Getting to Chamonix if You’re an Elite Runner

Back in September I wrote an article outlining how “the rest of us” are getting into UTMB in Chamonix. UTMB made since a few changes, mainly for elite runners and I wanted to link to the article, which seems to outline this all pretty well. The general consensus I’ve heard is that this is now fixing some of the confusion we’ve experienced during the change from old qualification system to new qualification system (and COVID madness) and this are now as straightforward as before.

• If you race a UTMB World Series Event: For each race of 50K, 100K and/or 100M, the top 3 male and top 3 female runners win a slot for the following year’s¹ edition of the UTMB World Series Finals in the corresponding category.
• If you race a UTMB World Series Major: For each race of 50K, 100K and 100M, the top 10 male and top 10 female runners win a slot for the following year’s¹ edition of the UTMB World Series Finals in the corresponding category.
• Qualifying via your UTMB Index: In addition to the Top 3 qualifications for Events and Top 10 for Majors, all runners who obtain a UTMB Score higher or equal to the one mentioned in this table, on one of the races of the UTMB World Series circuit in the 50K, 100K or 100M categories, will be qualified for the final of the same category.

¹ “The following year” explanation I had missed:

The qualification period for the UTMB Finals is the calendar year prior to the finals, Events and Majors in 2024 will qualify for the 2025 UTMB World Series Finals.

There are a couple permutation and temporary allowances while we’re still in a transition period, but that’s the gist of it. Again, these rules are for Elite runners, not for the rest of us, unless you’re fast… like really fast.