; 1st 2026 Penyagolosa CSP; 2nd 2025 Lavaredo Ultra Trail; 3rd 2025 MIUT
• Pau Capell (Spain) – 12th 2026 Transgrancania Advanced; 6th 2025 TDS
• Abel Carretero (Spain) – 2nd 2026 & 4th 2024 Val d’Aran 100k; 19th 2026 Transvulcania
• Baptiste Coatantiec (France) – 5th 2026 Mont Blanc 90k; 5th 2026 Chianti 120k; 11th 2025 UTMB
• Paul Cornut-Chauvinc (France) – 1st 2026 Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100k; 1st 2025 MIUT
• Guo-Min Deng (China) – 3rd 2026 & 2025 Hong Kong 100k; 11th 2025 Lavaredo 120k; 2nd 2025 Mt. Fuji 100 Mile
• Théo Detienne (France) – 2nd 2026 MaXi Race Annecy 100k; 9th 2026 Transvulcania; 1st 2025 Mont Blanc 90k
• Borja Fernández (Spain) – 4th 2026 Transgrancanaria; 6th 2026 Trail 100 Andorra 80k
• Aubin Ferrari (France) – 2nd 2026 Grand Raid Ventoux 125k; 13th 2024 UTMB; 4th Chianti 120k
• Gaby Rueda (Argentina) – 1st 2026 Val d’Aran 100 Mile; 15th 2025 & 13th 2023 UTMB
• Nicolas Gourdon (France) – 7th 2026 Mont Blanc 90k; 19th 2025 UTMB; 4th 2024 & 7th 2023 TDS
• Miguel Heras (Spain) – 6th 2025 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 55k; 2nd 2024 Transgrancanaria
• Tom Joly (U.K.) – 4th 2026 Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100k; 11th 2026 Transgrancanaria; 16th 2023 UTMB
• Kamil Leśniak (Poland) – 1st 2026 Quebec Mega Trail 135k; 11th 2026 Chianti 120k; 14th 2025 & 2024 UTMB
• Cody Lind (U.S.) – 5th 2026 MaXi-Race Annecy 100k; 16th 2025 & 7th 2024 UTMB; 8th 2025 Canyons 100k
• Richard Lockwood (U.S.) – 7th 2026 Trail 100 Andorra 105k; 7th 2024 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k; 1st 2024 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
• Ramon Manetsch (Switzerland) – 1st 2026 Swiss Canyon 111k; 5th 2026 Chianti 120k; 7th 2024 CCC
• Ionel Cristian Manole (Spain) – 2nd 2026 Chongli 168k; 10th 2026 Transvulcania; DNF 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, & 2021 UTMB
• Beñat Marmissolle (France) – 1st 2026 Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100 Mile; 2nd 2023 Hardrock 100
• Thibault Marquet (France) – 8th 2025 & 9th 2024 Mont Blanc 90k; 1st 2024 TDS; 12th 2022 UTMB
• Virgile Moriset (France) – 2nd 2025 Mont Blanc 90k; 1st 2025 Nice Côte d’Azur 100k
• Marcos Ramos González (Spain) – 12th 2026 MIUT; 3rd 2026 Transgrancanaria Advanced; 21st 2025 OCC
• Andreas Rieder (Austria) – 5th 2026 & 7th 2025 Lavaredo Ultra Trail; 16th 2025 & 8th 2025 CCC
• Alexis Sévennec (France) – 18th 2024 UTMB; 7th 2023 Diagonale des Fous
• Andy Symonds (U.K.) – 1st 2026 Grand Raid Ventoux 125k; 33rd 2026 European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships 52k; 21st 2024 & 11th 2022 UTMB
• Aleksei Tolstenko (Neutral) – 1st 2026 Ultra-Trail Australia 100 Mile; 2nd 2025, 2022, & 1st 2024, 2023 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 Mile
• Pablo Villa (Spain) – 3rd 2026 Trail 100 Andorra 80k; 17th 2026 & 8th 2025 Transvulcania

Call for Comments

• Who do you see at this year’s UTMB men’s champ?
• Who are we too low on that’s going to spring a surprise on race day?
• Who will be the top American, and will it be for a podium finish or better?

2026 UTMB Men’s Preview by Justin Mock.

It was a little quiet this weekend, but big things are coming up!

As we all pause before the massive weeks ahead, we check in on events in California, Colorado, Canada, and beyond.

