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TRAIL RUNNING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CANFRANC 2025: FINAL ENTRIES WITH SEVERAL WORLD CHAMPIONS
TRAIL RUNNING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CANFRANC 2025: FINAL ENTRIES WITH SEVERAL WORLD CHAMPIONS. The Aragonese Pyrenees are dressed up in September to host the CanfrancPirineos 2025 Mountain and Trail World Championships. An event that brings together the best runners on the planet, many of them already with medals in the two previous editions of this unified format: Chiang Mai (Thailand) 2021 and Innsbruck (Austria) 2023.
Read in Spanish. MUNDIAL CANFRANC 2025: Lista inscritos y campeones del mundo
Photo WMTRC 2023 / Roast Media
TRAIL RUNNING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CANFRANC 2025:
FINAL ENTRIES WITH NINE WORLD CHAMPIONS.
This will be the third installment of a story that is just beginning, but has already demonstrated the power of bringing together the cream of mountain athletics and trail running in a single championship. Canfranc, with its reputation as “the most beautiful international mountain resort in Europe,” will host 73 national teams from five continents with some 1,600 athletes registered to compete on spectacular terrain, as beautiful as it is merciless. World Mountain & Trail Running championships history.
This year, senior runners already established in the two previous editions will return to decide the new world champions and the medalists who will join them in each of the four senior events, seeking to consolidate their own legends. Of the 48 medals awarded in the two previous editions, no less than 24 will be in Canfranc-Pirineos to test themselves once again. Let us take a carefuk kook at them all.
The group of superstars will be led by talented athletes such as two-time world champions Patrick Kipngeno (Uphill) and Stian Angermund (Short Trail). Also competing will be Denisa Dragomir (2022 Short Trail gold medalist) and her successor Clementine Geoffray (2023 winner), Long Trail champions Adam Peterman (2022) and Benjamin Roubiol (2023), and Long Trail winner Marion Delespierre (2023). Also competing in the Classic is Allie McLaughlin, who won Vertical gold in 2022. In a historic context, we mustn’t forget Francesco Puppi and Jim Walmsley, Short Trail World Champions in 2017 and 2019 respectively, as well as two-time Classic Champion (2019, 2023) Grayson Murphy.
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UPHILL: KIPNGENO SEEKS THE TRIPLE CROWN
The route: Just 7 km, but with 1,000 meters of elevation gain. A breathless climb that starts in the green and gentle valley of the Santa Cristina Hotel (3 kilometers from Canfranc station) and climbs mercilessly to the alpine domains of Larraca. Pure vertical: from the river to the clouds.
Kenyan Patrick Kipngeno, the lord and master of Uphill, returns to this vertical event. Gold in Thailand 2021, gold in Innsbruck 2023… now she’s looking for the treble in 2025. All eyes will be on his springy stride, which turns impossible slopes into highways. At his side is compatriot Philaries Kesang, women’s silver medalist in Innsbruck 2023, who returns hungry for more. The Kenyan was a revelation in Austria, and now faces Canfranc confidently knowing she’s already among the best on the planet.
Also returning is Switzerland’s Maude Mathys, bronze medalist in Thailand 2021, a racer of Alpine finesse and one of the living legends of the world circuit. And keep an eye on Spaniard Álex García Carrillo, bronze medalist that same year: he’s racing at home, on terrain he knows, and with the added motivation of the Pyrenean fans.
Despite the absence of the current World Champion, Austrian Andrea Mayr, silver in 2021 and gold in 2023, the list of gold medal contenders is impressive. American Grayson Murphy, bronze in 2023, will also be present… but in the Short Trail, which raises new questions about the women’s vertical podium. In short, an event that will be almost a Pyrenean opera.
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CLASSIC: KENYA SEEKS A DOUBLE WITH KIRIAGO AND NJERU
The route: 14 km and +750 m, leg-breaking terrain through the Canfranc forests, with short, tough climbs, technical descents, and a route that gives no respite. You don’t win here, you survive faster than the rest.
The World Classic has always been the discipline where speed and mountains collide head-on. 2025 will be even more open, especially in the women’s category.
Why? Because the two queens of Innsbruck 2023, Grayson Murphy and Tove Alexandersson, have decided to make the jump to Short Trail. A strategic move that leaves the Classic without its champion and runner-up, opening up a range of possibilities. Among those returning, Kenyan Joyce Njeru stands out, bronze medalist at Innsbruck 2023. Lightning fast on short climbs, strong on descents, Njeru is now looking to give Kenya a women’s gold in this event.
In the men’s category, the generational shift is also making itself felt. Kenyan Philemon Kiriago, silver medalist at Innsbruck, returns with his sights set on the only thing missing: gold. His aggressive style promises a spectacular duel against the Europeans, who have the advantage of better familiarity with the technical Pyrenean trails. It will also be an opportunity to see if other emerging names can enter the fray. The Classic is fertile ground for surprises, and Canfranc, with its vertiginous descents and treacherous climbs, promises a spectacle to
SHORT TRAIL: STIAN SEEKS A TRIPLE
The route: 45 km with over 3,600 m. A colossal marathon, closer to a short Ultra than a classic Alpine marathon. Aerial ridges, endless descents, and technical high-mountain passes make this course a monster of beauty and pain.
