With the solar set on a spring day within the Italian countryside, the 2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k is finished and dusted, and Courtney Dauwalter (U.S.) and Thomas Cardin (France) are this 12 months’s champions. As one of many closing races on this season’s Western States 100 Golden Ticket Races collection, whereby high finishers earn coveted entries to the June 2026 occasion, the race drew people on the hunt for Golden Tickets in addition to others searching for a spring barnburner. And that is precisely what rivals discovered.
The pre-sunrise begin of the 2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k in Italy. Photograph: Chianti Extremely Path/Filippo Orlandi
The 120-kilometer (75 miles) route has over 5,200 meters (17,000 toes) of climbing, making a hilly loop by means of the famed Chianti wine-making area of Italy, beginning and ending within the village of Radda in Chianti. Fields of grapes, centuries-old buildings in rural villages, incessant ups and downs, and a course that’s backloaded with the toughest terrain are markers of this occasion, going down a number of hours south of Florence.
Prime ladies’s contenders forward of the race included the likes of American With Rachel Entgetting into this occasion with a profitable streak of one thing round 20 ultras; Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersenwho is probably finest recognized for her 2023 CCC win and fifth place on the 2024 Western States 100; China’s Lin Chenwith high finishes together with fourth at each the 2024 UTMB and 2025 Black Canyon 100k; and the shock late entry of American path working G.O.A.T. Dauwalter, pivoting to Chianti following the unlucky climate cancellation of the identical weekend’s Tenerife Bluetrail by UTMB occasion on the Spanish Canary Islands.
The lads’s headliners have been simply French countrymen Vincent Bouillard and Cardin. Bouillard is finest often known as the 2024 UTMB champ who was returning after ending third at this race final 12 monthswhereas Cardin’s traditionally been a shorter course specialist who’s transferring to longer distances of late, with a resume that features a win on the 2024 Les Templiers and sixth ultimately 12 months’s Zegama Marathon. Italian Andreas Reitererthis race’s 2024 champ with loads of different accolades, together with a pair of podiums on the 2022 and 2023 Path World Championships Lengthy Path, was one other late entrant from the canceled Tenerife Bluetrail.
Each Reiterer for the lads and Dauwalter for the ladies have been granted official entry by the race group below its late-entrance coverage.
As a part of the Western States 100 Golden Ticket Races collection, two Golden Tickets have been up for grabs in every of the ladies’s and males’s races.
Learn on to see how the races performed out.
2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k Ladies’s Race
Norway’s Mari Wetterhus was the shock early tempo setter, passing by means of the primary support station at 12 kilometers with a lead of some seconds on the remainder of the ladies’s discipline. A little bit of an unknown amount, Wetterhus seems to be a national-level Nordic biathlete whose been racing path and ultras for a few years.
Working simply behind her have been all of the anticipated high contenders — Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersenthe U.S.’s With Rachel EntChina’s Lin Chenand the U.S.’s Courtney Dauwalter — making up the highest 5. This pattern continued previous Castello di Brolio (38k), the place Wetterhus held her lead, and the following 4 stayed in place, the one change being that the ladies’s high 5 was now unfold over a few minutes.
Courtney Dauwalter, 2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k ladies’s champion. Photograph: Chianti Extremely Path/Alessandro Moretti
By Monteluco, 51k, the ladies’s discipline was shaken up, with Kaspersen bringing the group by means of as the brand new chief, Entrekin a few seconds again, and Dauwalter one other few seconds behind in third. Early chief Wetterhus had lapsed again to about 5 minutes off the lead in fourth place. Whereas Wetterhus continued to maneuver out of podium rivalry, she finally took sixth place. Additionally round this spot, Chen started to distance herself behind the highest runners and eventually dropped one other 30k down the path.
With early race antics full, Kaspersen, Entrekin, and Dauwalter have been left to their very own gadgets on the entrance. The trio stayed shut to one another for the 70k of racing that remained, however the story stayed dynamic by means of the end tape. At 59k and with roughly 4:50 elapsed on the race clock, they ran by means of inside 30 seconds of one another, with Kaspersen on the helm. One other couple of hours later, at 74k, the identical factor: Kaspersen and Entrekin passing by means of mainly collectively, with Dauwalter simply behind. At a bit over eight hours of racing and about 33k left to run, it was Kaspersen, Dauwalter, and Entrekin as one-two-three and inside a minute.
The splits on the closing checkpoint of Villa San Michele (105k), across the high of the ultimate main climb, confirmed it might be a nailbiter till the top. That mentioned, there was now a little bit of daylight between every runner, as Kaspersen nonetheless led, whereas Entrekin chased about 2.5 minutes behind, and Dauwalter was third, simply over a minute again from second.