Tamalpa Headlands 50k – Muir Beach, California

It was the race’s 27th year, and the prize purse was $10,000. Race winners each earned $2,500, with $1,500 and $1,000 going to the second- and third-place finishers, too.

Spencer Ferguson-Dryden rolled the men’s race and won in 3:50. He was over 10 minutes ahead of second place while improving on last year’s third-place finish. Kevin Stewart and Nick Cioci got on the podium in 4:01 and 4:09.

The women’s race had a dominant winner, too. Sylvie Abel was out front in 4:30, and Leandra Zimmerman and Zuzana Trnovcova were second and third in 4:45 and 4:50. It was Abel’s third win in a row at San Francisco Bay Area races. She has the Mammoth Trailfest 50k up next month.

Full results.

Cirque Series – Alta, Utah

The race ran to the top of 11,068-foot Mount Baldy and back down on a 7.1-mile course that totaled 2,545 feet of climbing. As with all Cirque Series races, there was a $1,000 first-place prize.

Hawk Call turned the men’s race into a runaway. He won in 59:32. Call raced in the Pro division, and the next fastest men came out of the Expert division. That was Sam Haines and Alec Beers in at 1:02 and 1:03, respectively.

Alexa Aragon added to an earlier Cirque Series Snowbird win and led the women’s race in 1:09. Next on the podium were Elizabeth Chikotas and Jamie Brusa in 1:12 and 1:13.

The next Cirque Series race is August 29 at Grand Targhee, Wyoming.

Full results.

Additional Races and Runs

European Athletics Championships Marathon – Birmingham, United Kingdom

A few names familiar to trails ran the road marathon. Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) was 17th in the men’s race in 2:11, and Xavier Chevrier (Italy) was 32nd in 2:18. Kyburz was fourth at Sierre-Zinal back in 2017, and Chevrier was eighth at Sierre-Zinal in 2023. For the women, Tereza Hrochová (Czech Republic) and Laura Hottenrott (Germany) were ninth and 16th in 2:28 and 2:31. Hottenrott was 10th at Sierre-Zinal only one week ago. Full results.

Stranda Fjord Trail Race – Stranda, Norway

Runners traversed spectacular fjords and mountains and had the choice of five different distances, and Norwegian runners swept the top spots in the two ultra-distance events. In the 95k, Ronny Børsheim and Margrethe Falkanger Høviskeland took home the wins in 16:24 and 18:56. In the 55k race, Kjell Magnar Berli and Silje Heltne took home top honors in 7:19 and 9:46. Full results.

Boréalys Mont-Tremblant by UTMB – Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada

Canadian runners Dany Racine and Claudine Soucie took the long course Odyssée 100k in 7:51 and 9:09. In the Tremblante 50k, Benoit Gaillard (France) won in 4:42 and was just ahead of women’s winner Élisa Morin (Canada). Morin ran 4:44 and was third overall. Full results.

Tignes Trail – Tignes, France

The event had several distances, but in the marathon, Swann Juillaguet (France) and Ashley Hawks (U.S.) won in 4:49 and 5:36. In the 14k, Anthonin Iragne (France) and Gerda Steyn (South Africa) were first in 1:10 and 1:28. Steyn was also just a week out from finishing in 44th place at Sierre-Zinal in nearby Switzerland. Full results.

Squamish 50/50 – Squamish, British Columbia, Canada

The 50 miler ran first, and Eric Thompson and Liz MacDonald won in 7:50 and 8:56. The next day’s 50k had Alexandre Campbell and Jade Belzberg lead in 4:29 and 5:11. Belzberg was third overall. Full results.

San Juan Softie 100 Mile – Durango, Colorado

The race was run at an average elevation of 10,000 feet and totaled 19,000 feet of climbing. Both course records fell in the race’s third year, and Nathan Haley ran the first sub-24-hour finish. Haley won for the men in 23:38, and women’s winner Katie Kammer was fourth overall in 24:52. Full results.

Bigfoot 200 Mile – Mount Saint Helens, Washington

This year’s Tahoe 200 Mile winner, Aaron Kubala, won another. He finished this one in 47:21. Aimee Warnke appears super close to winning the women’s race as of the earliest hours of Monday morning. Tracking.

Olympic Mountains Trail Races – Quilcene, Washington

There was a $500 first-place prize in the 100k. Joe McConaughy won for the men in 10:24, and Julija Šorytė led the women in 13:17. Ben Aldrich and Amelia Keyser-Gibson were best in the 50k in 5:00 and 5:45. Full results.

