The kermesse of the famous competitions on the Mont Blanc began on Monday 23 August and hundreds of athletes are already on the trails …Who will be the winner of the UTMB 2021?
The queen race, dreamed by all trail running athletes, is undoubtedly the Ultra Trail of Mont Blanc, or UTMB, which will start on Friday 27 August. The athletes will have to cover a ring of 170K and 10,000mt d+ crossing: France, Italy, Switzerland, and then returning to the starting point in Chamonix.
The UTMB is undoubtedly one of the most competitive races in the world even if in this edition there are many athletes missing due to COVID and the difficulties of athletic preparation; for problems in reaching the destination; or due to injuries and operations such as the one that will prevent the participation of Pau Capell, one of the favorites runners.
Beyond the ITRA score, often used as the main performance evaluation index, in our opinion, other useful parameters must be considered to understand who will have the most chances of winning, for example:
1) the mix of experience in long distances and / or having already participated in the UTMB race;
2) the athlete’s basic health condition in the current year 2021;
3) the results obtained in the competitions of the last 12 months in ITRA and “non ITRA” competitions;
4) the support team and sponsors;
5) personal and professional family events.
From direct experience of managing Elite athletes, we know that even just one of these factors can determine the victory or a podium placement!
After careful monitoring of the statistics and the main sports blogs, here are our top 5 overall favorites for 2021:
And here are our favorites for the women’s victory:
In your opinion, who will win the UTMB 2021?
Comment and tell us what you think!
Digital Strategic Marketing Director – certified Innovation Manager – in multinational companies, she is still today the only Italian female athlete to have ran 900 km and 55,000m D+ in the mountains in a single stage race (Transpyrenea 2016, 3rd women overall). She counts numerous Podiums and international Victories on races over 100k. She holds a SNaQ CONI certification as a Trail Running Coach, Athletic Trainer and in Nutrition and Sports Supplementation. Since 2014 she is President and sports executive of innovative technology startups and companies, including Trail Running Movement and Digital Sport 360. She trains elite trail running athletes and she teaches in trail running coach certification courses. She is an author of sports articles on training, nutrition and supplementation in trail running and running, both in Italian and in English and Spanish. She manages relationships and collaborations with Federations and Race Organizers.