French runner Clémentine Geoffray and Norway’s Stian Angermund won individual gold, and the French women and U.K. men finished first in the team race at the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k race.
Day two of racing at the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships started at 9:00 a.m. local time on Thursday, June 8, in downtown Innsbruck, Austria. The women and men shared a common start, and 45 kilometers and 3,194 meters — that’s 28 miles and 10,479 feet — later the group finished in the Stubai Valley.
The course was a challenging net-uphill route, temperatures in Innsbruck stretched up to 23 degrees Celsius and 74 degrees Fahrenheit, and weather moved in and out around the course. In the end, due to adverse weather, the race was halted at around the 35k mark, with the final 50 or so runners unable to continue.
As in all of the races here, there was a €16,500 prize purse that gave €4,000 to the winner with money stretching five deep.
Be sure to also check out our 2023 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill results article, 2023 Trail World Championships 80k results article, and 2023 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down results article.
The start of the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
2023 Trail World Championships 40k Women’s Race
For the second day in a row, it was the women’s race that left the race win until late.
Switzerland’s Judith Wyder grabbed an early lead and built a gap through the middle of the race. Wyder, returning from serious injury, ran alone for most of the morning.
Judith Wyder took an early lead and went on to finish second at the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k. She hails from Switzerland. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
Nearly four-and-a-half-hours into the race though, Clémentine Geoffray caught Wyder on a hands-on-knees climbing section. Geoffray, this year’s French Trail National Champion, powered past and quickly built a gap on the longtime leader as the two plunged to the finish on a 1,400-meter descent over 6.5 kilometers.
Geoffray hit the finish just over two minutes in front, officially finishing in 4:53, and Wyder trailed in second at 4:55.
Clémentine Geoffray, of France, 2023 Trail World Championships 40k winner. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
Geoffray’s win perhaps was a surprise to many. She won the Skyrace des Matheysins in France just weeks ago. Wyder, age 34, was a world-class orienteer as recently as 2018 before transitioning to trail running.
The two frontrunners built a big gap on the rest of the field. It was over 14 minutes before third-place Theres Leboeuf of Switzerland finished next in 5:09.
Theres Leboeuf on her way to third place at the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
Jennifer Lichter of the U.S. was fourth in 5:11, and Emilia Brangefält from Sweden was fifth in 5:15.
France won team gold in a combined 15:35. Switzerland was second with 15:44, and the U.S. women earned bronze with 15:54.
2023 Trail World Championships 40k Women’s Results
- Clémentine Geoffray (France) – 4:53
- Judith Wyder (Switzerland) – 4:55
- Theres Leboeuf (Switzerland) – 5:09
- Jennifer Lichter (U.S.) – 5:11
- Emilia Brangefält (Sweden) – 5:15
- Daniela Oemus (Germany) – 5:16
- Oihana Kortázar (Spain) – 5:18
- Emelie Forsberg (Sweden) – 5:18
- EmKay Sullivan (U.S.) – 5:19
- Louise Serban-Penhoat (France) – 5:20
The 2023 Trail World Championships 40k women’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Judith Wyder, 1. Clémentine Geoffray, 3. Theres Leboeuf. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
2023 Trail World Championships 40k Men’s Race
It was just last November 2022 that Stian Angermund won this same championships in Thailand. He did that race in 3:08. It took longer this year on a more challenging course, but Angermund repeated his victory and it was quite dominant.
Always near the front, Angermund gained the solo lead some two hours into the race, about the same time that skies darkened with a storm threatening overhead. Occasional rain caught Angermund, but no one else.
The 36-year-old Angermund finished in 4:19. Earlier this year he won the 68k at Istria by UTMB in Croatia.
Stian Angermund, of Norway, on his way to winning the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
Thomas Roach of the U.K. was a surprise second. He trailed Angermund for much of the day, and as with the women’s race, was just over two minutes back of the race winner. Roach, a 42-year-old who lives in Innsbruck, Austria, finished in 4:21. He was eighth at the Zegama Marathon in May.
It was Angermund and Roach in front for nearly the entirety of the race, in that order, but unlike in the women’s race, the chase pack wasn’t far behind here.
Thomas Roach, of the U.K., took second at the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
Third-place Luca Del Pero, a 25-year-old Italian, was third in 4:22 and only 46 seconds behind Roach. Thibaut Baronian and Jonathan Albon, of France and the U.K., were fourth and fifth in 4:25 and 4:26, respectively.
The first American man was Garrett Corcoran in 14th at 4:35.
The U.K. was the first-place team, totaling 13:18 with its first-three runners inside the top eight. Italy was second with a cumulative time of 13:26 and France earned team bronze in 13:34.
[Editor’s Note: Roach served a three-month World Athletics doping ban from October 2021 to January 2022 after testing positive for Carboxy-THC at the 2021 World Masters Mountain Running Championships, also held in Stubai, Austria.]
Italy’s Luca Del Pero on the way to taking second place at the 2023 Trail World Championships 40k. Photo: Roast Media/World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
2023 Trail World Championships 40k Men’s Results
- Stian Angermund (Norway) – 4:19
- Thomas Roach (U.K.) – 4:21
- Luca Del Pero (Italy) – 4:22
- Thibaut Baronian (France) – 4:25
- Jonathan Albon (U.K.) – 4:26
- Francesco Puppi (Italy) – 4:28
- Andrzej Witek (Poland) – 4:29
- Kristian Jones (U.K.) – 4:30
- Frédéric Tranchand (France) – 4:31
- Benedikt Hoffmann (Germany) – 4:32
