F40-44 at UTMB Ultra Trail: Vieuille dominates from wire to wire

• Sarah Vieuille, 41, wins in 22:08:21 — holding the lead among women from the first checkpoint to the last, and posting the fastest women's split on the Arête du Mont-Favre→Lac Combal segment.
• Stephanie Case, 44, takes 2nd in 27:54:34 — climbing from 24th among women at her lowest point to finish 12th, with the 9th-fastest women's split on Fort de la Platte→Passeur de Pralognan.
• Lorna Bonnel, 40, rounds out the podium in 29:13:29 — steady throughout, and the 8th-fastest women's split on Beaufort sortie→Hauteluce.
• A tight cluster at the back: Maud Haffner (39:20:25), Elena Steidle (39:23:30), Aline Detry (39:25:52), and Caroline Guilloteau (39:30:30) all finished within 10 minutes of each other across 7th through 10th.

Sarah Vieuille ran a nearly flawless race across 145 kilometers from Courmayeur to Chamonix — one of the most technically demanding courses UTMB week puts on the calendar, with over 9,500 meters of elevation gain through the Beaufortain region. She never surrendered the lead among women, sitting 1st at every checkpoint tracked, and sealed the performance with the fastest women's split on the Arête du Mont-Favre→Lac Combal leg. Her winning time of 22:08:21 at a 14:45/mi average tells the story of someone who managed the night start and the altitude demands with real authority. The gap to 2nd place was a full 5 hours and 46 minutes.

Stephanie Case, 44, told a very different story — one of relentless forward movement. She was 14th among women at the opening checkpoint, slipped back to 24th, and then spent the rest of the race clawing back position: 20th, 15th, 12th, and 12th at the finish. Her 9th-fastest women's split on Fort de la Platte→Passeur de Pralognan was the engine of that comeback, and her 27:54:34 finish secured 2nd in the F40-44 field by over an hour ahead of Lorna Bonnel.

Bonnel herself was the model of consistency — entering the women's top 20 early and barely wavering, finishing 15th among women in 29:13:29. Wenfei Xie, 44, made the most dramatic move of anyone not on the podium: she was 33rd among women through the first two checkpoints before surging to 16th by the finish, with the 4th-fastest women's split on the Bourg Saint-Maurice segment powering her charge. Saadia Ajana, 43, made a similar arc — 44th among women early, 20th at the line — finishing 5th in 32:00:51 with a strong Beaufort sortie→Hauteluce split of her own. Mai Fukushima, 41, closed out the 11-finisher field in 42:22:06, completing a grueling journey from Courmayeur on a night that tested everyone who dared start it.