Katie Schide and Jim Walmsley Dominate 2025 World Trail Championships in Canfranc

The Pyrenees rarely give anything away. But under clear skies in Canfranc, Spain, the mountains were kind enough to show two familiar faces back on top: Katie Schide and Jim Walmsley.

Across more than 80 kilometers of jagged climbs and descents, the American duo reaffirmed their standing as the world’s most complete trail runners, winning the Long Trail titles at the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.

One day earlier, Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson and France’s Frédéric Tranchand, both decorated orienteers, delivered runaway victories in the Short Trail (45 km), underscoring how navigation-born agility and technical precision are becoming decisive assets in elite trail running.

The week-long championships, hosted for the first time in the Pyrenees, drew more than 1,600 athletes from 70 nations across four events: Uphill, Short Trail, Long Trail, and the Classic Up-and-Down mountain race.

Long Trail (81 km, 5,078 m+)

From the opening climb up La Moleta, Katie Schide took control of the women’s race and never let go. Running alone for most of the day, she crossed the line in 9:57:59, comfortably under the race organizers’ optimistic 10-hour projection.

Behind her, Nepal’s Sunmaya Budha and Italy’s Fabiola Conti waged a tight duel before Budha broke clear over the final 20 kilometers to take silver in 10:23:03, with Conti third in 10:35:51.

Schide’s performance was business as usual, which is saying something.

The American, who lives in the French Alps, has spent the last two seasons redefining consistency in women’s ultrarunning, setting course records at UTMB (2024) and Hardrock (2025), winning Western States, and even reaching the podium at the speed-heavy Sierre-Zinal just weeks before this race. Her ability to adapt, from smooth 100-milers to rocky alpine loops like Canfranc, has made her the sport’s new standard-bearer.

In a deeper-than-usual field, Canada’s Jazmine Lowther impressed by surging from 29th early on to finish fourth in 10:45:18, just ahead of Spain’s Rosa Lara (10:47:15). France’s Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret, winner of this year’s Transvulcania, took sixth in 10:50:45, while Italy’s Martina Valmassoi, returning from injury, finished seventh.

Defending champion Marion Delespierre of France rallied from mid-pack to eighth in 11:03:01, and Italy’s Giuditta Turini out-sprinted France’s Hillary Gerardi for ninth by a single second in one of the day’s most dramatic finishes.

Women’s Top 10:

1. Katie Schide (USA) — 9:57:59
2. Sunmaya Budha (Nepal) — 10:23:03
3. Fabiola Conti (Italy) — 10:35:51
4. Jazmine Lowther (Canada) — 10:45:18
5. Rosa Lara (Spain) — 10:47:15
6. Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret (France) — 10:50:45
7. Martina Valmassoi (Italy) — 10:55:07
8. Marion Delespierre (France) — 11:03:01
9. Giuditta Turini (Italy) — 11:05:19
10. Hillary Gerardi (France) — 11:05:20

Women’s Team Podium:

1. Italy
2. United States
3. France

For the men, Jim Walmsley was understated before the start, only a month removed from his win at OCC and openly unsure how his legs would respond to another brutal course. But by mid-race, the familiar pattern emerged, sitting in the top group early, then tightening the screws through the long, exposed climbs above Peyrenère.

Walmsley’s 8:35:11 finish time landed almost exactly on the organizers’ 8.5-hour prediction and put him nearly 11 minutes clear of France’s Benjamin Roubiol and Louison Coiffet, who finished together in 8:46:05 to secure team gold for France. Italy’s Cristian Minoggio, runner-up to Walmsley at OCC, held steady for fourth (8:57:16), while Slovakia’s Peter Fraňo closed strong for fifth.

Sweden’s Petter Engdahl, Poland’s Andrzej Witek, and American Adam Peterman all featured in the chase, with Peterman, the 2022 Long Trail world champion, rallying late to eighth after briefly dropping behind Italy’s Francesco Puppi. France’s Vincent Bouillard and Baptiste Chassagne rounded out the top ten.