Redwood Summer 50k – Oakland, California

Race winners Jeff Moss and Sydney Chesta finished in 4:09 and 5:36, respectively. Full results.

Bulldog 50k – Calabasas, California

Men’s winner Makai Clemons set a new course record in 3:23, and Cora Davies won for the women in 4:37. Full results.

Beast of Burden – Lockport, New York

In the 100-mile race, Aaron Dana won in 19:33, and Kelly Salico Nash was first for the women in 24:41. For the 50-mile distance, Jeremy Van Moorsel finished in 6:52:10, and Gale Marie Gilman won in 12:02. Full results when available.

Sierre Prieta 50k – Prescott, Arizona

Race winners Zach Hauer and Hannah Grall came in at 4:23 and 6:05. Full results.

Bridger Ridge Run – Bozeman, Montana

The 20-mile mountain run had Nate Marshall and Anna Dalton win in 3:24 and 3:50. Full results.

Mid Mountain 50k – Park City, Utah

Top finishers Braden Perry and Elizabeth O’Connor came in at 3:54 and 4:10. Full results.

Leadville 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race – Leadville, Colorado

A week after running to sixth place at Sierre-Zinal, Anna Gibson finished the 100-mile mountain bike race in 7:13 for 29th place. Full results.

Leadville 10k – Leadville, Colorado

The shortest race in the Leadville series saw Kieran Nay and Gracen Glover each win by over two minutes in 35:02 and 41:41. Full results.

8 Hours of Berm – Ross Prairies, Florida

The second-year race is run on a 6.5-mile loop, and runners have eight hours to complete as many loops as possible. Mark Gilman completed six laps in 7:54 for the men, but was edged out for the overall win by Melissa Gray, who completed six laps in 6:51. Full results.

Marquette Trail 50 Mile – Marquette, Michigan

It wasn’t close in the men’s race. Reese Slobodianuk was over an hour and a half faster than anyone else in 7:25. Madeline Lilly won the women’s race in 9:19. In the 50k, Tyler Morey and Kristen Monahan were champs in 4:28 and 5:04. Full results.

Jigger Johnson 100 Mile – Waterville Valley, New Hampshire

The race in the White Mountains went 108 miles with 29,000 feet of elevation gain. Conor Brown and Lexi Jackson did it the fastest in 29:41 and 33:12. Full results.

Call for Comments

What other races were you following this weekend?

This Week In Running: August 17, 2026 by Justin Mock.

The Brooks Cascadia 20 ($160) trail running shoes arrived on my front porch as I was loading up my truck to head to Montana for the Crazy Mountain 100 Mile. I’d packed a couple of shoe options for the race but wasn’t feeling enthusiastic about any of them, so I tossed the new Cascadia in. I’d worn the Cascadia 18 out of the box to pace a friend at the Western States 100 a few years back, and I’d put hundreds of miles on both the 18 and 19, so I figured, why not?

I didn’t start the Crazy Mountain 100 in the Cascadia, but by mile 19, I knew the shoes I’d chosen were going to cause carnage to my toes, so I switched and ran the final 80 miles in the Cascadia 20. I’d done a few shakeout runs by then, so they weren’t truly out of the box, but pretty close.

Over the past 20-plus years that the Cascadia has existed, Brooks has made subtle adjustments, gradually evolving the popular trail running shoe into its current form. With this newest version, key changes include an update to its nitrogen-infused midsole foam, four millimeters of additional cushioning (after adding cushion from the 18 to the 19, as well), and a new Vibram Megagrip outsole. The Cascadia 20 has 38 millimeters of stack height under the heel and 32 millimeters under the forefoot, with a 6-millimeter heel-to-toe drop. The shoe has an actual weight of 10.3 ounces (292 grams) for a U.S. men’s 9.

The Cascadia has been included in our Best Trail Running Shoes guide for years.

Shop the Women's Brooks Cascadia 20Shop the Men's Brooks Cascadia 20

Brooks Cascadia 20 Upper

The Brooks Cascadia 20 upper is built with breathable mesh, a 3D-print overlay mudguard, and a TPU toe cap on the front. The padded tongue is held in place with an internal midfoot wrap, which also helps lock down the midfoot. Flat laces can be tucked out of the way under a small elastic strap on top of the shoe. The heel cup has some cushioning around the collar, and it cradles the heel nicely, though I wouldn’t mind if my heel sat a little deeper in the shoe.