If Kipngeno in the Uphill is looking for three golds, so does for the Short Trail norwegian Stian Angermund. He was already crowned in Thailand 2021 and Innsbruck 2023. He now arrives in Canfranc with the ambition of becoming a three-time world champion. His combination of power and technique make him a top contender, although the Pyrenean terrain offers nothing. Behind him will be Briton Thomas Roach, silver in Innsbruck, and Italian Luca del Pero, bronze that same year. Both know what it’s like to bite the podium and arrive eager for more.
Among the women, the duel will be exciting. Romanian Denisa Dragomir, the 2021 champion, is looking to reclaim her throne. Facing her is a star Swiss trio: Judith Wyder and Therese Leboeuf, silver and bronze medalists in 2023, plus the legendary Maude Mathys, who is moving up in distance after her bronze at the 2021 Classic.
Add to this the double unknown quantity of Grayson Murphy and Tove Alexandersson, who are coming in after gold and silver at the 2023 Classic to try their luck in the long distance. A bold gamble that may or may not pay off. After the Swedish athlete’s spectacular performance at the last Canfranc-Pirineos Marathon, where she threatened the men’s record, this event alone guarantees an unforgettable World Championship. ________________________________________
LONG TRAIL: PETERMAN VS. ROUBIOL FOR SECOND GOLD
The route: 80 km and over 6,000 m. Pure high-mountain terrain, with endless hills, late-season snowfall, and descents that leave you blackened for weeks. Here, epic performance replaces speed. The 2025 Canfranc-Pirineos Long Trail will be a clash of titans. T
he men’s event will feature none other than the two previous world champions: American Adam Peterman (2021 gold) and Frenchman Benjamin Roubiol (2023 gold). The two have very different styles. Peterman masters sustained rhythm, a long stride, and the ability to consistently shred kilometers. Roubiol’s strategy is to know how to suffer, manage each climb like a chess player, and finish when everyone else falters.
Joining them is Italian Andreas Reiterer, bronze in 2021 and silver in 2023. He has two consecutive podium finishes. Will this be his year of gold? And watch out for Slovakia’s Peter Frano, bronze in Innsbruck. Another who knows his way around in agonizing ultras. Adding extra excitement are the debutants at the World Championships in this distance. Italian Francesco Puppi, 2021 Short Trail runner-up, decides to try his hand at the 80 km. And even more media-friendly: Jim Walmsley, the current 2019 Short Trail World Champion, is making the jump to ultra. His fame precedes him: unpredictable, explosive, and capable of the best and the worst. In the women’s category, we have two runners-up: Sweden’s Ida Nilsson (silver in 2021) and Germany’s Katarina Hartmuth (silver in 2023). Joining them is Spain’s Gemma Arenas, bronze in 2021, who arrives with experience, solidity, and, above all, the support of the home crowd. Gemma is one of those who never give up, and on terrain as brutal as that offered by CanfrancPirineos, that resilience can be worth gold.
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CANFRANCPIRINEOS 2025, THE FINAL JUDGMENT
The 2025 Mountain and Trail World Championships will not only bring the best runners on the planet, but will do so in a setting that demands both body and spirit. The medalists from previous editions are back: Kipngeno, Angermund, Murphy, Alexandersson, Puppi, Walmsley, Peterman, Roubiol, Dragomir, Njeru, Mathys, Wyder… all with a proven track record. But CanfrancPirineos has a habit of biting the confident and rewarding the humble.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CANFRANC: THE COURSES
UPHILL
The Uphill race, however, will begin 2km away from the Canfranc International railway station. At the Santa Cristina Hotel, and will climb 986 vertical meters in a 6.5km route to Larraca peak through a pine forest. This course was recently featured in the World Masters Mountain Running Championship, held just two weeks ago.
CLASSIC
The mountain Classic race will challenge the fastest mountain runners of the world. The athletes will toe the line in front of the Canfranc International railway station and will cover 15km with 820 vertical meters split in two different loops of 8 and 7km through the Epifanio ravine before reaching the finish line back at the railway station. The Junior U20 course will go only through the first loop of the Classic race, with a length of 7,5km and 400m of altitude gain.
SHORT TRAIL MARATHON
The Short Trail event will follow the renowned CanfrancCanfranc marathon course (44.5km, 3700m altitude gain), which has seen victories from legendary athletes like Luis Alberto Hernando, Manu Merillas, and Charlotte Morgan. The climbs to La Moleta and Larraca peaks, the Loma Verde area and the downhill to the finish line in the station from Collado Estiviellas –with its famous 122 bends– will be among the highlights of the race.
LONG TRAIL ULTRA
Meanwhile, the Long Trail race will span 82km and feature a 5700m altitude gain, crossing the border into the French Pyrenees to reach the spectacular Lacs d’Ayous and passing famous ski stations such as Formigal and Candanchú.