Men’s Top 10:

1. Jim Walmsley (USA) — 8:35:11
2. Benjamin Roubiol (France) — 8:46:05
3. Louison Coiffet (France) — 8:46:05
4. Cristian Minoggio (Italy) — 8:57:16
5. Peter Fraňo (Slovakia) — 9:01:37
6. Petter Engdahl (Sweden) — 9:03:38
7. Andrzej Witek (Poland) — 9:12:38
8. Adam Peterman (USA) — 9:18:36
9. Francesco Puppi (Italy) — 9:20:22
10. Vincent Bouillard (France) — 9:22:10

Men’s Team Podium:

1. France
2. United States
3. Italy

For Walmsley, who once seemed like a pure Western States speedster, the win may carry more weight than the faster races on his résumé. The Pyrenees’ steep, rocky terrain has humbled many of Europe’s best. That Walmsley could win comfortably after a full summer of racing shows a mastery of craft few can match.

Short Trail (45 km, 3,657 m+)

The day before, Canfranc’s shorter loop turned into a showcase for two athletes more accustomed to reading maps than following flags.

Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, a ten-time world orienteering champion, obliterated the women’s field in 5:04:20, finishing 17th overall, barely eight percent slower than the men’s winner. Her performance, on a course featuring four major climbs and over 120 switchbacks on the descent, may go down as one of the most dominant ever at a global trail championship.

Spain’s Sara Alonso, a Sierre-Zinal podium finisher, took second in 5:38:15, narrowly holding off Great Britain’s Naomi Lang (5:38:54). Norway’s Ida Amelie Robsahm and Austria’s Anna Plattner completed the top five.

Women’s Top 10:

1. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) — 5:04:20
2. Sara Alonso (Spain) — 5:38:15
3. Naomi Lang (Great Britain) — 5:38:54
4. Ida Amelie Robsahm (Norway) — 5:44:54
5. Anna Plattner (Austria) — 5:45:40
6. Clémentine Geoffray (France) — 5:46:28
7. Jane Maus (USA) — 5:48:23
8. Ikram Rharsalla (Spain) — 5:53:19
9. Johanna Gelfgren (Sweden) — 5:56:41
10. Barbora Bukovjan (Czech Republic) — 5:56:43

Women’s Team Podium:

1. Sweden
2. Spain
3. France

In the men’s race, Frédéric Tranchand, another world-class orienteer turned mountain runner, surged clear on the first descent and never let the pack back in. He won in 4:42:10, three minutes ahead of Spain’s Manuel Merillas (4:45:33). Spain’s Andreu Blanes, who had led early, hung on for third (4:51:52) ahead of compatriot Alain Santamaria and Poland’s Marcin Kubica.

Men’s Top 10:

1. Frédéric Tranchand (France) — 4:42:10
2. Manuel Merillas (Spain) — 4:45:33
3. Andreu Blanes (Spain) — 4:51:52
4. Alain Santamaria (Spain) — 4:55:48
5. Marcin Kubica (Poland) — 4:56:38
6. Luca Del Pero (Italy) — 4:56:57
7. Martin Nilsson (Sweden) — 4:57:09
8. Davide Magnini (Italy) — 4:57:42
9. Sylvain Cachard (France) — 4:58:23
10. Lorenzo Rota Martir (Italy) — 4:58:54

Men’s Team Podium:

1. Spain
2. France
3. Italy

Alexandersson’s and Tranchand’s wins reinforced a growing crossover between orienteering and mountain running. Both athletes, renowned for their map-reading precision and ability to move efficiently over rough terrain, used that technical instinct to devastating effect on Canfranc’s unpredictable course.

This edition of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships might be remembered as the most demanding yet, not for altitude or heat, but for the unrelenting terrain. The climbs were too long to fake, the descents too technical to bluff. And for all the talk of super-shoes and split times, it came down to something simpler: those who could keep moving when the mountain turned meanest.

In Canfranc, that meant Schide, Walmsley, Alexandersson, and Tranchand, four athletes who, in different ways, showed what mastery looks like when the trail bites back.