Jim Walmsley is OUT of the 2026 UTMB after revealing a combination of an ongoing knee issue and illness a week ahead of the race forced him to abandon his bid for a second victory in Chamonix.
The American’s withdrawal completes a remarkable double blow for the men’s race after Kilian Jornet announced on Thursday that he would not compete, with the Spaniard set to undergo surgery on his own knee problem.
It means UTMB has lost its two highest-rated male entrants almost simultaneously.
Walmsley’s UTMB Index of 967 was the highest in the field, with Jornet next on 948. Ben Dhiman and Caleb Olson, both on 946, are now the highest-rated athletes remaining in the men’s race.
‘Things just weren’t clicking’
Walmsley, the 2023 UTMB champion and winner of OCC last year, explained the reasons behind his withdrawal during an interview with FreeTrail in Chamonix.
He revealed that the decision had effectively been made several days before his registration was finally cancelled on Wednesday.
“I started telling HOKA, I think on Sunday, that I wasn’t going to race, but I finally didn’t cancel my registration until Wednesday,” he told FreeTrail.
Walmsley had also been struggling with sickness, with stomach problems making it difficult to take on nutrition during his final runs before the race.
“My stomach was still kind of – it felt nauseous and queasy – and eventually trying to push nutrition down, it was just coming back up on one of the runs,” he explained.
“So it just kind of resulted in things just weren’t clicking.
“It’s a bummer. But outside of that, I’ve been able to train. I’ve been able to run a lot this year. There’s not that much to be worried about or complained about. It’s just there wasn’t enough time for me in between, given my circumstance.
“So I think it’s fine in the grand scheme of things.”
Walmsley searching for knee answers
There remains uncertainty, however, over the knee problem which has continued to trouble Walmsley.
He told FreeTrail that imaging has revealed little and that specialists he has consulted have offered differing opinions over the issue.
For now, his approach is centred on physical therapy and neuromuscular retraining rather than simply trying to build more strength.
“The big question is just why does the knee problem keep coming back?” he said.
“Most of it is going to be, for now, to try to continue with a new strategy of physical therapy and a neuromuscular retraining.
“It’s not strength-focused at the moment. It’s more teaching myself how to not compensate in a way that I’ve been doing for a really long time.”
Walmsley went on to explain that he has identified an imbalance which causes him to lean to the right and his left hip to dip, something he believes may be linked to a lack of core stability.
UTMB field transformed
Walmsley’s absence is the latest in an extraordinary sequence of withdrawals ahead of this year’s men’s race.
Jornet announced on Thursday that he too would miss UTMB after several months of knee trouble, with surgery now considered the best course of action after a conservative approach failed to solve the problem.
Defending men’s champion Tom Evans had already withdrawn on August 13, while a lingering foot injury ruled women’s course-record holder Katie Schide out of the 2026 race.
It represents a dramatic change to a meeting which had been billed by UTMB as featuring one of the strongest fields in its history.
UTMB said 846 elite athletes from 54 nationalities had entered across its races this year – 34 more than in 2025.
But in the men’s flagship race in particular, the picture now looks very different. With Walmsley and Jornet both out, the two highest-rated names on the original start list have disappeared within 24 hours – and the battle for the 2026 UTMB title has suddenly been thrown wide open.
