Francois d’Haene runs Jim Walmsley into the ground and leaves Kilian Jornet in his wake to seal third Mont Blanc victory

Francois d’Haene won the 160 kilometre Ultra-Marathon of Mont Blanc (UTMB) for the third time, finishing in 19 hours.

He ran for the majority of the race with Jim Walmsley, from the USA, and Kilian Jornet Burgada, from Spain, as a pack of three.

D’Haene, a Frenchman, forced Walmsley into a pace he couldn’t sustain and then once he had dispatched the American he drew away from Jornet to comfortably take his third title.

The woman’s race was won by Nuria Picas Albets, of Spain, who pipped Andrea Huser, from Switzerland, to the post by just three minutes. Christelle Bard, from France, came in third half-an-hour later, around 50 minutes ahead of fourth place Kaori Niwa from Japan.

Both male and female races were much hyped as the ‘Race of the Decade’ due to their enormous depth of fields.

The course was shortened from its usual 171km because of poor weather, and started awkwardly.

The runners were given a one-minute warning then a 30-second warning as Russian marching songs blared to build the atmosphere.