Frédéric Lénart: “UTMB is Profitable Now”

In a interview with Mile & Stone UTMB CEO Frédéric Lénart shares a few interesting tidbits:

• 69% of athletes identified as elite participated in at least one of the circuit’s races, again an increase compared to 2024 (+10%), with a very high level of competition at the Hoka UTMB Mont-Blanc.
• Revenue has grown; we will be around 30 million euros, compared to 25 million in 2024. 
• We have just over 100 employees, the company is starting to be well-structured, and we can say that we have moved past the survival issues the group faced during the Covid phase to be profitable today, yes.
•  I think we will be at 63 or 64 events in 2026. In the medium term, the goal is to have 90-95 in 2030. 
• [We’re] remaining committed to not exceeding the 10,000-runner cap [at the UTMB Finals in Chamonix].
• [On the Dacia partnership:] Yes, the partnership reached the end of its four-year term.
• Their departure is a logistical challenge for us; we do not have an identified automotive partner at the moment, but we are working on it.

These comments above (bolding left from the newsletter) are all pertaining to the business side of the operation. Some things stick out to me:

• The point about the elites racing at the Finals is of course a response to the WMTRC but also a sign of pride for UTMB that the spearhead of our sport is taking the product UTMB created and maintains serious.
• Profitability is good for UTMB and for our sport as a whole – no desperate moves should be expected here.
• The number of races really surprises me. We’re already sitting at 64 events for the year 2026. So either Lénart got the numbers wrong or they are planning on NO additional expansion for 2026. (Maybe they anticipate a couple races leaving the series and being replaced by new ones. But if they don’t grow by a few races this year, then their projected number of 90-95 by 2030 feels like a bit of a stretch to me.)
• With Dacia leaving which other ‘mobility partner’ aka car company brand would you like to see jumping in sponsoring the UTMB World Series?