There are quieter ways to enter Chamonix week. Jim Walmsley and Kilian Jornet did not choose any of them.
Walmsley's Western States looked like a Walmsley race for 30 miles and like a problem at 55. Foresthill is a long way to walk home when you already own four titles and the old record. He has done this reset before — OCC last year, then a world mountain title. This time the reset is the monument itself.
Jornet raced Zegama in May, faded to 44th, took time off, and still started Western. The knee is now part of the start-list graphic. A fifth UTMB on that leg would move him past D'Haene alone. A second DNF in a summer would not make him less Kilian. It would make the ranking, which already has him at #3 overall and #4 on the 100-mile board, look temporarily honest.
Bouillard does not need a redemption arc. That is the new problem for both of them.
