For a moment, it looked like Courtney Dauwalter and Katie Schide might finally meet at UTMB. The matchup never happened, but the story behind it reveals how the sport is changing.
The fact that we all know who I’m referring to on a first-name basis says plenty about the stature of both Courtney Dauwalter and Katie Schide. They’re each legends of their own time, the preeminent women in the ultra-trail world at a time when the competitive depth has never been deeper. One is the all-time GOAT, the other is the heir apparent.
As ultra-distance trail running has become a bona fide global sport over the past decade and a half, a handful of races have emerged as marquee events. But, because of some of the quirky aspects of our sport—in which athletes quietly develop their racing schedules more than a year in advance, and also rarely race the same events year after year—there’s no guarantee the top stars will race head to head at the biggest events of any given year.
And that’s why we didn’t see Courtney and Katie race against each other this year, and haven’t since Western States in 2023, more than two and a half years ago, when Courtney set a new course record and Katie ran the second fastest time ever.
In 2024, Katie went back to Western States and won, just off Courtney’s record pace, then became only the fourth runner (after Courtney in 2023, Kilian Jornet in 2011, and Nikki Kimball in 2007) to double up and win UTMB in the same season, breaking Courtney’s UTMB course record in the process. But that year, Courtney was focused on crushing Transgrancanaria, Mt. Fuji 100, and the Hardrock 100, so never the twain did meet.
This year, Katie went to Hardrock and broke Courtney’s course record, but Courtney had opted to test her mettle at the Cocodona 250, and while that didn’t go the way she hoped, she rebounded to run—and win, naturally—the Lavaredo 120K. There was a hope (and c’mon, I wasn’t the only one, right?!), that hoped they’d both be on the UTMB starting line in August, but while that was Courtney’s plan, Katie opted not to race in Chamonix and instead planned to crew her partner, Germain Grangier, in that same race, and also rest up for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships a month later in Spain.
And it made perfect sense for her. Although Grangier wasn’t able to finish UTMB, Katie went on to dominate the 82K race at the world championships, reasserting her status as the top women’s ultra-trail runner of the past two years. Courtney, as we know, was on pace to win this year’s UTMB, until, of course, she wasn’t.
I’ve long believed that trail running needs its top stars to go head to head at least once a year in a championship-style race—both to ensure optimally competitive races but also to maximize interest in the sport that then will go a long way to promote continuity of fandom, brand investment, growth of the core community, and vibrant racing pursuits among age-group runners. It hasn’t always been the case, and unfortunately, it’s actually rarely the case as the sport has globalized.
Consider that Courtney and Katie have only raced against each other four times—UTMB in 2019 and 2021, Madeira Island 115K in 2019, and Western States in 2023—and Jim and Killian have competed in the same race five times—UTMB in 2017, 2018, and 2022, and Sierre-Zinal in 2019, and the Chianti Ultra Trail 120K race in Italy last spring.
In both cases, neither has been ducking one another, but they oddly haven’t raced each other much because of the peculiar setup of the sport. And yes, let’s face it, scheduling and running long ultras are both difficult tasks, even without trying to sync up with other runners at the same events.
“That’s why I felt it was hard to make my decision this year because I don’t want to be part of the dilution of the sport,” Schide said. “But then I have to remind myself, I’ve raced at UTMB four times. It’s not like I am trying to avoid anyone. There are a lot of big events, and, you know, other people could have taken bibs for Hardrock or other races. It’s just kind of how the sport is, and that you have to plan a year of racing a year and a half in advance.”
As much as Courtney and Katie are the dominant runners in the sport right now, we know that the time at the top of any sport—but especially ultra-distance trail running—can be fleeting. No doubt they’ll each continue to churn out inspiringly strong performances for years to come, but new stars are emerging, too, and that’s a good thing.
In this modern age of trail ultrarunning—when more money, exposure, science, and sophistication have entered the sport—we’ve been blessed to have athletes like Courtney, Jim, Francois, and Kilian, achieve long-term success on the sport’s biggest stages. It certainly speaks to their legendary prowess and determination, not to mention their ability to stay healthy, motivated, and on top of their game.
But as racing continues to get faster and the sport gets more and more competitive, that doesn’t seem like it will be the norm going forward. While runners like Ruth Croft, Zach Miller, Abby Hall, Tom Evans, David Roche, Jonathan Albon, Hayden Hawks, and Ludovic Pommeret have won their share of races and are still at the front of the pack, we’re about to see—and are already seeing—a new influx of youngers stars, starting with Schide, that will take the sport to a whole new level.
