Introduction
What are the WMTRC 2025?
The World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) 2025 gathers the world’s best mountain and trail runners in one place to battle it out across five different race formats.
This edition marks the third year of the unified championships, a format that started in 2022 (originally planned for 2021, but delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic) to bring together what used to be scattered competitions under one prestigious banner. World Athletics oversees the event alongside three key organisations: the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), and the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU).
Here’s what makes this year special: we’re celebrating 40 years of official mountain running competitions. Athletes will compete across five disciplines—Uphill, Classic, U20 Classic, Short Trail, and Long Trail—each testing different aspects of mountain and trail running mastery.
Where and when are the races?
The action unfolds in Canfranc-Pirineos, Spain, right in the heart of the challenging Aragonese Pyrenees. This location makes history as the first time Spain and the Pyrenees—Europe’s second-most important mountain range—host this unified global championship.
Mark your calendar: four days of intense competition from Thursday, 25 September, through Sunday, 28 September, 2025.
Scale and significance
The 2025 WMTRC is shaping up to be the largest and most exciting edition yet. Organisers expect between 1,700 and 2,000 participants from up to 80 countries.
But the numbers tell only part of the story. The championships feature a prize pool approaching €100,000—nearly double what athletes competed for at the 2023 Innsbruck championships. This financial boost reflects how the sport continues to professionalise and grow.
The local impact is equally impressive. The region projects an economic return of around €30 million, a significant jump from the €7.2 million generated by the 2023 event.
The organisers are also serious about keeping the sport clean. This year features the most comprehensive anti-doping program in the event’s history, including blood tests and full WADA protocol implementation with both national and international partners.
Race Format, Schedule, Course Details.
The World Mountain and Trail Running Championship 2025 race format, schedule, and course details are sorted by date in the following table. I’ve highlighted the different classification for the races: the World Mountain Running Championship (WMRC) and the Trail World Championship (TWC).
|
Race Name |
Category |
Distance |
Elevation Gain |
Date |
Start Time (CEST) |
Course Details & Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Uphill (Vertical Mountain) |
WMRC |
6.4km |
990m+ |
Thursday, 25 Sep. |
Men: 10:00 |
An all-uphill climb, ending high on Larraca Mountain. It is the only race that does not start from the Canfranc International Railway Station. |
|
Short Trail |
TWC |
44.5km |
3,657m+ |
Friday, 26 Sep. |
08:00 |
A single loop that follows the longtime Canfranc-Canfranc Marathon course and crosses the French border and back. It features four major climbs (the biggest two in the first half) and a challenging descent with 122 downhill curves near the finish. |
|
Long Trail |
TWC |
81.2km |
5,413m+ |
Saturday, 27 Sep. |
07:00 |
Billed as the “hardest and most demanding” event. It is a continuous up-and-down course traversing alpine-style routes through landmarks like La Moleta and the Izas valley. The terrain is varied (pastures, loose rock, forest trails). |
|
Classic Up and Down |
WMRC |
14.3km |
767m+ |
Sunday, 28 Sep. |
Women: 10:30 |
A two-loop course suitable for fast running in a pine forest. Each loop has one big climb. |
|
U20 Classic Up and Down |
WMRC |
7.5km |
400m+ |
Sunday, 28 Sep. |
TBC |
This race uses the first loop of the Classic Up and Down course. |
Where to watch?
For fans who can’t be there in person, there are plenty of ways to follow the action. Live digital coverage will be available across multiple platforms, including the event website and dedicated sports media outlets like iRunFar.
You can watch the race livestreams on the CANFRANC-PIRINEOS YouTube channel.
Prize money and championship integrity
The 2025 championships is also a statement about the growing professionalisation and integrity of the sport. With a significant increase in prize money and a stronger commitment to anti-doping measures, the event is setting new standards for mountain and trail running.
Record-breaking prize money
The numbers speak volumes about how seriously organisers are taking this event. With a prize pool approaching €100,000, they’ve nearly doubled what athletes competed for in Innsbruck 2023.
This isn’t just about bigger paycheques. The substantial increase reflects trail running’s explosive growth and sends a clear message: these athletes deserve recognition that matches their incredible achievements. It’s all part of a broader strategy that organisers expect will generate around €30 million in economic impact for the region.
How is the prize money distributed?
The prize money will be distributed across the four senior race formats, ensuring fair payouts for each category. Each of the four senior races—Uphill, Classic Up and Down, Short Trail, and Long Trail—will have a dedicated prize purse of €24,000.
The winners of each race will take home €5,000. Payouts will go through the top five finishers in each race, ensuring recognition for those who push the limits of the sport.
Keeping the sport clean
At the heart of the 2025 WMTRC is the unwavering commitment to a “cleaner trail.” Ensuring the integrity of the competition is just as important as the athletes’ performances themselves.
This year, Canfranc-Pirineos is stepping up its anti-doping measures with “more rigorous controls than ever before”. The event will follow the official WADA anti-doping protocol, which includes not only urine tests but also blood tests for the first time. These extra measures ensure that the impressive feats we witness on the trail are genuine—and that victory is earned through skill, endurance, and honesty.
A dedicated Medical and Anti-Doping Center ensures samples are collected under proper conditions with full medical rigour and safety protocols.
Since 2021, Canfranc has led the way in promoting fair play in mountain races across Spain, having implemented similar anti-doping protocols at the WMRA World Cup. This level of commitment is possible through collaborations with key organisations like WMRA, World Athletics, Celad (Spain’s public anti-doping agency), and RFEA (Royal Spanish Athletics Federation).
