Tranchand and Alexandersson shatter short trail records at Canfranc

France’s Frederic Tranchand and Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson took the short trail victories at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships CanfrancPirineos 2025.

The four-day championships started on Thursday (25) with the uphill races, won by Switzerland’s Remi Bonnet and Germany’s Nina Engelhard.

In the men’s short trail race on Friday (26), two-time champion Stian Angermund was part of a leading trio during the first major ascent to the summit of La Moleta (2,572m) alongside Tranchand and Spain’s Manuel Merillas, a former winner of the Canfranc-Canfranc Marathon.

Tranchand managed to break away on the technical descent from La Moleta to Canal Roya, arriving there with more than a minute’s lead over Merillas and Angermund while the rest of the Spanish team began moving through the field.

By 35km, Tranchand continued to lead from Merillas and his Spanish teammates Andreu Blanes and Alain Santamaria, two, eight, and nine minutes behind, respectively. At the crucial final mountain pass before the descent to the finish line, Tranchand launched a full-throttle attack, crossing the line first in 4:42:10 to break thecourse record.

Merillas secured silver in 4:45:33 ahead of Blanes (4:51:52) and Santamaria (4:55:48). With Spain placing three men in the top four, they claimed the team gold medal ahead of France and Italy.

“Today I felt great right from the start and enjoyed the whole race,” said an emotional Tranchand. “I attacked aggressively on the descent from La Moleta, being careful not to overdo it, and managed to keep a strong pace the rest of the way. I had a slight cramp towards the end but stayed fully focused and got the win.”

Alexandersson had already shown her massive potential on this course a few weeks ago at the Canfranc-Canfranc, where she set a course record of 5:38:04, despite suffering a hard fall that required medical attention.

With those stitches on her eyebrow still fresh in the memory, the Swedish runner delivered an even more stunning performance on Friday. She took a decisive early lead and reached the top of the first major 6km climb to La Moleta with more than three minutes on her closest chasers. That lead grew to 22 minutes by 28km in Candanchu.

Behind her, the race for silver and bronze was heating up. Britain’s Naomi Lang excelled on the technical descent from La Moleta to take second at the Canal Roya checkpoint (16km), followed by Austria’s Anna Platner and Spain’s Sara Alonso, who swapped places several times later in the race.

Lang was still in second place by Candanchu, but Alonso overtook the Briton before Estiviellas and held on to the position all the way to the finish.

Alexandersson crossed the line in 5:04:20, taking more than 10 minutes off the previous course record set by Thibaut Baronian in 2020. Alonso took silver in 5:38:15 and Lang claimed bronze in 5:38:54.

“Today I was more careful on the descents to avoid repeating the accident I had here three weeks ago,” said Alexandersson, who also led Sweden to team gold ahead of Spain and France. “At the start, I felt slower on the way up to La Moleta as I couldn’t quite run at my usual pace. Overall, I had a really good race and enjoyed the course a lot.”

 

Bonnet and Engelhard claim uphill titles

In the men’s uphill race, two-time champion Patrick Kipngeno was aiming for a third consecutive title, but Switzerland’s Remi Bonnet went into the event with notable confidence on a course that suited his vertical racing strengths perfectly.

Bonnet was already in the lead by a clear margin at the halfway point ahead of Kenyan duo Richard Omaya and Kipngeno. Bonnet went on to enjoy a convincing victory in a course record of 37:50 to win by more than a minute from Omaya (39:04) and Kipngeno (39:20).

“I’m very happy to win here,” said Bonnet. “My training style – combining ski mountaineering with trail running – made me feel very confident. It’s never easy to beat the top Kenyan runners in an uphill race, but today I managed to do it. I’m really pleased with my performance.”

Omaya’s and Kipngeno’s podium finishes led to Kenya winning the team title ahead of Switzerland and the USA.

Engelhard, the European champion in both uphill and classic, once again showed her immense talent by winning the women’s uphill race in a course record of 45:33.

Finland’s Susana Saapunki took silver in 45:59, finishing eight seconds ahead of USA’s Anna Gibson.

“I gave it everything I had; my legs are still destroyed,” said Engelhard. “It’s been a wonderful day, with an amazing course and scenery, but I’ll need several days to recover from this effort. The course was mostly runnable, except for the final ridge, which left me barely able to breathe.”

Italy won the team title ahead of France and Canada.

WMTRC2025 LOC