Even though only a few have cracked the upper echelon of the sport, the list of emerging stars seems endless. Caleb Olson, Tara Dower, Rod Farvard, Fu-Zhao Xiang, Riley Brady, Jen Licther, Chris Myers, Katharina Hartmuth, Ryan Montgomery, Anne Flower, Hans Troyer, Francesco Puppi, Camille Bruyas, Ben Dhiman, Josh Wade, Jia-Sheng Shen, Seth Ruhling, Jeff Mogavero, and Will Murray are just some of the many runners on their way up. And I guarantee there are runners I haven’t mentioned that will emerge in a big way in 2026.
With more support, more advanced fueling, training, equipment, and sponsorships emerging every year, the sport is exploding at the tip of the spear. And while this competitive zeitgeist is playing out in real time—just look at the record-setting efforts of Murray and Dower at the Javelina Jundred this past weekend—it’s been years in the making, going back to the dominance and influence of runners like Ann Trason and Scott Jurek in the 1990s before many of the current stars were born.
While top runners “back in the day” like Trason and Jurek certainly inspired contemporaries as well as the next generation of runners, the growth, exposure, and resources of today have led to an exponential and almost spontaneous progression in the sport.
But, if you look at the history of the road running boom in the 1970s and 1980s and the original triathlon growth surge in the 1980s and 1990s, there’s at least a hint that the bright lights shining on ultra-trail elite athletes might start to dim slightly in the near future. In both marathoning and triathlon, the top-tier athletes were initially household names within their sport, but at some point the media attention and public fanfare shifted to the goals, aspirations, and storytelling of everyday age-group athletes who make up the core of those sports.
But the dilution of ultra-trail running could still be imminent as more top athletes emerge from faraway places, more events gain prominence, the sport continues to boom, and a new generation of runners defines what’s important to them.
There are many reasons why the competitive depth of any given race can seem diluted, and why top stars don’t race head-to-head very often.
First, numerous high-profile races aren’t set up to have very large elite fields, including Western States, Hardrock, and, of course, the notorious Barkley Marathons. Secondly, aside from the most prestigious ultras on the calendar, there are dozens of other races that elite runners are compelled to enter—either because they want to vary their schedule, they want to race in different places, they’re trying to qualify for Western States or UTMB, or because their primary sponsors have a persuasive interest.
Those scenarios will become even more pervasive in years to come as prominent races pop up in new places, with bigger prize purses, and at different times of the year.
The World Mountain and Trail Running Championships could continue to throw a wrench into the mix as a highly coveted event, even though it’s on a bi-annual schedule. But already this year, several runners reconsidered their interest in racing at the UTMB Mont Blanc finals in August—including Jim and Katie—because this year’s event was planned for late September. (The 2027 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Cape Town are scheduled for early October, so that could be less disruptive.)
While most ultra-trail athletes are mum about their racing plans this time of year, a few hints emerge based on the UTMB-qualifying races or Western States Golden Ticket races they run from September to April. Then more plans are revealed when lottery results and final fields are announced for races like Western States, Hardrock, Leadville, Black Canyon 100K, Mont-Blanc Marathon, and High Lonesome. And Barkley, whenever and however the heck that happens.
The exciting thing about ultra-trail running is that every year is different. The biggest events on the calendar continue to draw deep fields of top-tier runners, with fresh talent emerging and course records falling year after year.
In June, when I asked Jim and Kilian about what scenario could get them on the same starting line again—perhaps Western States or UTMB. They truly had no idea if or when it might happen, but they were each definitely interested.
As a longtime chronicler of the sport, I certainly hope it happens sooner or later. In three to five years (or perhaps much sooner), there will be new runners dominating the podiums of the biggest races. The same goes for a Courtney and Katie matchup. Both scenarios would drive enormous interest long before the livestream got underway, and it would be huge for the sport.
In a perfect world, we’d see both Courtney and Katie line up at Western States, Hardrock, or UTMB next summer. I asked them each about it and both seem interested, but as of now, like Jim and Kilian, they just don’t know.
“For sure, Katie and I will share some trails at some point,” Courtney told me. “I would love that. But I think also with ultras, your heart has to be fully into the race that you’re choosing. And so to align that with another person is difficult. We both have to chase our passions of what’s really pulling at us right now. Because to run for over a day in a race, you have to want it for your heart and for your own reasons.”