Competition analysis: teams and athletes
The 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships arrives at a fascinating moment. Just weeks after the massive UTMB Mont-Blanc festival, elite athletes are making strategic decisions about recovery, freshness, and where to place their bets for glory.
This timing creates a unique challenge: athletes need to balance recovery with the pressure of a global showdown. Competitors from well-established circuits like the Golden Trail World Series and Skyrunner World Series will face off in a race that’s about more than individual glory—strategy and team dynamics will play a huge role.
Team dynamics
What sets the WMTRC apart from other major events is its emphasis on team scoring. Individual brilliance matters, but so does depth. The cumulative performance of each nation’s top three athletes determines team champions, creating strategic layers that pure individual races can’t match.
In recent years, African nations — particularly Kenya and Uganda — have been dominant in the shorter distance events, and they’re sure to be favorites again. In fact, Uganda led the individual medal count in 2022 (7), while Kenya topped the overall medal count in 2023 (5).
The scoring system also varies depending on the race distance: for shorter races like the Uphill and Classic events, the focus is on placing, while for longer races like the Short Trail and Long Trail, cumulative times will be the deciding factor.
Spain brings the power of home advantage. Their deep talent pool, proven at youth levels, gets a boost from intimate course knowledge and a passionate home crowd in the demanding Pyrenees terrain.
Team USA is making a statement with their largest-ever commitment: 48 fully-funded athletes plus six staff. This marks the first time their budget covers the complete roster, promoting inclusion and professional support. Their men’s Long Trail team features multiple Western States 100 champions and might be the strongest ever assembled for a world championship.
France took the opposite approach, requiring their athletes to skip UTMB Mont-Blanc entirely to prioritise freshness for Worlds. Will this gamble pay dividends?
Women’s key storylines
One of the biggest narratives is the debut of Katie Schide, an American powerhouse who won Hardrock 100 (2025) and UTMB (2022, 2024). Schide is focusing on the Long Trail race and opted to skip UTMB to give the WMTRC her full attention. Her range is impressive—she finished second at Sierre-Zinal just three weeks after breaking the Hardrock course record.
Grayson Murphy, a two-time world champion in the Classic (Up and Down) and 2023 Vertical bronze medalist, is also one to watch. This year, Murphy is moving up the distances by competing in the Short Trail race, a move that could surprise many.
Thus, the Women’s Short Trail field is loaded with contenders facing different preparation strategies. France’s Clémentine Geoffray returns to defend her 2023 title, rested from skipping UTMB week. She’ll battle local favourite Sara Alonso, fresh off her fourth place finish at OCC 2025, having recovered from a broken rib sustained in a training accident with a cow in July.
Romania’s Denisa Dragomir, the 2022 Short Trail champion and current Skyrunner World Series leader, brings serious credentials. The Swiss duo of Judith Wyder and Maude Mathys recently dueled at the OCC race and pose a significant threat, though Mathys faces the challenge of doubling back from the WMRC Uphill race the day before.
Men’s key storylines
In mountain running, all eyes turn to Kenya’s Patrick Kipngeno in the WMRC Uphill. He’s chasing history with an unprecedented three-peat, having won in both 2022 and 2023. This powerhouse climber boasts an extremely high podium rate since 2022 and is focusing solely on the Uphill this year.
Norway’s Stian Angermund also seeks a three-peat in TWC Short Trail. The former two-time OCC winner and defending champion returned to competition this year after serving a 16-month doping sanction. His comeback included a ninth-place finish at Zegama and a strong second behind Davide Magnini at Gerardmont.
The Men’s Long Trail offers a tantalizing rematch. American Jim Walmsley and Italian Francesco Puppi battled for gold in 2019, with Walmsley winning by just 50 seconds. Both arrive with recent momentum—Walmsley from his OCC victory, Puppi from winning the CCC.
Both are part of the large group of “doublers” from UTMB week. The Men’s OCC top 10, including Walmsley, Cristian Minoggio (2nd), and Adam Peterman (6th), are all transitioning to WMTRC, mostly targeting the Long Trail. Recovery becomes crucial.
American Short Trail contenders Eli Hemming and David Sinclair face an even more challenging double, moving from the grueling 100km CCC race to the full-throttle demands of Short Trail. Can they manage the transition?
Want to dive deeper into the championships? Check out the following:
- The official event website will be a central hub, offering everything from full entrants lists and live tracking for all four races.
- iRunFar’s extensive pre-race previews for each race will help you get familiar with the athletes and what to expect from each race. They also have pre-race video interviews with some of the top competitors, including Jim Walmsley, Katie Schide, Caleb Olson, and Sylvia Nordscar.
- Free Trail has a fantasy hub with detailed analytical data. This includes historical stats, race predictions, and other resources to help fans better understand the competitive dynamics.
Closing thoughts
The 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Canfranc-Pirineos represents everything we love about our sport distilled into four incredible days.
Whether you’re following the live streams, checking splits between your own training runs, or planning your own mountain adventure inspired by what you see, you’re part of this global community. The athletes wearing their national colors up those Pyrenean peaks carry all of us with them.
Four days. Five disciplines. One mountain range that will crown world champions and create stories we’ll be telling for years.
The 2025 WMTRC isn’t just about who crosses the line first—it’s about celebrating the spirit that drives us all to keep exploring what’s possible when the trail turns upward.