Not solely might it’s a nail-biter, nevertheless it was! Someday in that closing 15k, which included an extended downhill and a few extra of this course’s relentless ups and downs, Courtney Dauwalter assumed the result in cross the road as the ladies’s champion in a time of 11:31:55. Longtime race chief Yngvild Kaspersen stopped the clock in second place in 11:33:34, simply over 1.5 minutes again of the winner. And Rachel Entrekin ran throughout the road in third place just below 5 extra minutes in arrears, in 11:38:13.
So far as these Western States 100 Golden Tickets go, second-place Kaspersen is a sure on accepting hers, and the second ticket rolled all the way down to fifth-place finisher Lauren Puretzwho eagerly accepted it. Champ Dauwalter, third-place Entrekin, and fourth-place Gemma Hillier Moses kindly declined the ticket affords.
The 2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k ladies’s podium (left to proper): 3. Rachel Entrekin, 1. Courtney Dauwalter, 2. Yngvild Kaspersen. Photograph: Chianti Extremely Path/Alessandro Moretti
2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k Ladies’s Outcomes
- Courtney Dauwalter (U.S.) – 11:31:55
- Yngvild Kaspersen (Norway) – 11:33:34
- With Rachel Ent (U.S.) – 11:38:13
- Gemma Hillier Moses (UK) – 12:04:30
- Lauren Puretz (U.S.) – 12:25:13
- Mari Wetterhus (Norway) – 12:56:32
- Eve Moore (UK) – 13:24:06
- Ragna Debates (The Netherlands) – 13:43:45
- Manon Gras (France) – 13:49:54
- Kristina Hanecakova (Slovakia) – 14:10:54
2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k Males’s Race
In contrast to the ladies’s race, which had a pacesetter off the entrance, the early kilometers of the lads’s race’s have been highlighted by a break group of seven males, which whittled down to 5 by round Castello di Brolio at 38k and included France’s Vincent BouillardAndorra’s Samuel PonceItaly’s Andreas ReitererFrance’s Thomas Cardinand Italy’s Tobias Geiser.
On the village of Monteluco (51k), it was now a three-man race for the lead between anticipated high contenders Cardin, Reiterer, and Bouillard, who got here by means of collectively in simply over 4 hours elapsed on the race clock. Geiser had moved again to fourth place, a few minutes again of the trio, and early co-leader Ponce had slipped to fifth, additionally a few minutes off the lead. Ponce would finally drop, whereas Geiser would keep that fourth place as distant because the end line over six hours later.
Thomas Cardin, 2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k males’s champion. Photograph: Chianti Extremely Path/Alessandro Moretti
The lads’s podium race thus grew to become a three-way race, and for a little bit of the remaining 70k, the lads stayed pretty shut collectively. At 58k, for instance, they have been inside seconds of one another. However in the midst of the race, issues modified. At 87k, Cardin had shaken free within the lead and constructed a spot of over six minutes. This was a spot he maintained, passing by means of every remaining checkpoint with a six- to eight-minute lead, reportedly wanting calm and picked up the entire manner. Finally, France’s Thomas Cardin gained in 9:58:38, thereby persevering with to display his capability on longer programs, as he has proven in shorter-distance path racing over time.
The race for the remaining podium positions stayed in query all the best way to the end line. In any respect the checkpoints within the second half of the race, Reiterer ran by means of in second and Bouillard third, however there was by no means a lot distance between them. Finally, Italy’s Andreas Reiterer took second in 10:06:16, and France’s Vincent Bouillard completed third in 10:06:52, simply over 30 seconds later, for the second 12 months in a row.
Within the race for the lads’s Western States 100 Golden Tickets, winner Cardin has formally accepted his, whereas second-place Reiterer has declined on account of him and his spouse being due with their second little one across the June race date. Third-place Bouillard excitedly accepted the ticket.
The 2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k males’s podium (left to proper): 2. Andreas Reiterer, 1. Thomas Cardin, 3. Vincent Bouillard. Photograph: Chianti Extremely Path/Marzia Benigna
2026 Chianti Extremely Path by UTMB 120k Males’s Outcomes
- Thomas Cardin (France) – 9:58:38
- Andreas Reiterer (Italy) – 10:06:16
- Vincent Bouillard (France) – 10:06:52
- Tobias Geiser (Italy) – 10:21:35
- Baptiste Coatantiec (France) – 10:49:17
- Jeff Mogavero (U.S.) – 10:55:24
- Rémi Gillie (France) – 11:18:49
- Charles Van Tiggelen (Belgium) – 11:21:21
- Bogdan Ibanescu (Romania) – 11:30:45
- Harry Jones (UK) – 11:34:54
