UTMB: First ever Chinese winner as Jia Erenjia duels Spaniard in 55km OCC then leaves competition for dead in final stretch
Jia Erenjia duels with Pablo Villalobos for most of the race, then opens a six-minute lead to become the first Chinese to win a UTMB race
Chinese runner Jia Erenjia became the first Chinese runner to win any Ultra Trail of Mont Blanc race when he pulled away from the pack at the 55km Orsieres-Champex-Chamonix (OCC).
Jia and Spaniard Pablo Villalobos were neck and neck for most of the race, overtaking each other back and forth, until Jia made a move late in the race and won by a commanding six minutes as Villalobos dropped to fourth.
On Wednesday, Yun Yanqiao and Ma Yanxing became the first Chinese to finish in the top 10 at any UTMB race at the 120km TDS. But their boast of top Chinese ever at the famous running week looked certain to be broken as the OCC developed.
Ethnic Tibetan Jia, yet another sports school-produced road runner with a 2:20 marathon, is sponsored by Toread, China’s domestic outdoor brand. It is perhaps for this reason that he has not received as much attention and publicity as China’s other top runners – such as Shen, or Qi Min and Yao Miao, who are running the CCC on Friday – who are sponsored by major international brands.