Jim Walmsley began his runner career as a middle-distance runner. He ran Cross Country the 5,000m, 10,000m and the steeplechase while attending the Air Force Academy. After Jim’s transition to Ultra-Trail running, the records and accolades began to tumble. 

For four consecutive years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) he was named Ultrarunner of the Year and his dominance in the US has been incredible over this time. 

Walmsley holds the course records for many ultra marathons, but perhaps is best known for his Western States pedigree which he has won three times, 2018, 2019 and 2021, breaking the course record twice.. 

The extent to which he has dominated the sport for a prolonged period means Jim Walmsley must truly be considered as one of the best Ultra Marathon runners on the planet.

Courtney Dauwalter’s journey from dropping out of her first 100 mile race at the 60 mile mark to becoming one of the best Ultra runners in the world demonstrates that this sport is all about resilience and hard work. 

Breaking onto the scene in 2016, Courtney won the Run Rabbit Ultra marathon by 75 minutes and then broke the course record for the Javelina Jundred 100k. The victory at Run Rabbit Ultra marathon was repeated in 2017, once again demonstrating the extent of her resilience as she suffered from temporary blindness in the final 12 miles. Since then, she has gone from strength to strength, repeating her 2019 UTMB win earlier this year and breaking the course record in the process.

Not only do her victories and records mean Courtney Dauwalter makes her way onto this list, but her resilience and dedication means she is someone any runner of any standard can be inspired by. 

After entering his first ultra in 2010, it took Xavier Thevenard only 3 years to be crowned UTMB champion in 2013. The French born ultra runner has gone on to win the event a further two times in 2015 and 2018. The mountains are clearly a breeze for this mountain runner who in 2019 won the Ultra Trail Mt Fuji. 

To this day, Xavier remains the only person on the planet to have won all 4 categories of race at the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc. He won this crown through his victories at UTMB (2013, 2015, 2018), CCC (2010), TDS (2014) and OCC (2016). 

Being the only person on the planet to achieve this feat, and his numerous other accolades means that Xavier Thevenard can make it on to this list and be considered one of the best ultra runners in the world. 

Audrey Tanguy broke onto the Ultra running scene in 2018 when she won the 145 Kilometer TDS race in Chamonix. Since then, Tanguy hasn’t looked back as success has followed ever since. Tanguy repeated her victory at TDS the following year in 2019 cementing her place as one of the best female Ultra runners in the world. 

In 2021 Tanguy won the Project Carbon X 100k race and finished 7th in the overall rankings for the race. Tanguy also became the champion of Le Tour de la Grande Casse in 2020 and continued with the success as she claimed the title of Les Drailles de la Galinette. Tanguy is definitely a highly successful and highly talented Ultra runner and one that we will continue to watch for at Ultra X    

Jacqui Bell, Ultra X athlete, is a multi-stage specialist. She was the youngest female to conquer Racing the Planet’s 4x Desert Grand Slam: this means Jacqui ran four 250km self-supported races across some of the harshest and most brutal deserts in the world. These include the sweltering Namibian, Gobi and Atacama Deserts and also the Antarctic. 

Jacqui is also the youngest woman to run an ultra marathon on each of the seven continents and has won other events such as the Fire and Ice ultra. 

With such a number of records already at such a young age we are excited to see what comes next and are proud to have as part of the Ultra X team. 

Joseph Gray is one of the most decorated runners in the US trail running and mountain running communities. He is a 16 time USA national champion runner while also winning the 2016 World Mountain Running Championships. 

These achievements alone are sufficient to make it onto the list, however Gray’s contribution to the sport is much more than this. Gray was the first black runner to be selected for the USA’s world mountain running team, while also being the first black athlete to win the US national championships and has used this platform to raise awareness of the lack of diversity in the sport with significant impact.

As selected by a poll conducted by the World Mountain Running Association Gray has been named the best male mountain runner of all time. In the case the people have spoken, and therefore Gray makes his way onto this list as one of the best ultra runners on the planet. 

Yiannis Kouros continues to be one of the biggest names in the Ultra Marathon World. Until earlier this year, when his record was broken, he held the 24-hour world record where he ran a staggering 303.306km since 1997. Records such as these have led to him being granted names such as ‘the Running God’, ‘the Golden Greek’ and ‘Successor to Phiedippes’. 

Kouros won 4 Spartathlons and holds the top four fastest times for the prestigious event. With his first win, the race organisers held back the medal as they believed there was no way he could have completed the course legitimately in the time recorded. The next year Kouros was followed the whole way round the course and went on to beat his time from the previous year! 

Despite not competing for some time he still holds numerous prestigious records, most of which are beyond belief of what any human is capable of. During the Sydney to Melbourne Ultra Kouros was challenged to begin the race 12 hours behind other competitors to see if he could win the race. Not only did Kouros accept the challenge, but he then went on to win the race by a full hour. 

There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that Kouros can be considered one of the best ultra runners. 

After running the Lidgöloppet 30 km race in her home nation and placing 126th it only took Mimmi Kotka 6 years before she won the CCC race in 2016. A year later Kotka returned to Chamonix and won the 2017 TDS race by nearly two and half hours, demolishing the former course record by 46 minutes. 

Kotka has also gone on to win other events such as the Quartrail des Alpages 50 km, UTM Marão 55 km, Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 115 km and many others. For two consecutive events in 2019 and 2021 Kotka won the La 6000D 67 km. She is definitely an Ultra runner at the height of her career and dominating the field across large parts of Europe.