I’m usually a women’s size 9.5 or 10, and I wear size 10 in the Cascadia. The shoe’s last is traditional, with a middle-of-the-road toebox. I have enough room so that my toes aren’t hitting the front of the shoe, yet my foot also remains fairly secure in the shoe. I get a more secure lockdown in other shoes I’ve tested, but I don’t have any complaints about how these fit. I’ve now put 120 miles on these shoes — on some very challenging trail and off-trail surfaces — and my toes have remained happy, and I haven’t experienced any hot spots. The upper around the inside heel on both shoes is showing wear, though this is a common wear spot across many of the trail running shoes I wear.

I had ample opportunity to test the Cascadia 20’s draining and drying capabilities during the Crazy Mountain 100 as I splashed through countless creeks throughout the entire course and dunked in every alpine lake possible during the heat of the day. Every shoe squishes a little after being submerged in water, and I was satisfied with how quickly the Cascadia returned to feeling fairly normal and dry.

Brooks Cascadia 20 Midsole

Another notable update for the Brooks Cascadia 20 is the midsole material. Previously, in the Brooks Cascadia 19 (review), and all the way back to the Cascadia 16, the midsole incorporated Brooks DNA Loft foam, which testing proved to be soft and comfortable over many miles, though some iRunFar team members noted it felt less responsive than other trail running shoes. With the Cascadia 20, Brooks replaced the DNA Loft with its DNA Flash V2 midsole material.

Like the DNA Loft, the DNA Flash V2 is nitrogen-infused, though it’s claimed to be lighter, slightly less plush, and more responsive than the Loft. Interestingly, Brooks also added four millimeters of cushioning to the midsole. The Cascadia’s Trail Adapt Technology, which features a wide base for stability and flexibility where the foot naturally bends from heel to forefoot, remains unchanged from the 19th version. With the addition of more foam underfoot, Brooks removed the forefoot rockplate of the prior versions.

The Crazy Mountain 100 provided perfect testing grounds for any trail shoe. The course included runnable singletrack, technical and rocky mountain passes, steep climbs and descents, and many creek crossings. When I first switched shoes, the Cascadia felt noticeably stiffer than what I was wearing, and this took some getting used to — though it’s possible the shoes were not fully broken in yet. For the most part, my foot remained securely locked in throughout 80 miles, and the shoe felt responsive enough on technical descents yet comfortable for more than 25 hours.

Brooks Cascadia 20 Outsole

Finally, one more big change for the Brooks Cascadia 20 is the replacement of the previous Brooks TrailTack Green compound with Vibram Megagrip, which is a well-known outsole material and arguably the highest standard among trail running shoes. The 4-millimeter lug depth is unchanged from the Cascadia 19, though the multi-directional lug design is slightly different.

Vibram Megagrip is known for providing excellent traction on both wet and dry ground. I’ve also found that it offers superior grip on snow. Over mountain passes, across talus fields, and through creeks, the Cascadia 20 provided excellent traction. Even over the Crazy Mountain 100’s infamous Sunlight Pass, which most runners cross in the dark, the shoe gripped the thin layer of pebbles over packed dirt on the steep mountainside. I felt confident in my footing every step of the way.

I always thought the previous outsole was good, but this is definitely an upgrade. I would trust the Cascadia 20 on any mountain terrain that I’d consider running.

Brooks Cascadia 20 Overall Impressions

I’ve been fortunate to test the last few versions of the Cascadia line, and I’m convinced that the newest Brooks Cascadia 20 is the best version yet. In my experience, this shoe has evolved from a clunky and kind of “meh” trail running shoe to one of my favorites. It’s a great option for everyday trail running or a mountain ultra, and it’s a great value for the price.

Personally, I’d still want to keep a lightweight, bouncy, and snappy shoe in the rotation for workout days, but the Cascadia 20 is an excellent choice for just about everything else.

Shop the Women's Brooks Cascadia 20Shop the Men's Brooks Cascadia 20

Call for Comments

• Have you run in the Brooks Cascadia 20 or any of its predecessors? What did you think?
• What’s your favorite trail running shoe?

Our Favorite Trail Running Shoes

Check out our Best Trail Running Shoes article to learn about our current favorite trail running shoes!

Brooks Cascadia 20 Review by Alli Miles.