2026 UTMB champion Ben Dhiman may have been born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, but one thing was clear when he crossed the finish line in fastest time ever—the French have adopted him as one of their own.
Case in point: It was nearly impossible to nail down this interview. Every French outlet wanted to talk with Dhiman, who lives in the French Pyranees with his wife and three children. The fluent French speaker graciously surrendered his time to Trail Runner, 24 hours after his historic win.
Trail Runner went on a bit of a wild goose chase to bring his story to an American audience, taking the bus out of downtown Chamonix, still frenetic with fans cheering in the final finishers of UTMB, to Hotel Eden, which Asics had rented out for the week, a few miles up valley.
A serene oasis awaited, with lemon water and Coke on ice and a few Asics athletes packing up their belongings after an extended training camp in the Chamonix valley. An hour later Dhiman arrived and we grabbed a few minutes with him before the next obligation.
“I’m still running off the energy from yesterday,” he told Trail Runner. “It feels like the the ultramarathon is just continuing a bit. I’m OK with that.”
Dhiman has devoted the last four years of his life to this race. The first two attempts began promisingly, before he succombed to the long night that does so many runners in that this uniquely challening event with its evening start and maniacal 33,000 feet of climbing and descent. He broke out last year with a runner-up finish, but he left the Chamonix valley wanting more.
While he made his ambition to break the tape in Chamonix clear from the get-go four years ago, Dhiman seems to approach ultrarunning much like a thruhiker on a long trail—which makes sense, given he thru-hiked long trails like the Continental Divide Trail after playing soccer at Emory University.
“It’s been a project that’s been a huge source of motivation for me to work on myself as a runner and an athlete,” he said. “It’s been a hell of a process to to to go from somebody who just wanted to win with kind of open ambition to somebody who really knows how to get it done, and the journey’s priceless.”
His unconventional background also comes with certain advantages in ultrarunning, like resilency and a high threshold for suffering. “It instills a sense of gratitude for being outside and moving, the simple things,” he said. “It’s a beautiful sport because it’s really not complicated.”
Dhiman believes his an example of the power of determination. Add to that: the power of manifestation. “The biggest lesson is listen to your drive and really follow through,” he said. “It happens eventually.”