The Fastest Trail Shoes at the 2026 UTMB
The 2026 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) started ominously, with evening thunderstorms calling for a two-hour delay and a slight course reroute. But by the time 2,406 runners got rolling out of Chamonix the skies had basically cleared. And in the end, near-perfect concisions and a particularly fast course were simply a perfect storm for a super fast race.
America’s Ben Dhiman (and last year’s runner-up) ran away from the field on the first major test piece up Col du Bonhomme before the 40K mark. He ultimately finished in 18:16:29, earning the first sub-19-hour time in the race’s history. French national treasure Blandine L’Hirondel matched it on the women’s side, becoming the first woman to break 22 hours with a 21:54:49 finish. She’s just the second woman (and third person) to win all three UTMB World Series Finals races, OCC, CCC, and UTMB.
The editors of Trail Runner were on location in Chamonix, France, checking out the new gear, watching the race unfold, while putting together a list of the fastest shoes at UTMB 2026. I’ve personally used many of these shoes, so I include my own testing notes below, just in case you’re interested in emulating the elites (at least in what you’re wearing, anyway).
On the shoe side, this was one of the more interesting UTMB races I’ve covered. The diversity of brands worn by the top-10 men and women was fascinating. Among the top 10 men and women, 15 brands were represented. And there were more niche shoe companies represented in the field than I’ve ever seen, brands such as Kiprun, the shoe brand from Decathlon; Kailas Fuga from China; Canada’s premium running shoe brand Norda; and Dynafit, best known for their ski mountaineering equipment.
As someone who tests pretty much every trail shoe, I can tell you these brands all make solid shoes but often don’t get the attention they deserve. The 2026 UTMB changed that. Here’s what the top 10 men and women wore, and my take on each.
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