While rainy weather might have been a factor at the 2025 OCC, part of the UTMB Mont Blanc festival, it certainly didn’t dampen the competition.
The weather forecast greatly impacted the lead-up to the Thursday, August 28 event, and race organizers made the decision to reroute parts of the race ahead of a forecast for massive amounts of rain in the area. The race start was pushed back two hours, and high sections of the course were cut out for runner safety. The new route was 61 kilometers (38 miles) and with 3,400 meters (11,155 feet) of elevation gain, which was focused on a big climb to a high point near Col de Balme in the second half of the race. It was a longer but faster course, and it delivered a pair of exciting finishes.
The race was a UTMB World Series Final for the 50k distance, and it had almost 1,600 runners at its 10:15 a.m. start in Orsières, Switzerland, headed to its finish line in downtown Chamonix, France.
Jim Walmsley (U.S.) added to his all-time status with a men’s win in 5:00. Walmsley, the 2023 UTMB winner, stepped down in distance as part of his return from injury and as part of his run-up to the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in September, where he’ll run the Long Trail event. Walmsley’s win wasn’t without some real excitement as he fought off a shocking late-race challenge from Cristian Minoggio (Italy). The two were only 20 seconds apart at the finish.
The 2025 OCC men’s podium (left to right): 2. Cristian Minoggio, 1. Jim Walmsley, 3. Andrzej Witek. Photo: UTMB
Joyline Chepngeno (Kenya) unseated defending champion Miao Yao (China) in a close women’s race. The two dueled for all of the race and were never more than two minutes apart. It was Chepngeno’s longest race ever, and she won in 5:34.
Race winners Walmsley and Chepngeno each earned 13,000 Euro.
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Read on for full race details.
You can also check out more results from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc festival:
2025 OCC Men’s Race
While it wasn’t raining at the start, the trails were wet, and it didn’t take long for an early break to go off the front. Only 20 minutes in, Jim Walmsley (U.S.), CCC course record holder Petter Engdahl (Sweden), and Sam Hendry (Canada) were the early pace pushers.
When the race entered Champex-Lac, 4.5 miles in, Hendry trailed Walmsley and Engdahl by 30 seconds. Antonio Martínez (Spain), the 2024 third-placer, was in seventh and over a minute off the lead, and Adam Peterman (U.S.), the 2024 CCC third-place runner, was in 10th at this early spot.
Hendry worked the downhill after Champex-Lac to rejoin Walmsley and Engdahl in the lead as the race passed its hour mark, but shortly after Ruy Ueda (Japan) did even more on the downhill and made it a four-person front group. The four were together at Martigny at mile 14, and they were over a minute ahead of fifth-place Cristian Minoggio (Italy). The bottom half of the top 10 was volatile, with Andrzej Witek (Poland) now among the challengers. Eventually Ueda would drop, while the other trio would go on to fill the podium.
Andrzej Witek on his way to taking third at the 2025 OCC. Photo: UTMB
There was nowhere to go but up from Martigny, and Walmsley gapped Ueda and Engdahl. Alternately powerhiking and running on the steep slopes, Walmsley gained the high-stakes summit of Col de Balme at mile 24 with a minute-plus lead and 3:27 elapsed.
Behind Walmsley, the long climb shook the race up. Kristian Jones (U.K.) was just 12th some 10 miles prior, but launched up the climb to sit second behind Walmsley at the summit. Minoggio was now third, almost a minute behind Jones and two behind Walmsley. Engdahl had fallen back to fourth, and Ueda and Hendry were out of the top 10 entirely. David Norris (U.S.) and Peterman were in seventh and 10th to give the U.S. three runners inside the top 10 with 13 miles to go.
Minoggio really took his chances on the subsequent seven-mile downhill to Argentière. He first surged past Jones and then, in a risk-it-all move, took the lead from Walmsley in the aid station. Minoggio, age 41, was a true dark horse.
Witek rolled into Argentière in third ahead of fourth-place Jones. It was a mostly flat seven miles to the finish in Chamonix.
Barely four miles after that pass, Minoggio pushed his lead on Walmsley to 79 seconds. Walmsley still had run in his legs though and pulled Minoggio back into sight in the final kilometers before entering Chamonix. At 4:53 elapsed time, Walmsley made his take-me-home move to retake the lead.
Jim Walmsley’s rally brought him to the finish first in 5:00:35, and Cristian Minoggio was second only 20 seconds later, in 5:00:55. It was an incredible finish, and the challenge was reflected in Walmsley’s ecstatic celebration.
Jim Walmsley wins a hard-fought 2025 OCC. Photo: UTMB
Andrzej Witek’s second-half blast made for a third-place finish in 5:04.
The first eight men were separated by less than 10 minutes.
Minoggio and Walmsley, and several others, are expected for a rematch in one month’s time at the Long Trail event at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain.
For perspective on the course changes, Eli Hemming (U.S.) won the 2024 race on the normal route in 5:11.
2025 OCC Men’s Results
- Jim Walmsley (U.S.) – 5:00:35
- Cristian Minoggio (Italy) – 5:00:55
- Andrzej Witek (Poland) – 5:04:08
- Petter Engdahl (Norway) – 5:05:08
- Kristian Jones (U.K.) – 5:05:50
- Adam Peterman (U.S.) – 5:06:19
- Luca Del Pero (Italy) – 5:07:46
- Antonio Martínez (Spain) – 5:10:21
- David Norris (U.S.) – 5:12:33
- Sam Hendry (Canada) – 5:17:43
Cristian Minoggio finishes second at the 2025 OCC. Photo: UTMB
2025 OCC Women’s Race
Defending champion Miao Yao (China) was back again this year. A large group centered around her early on included last year’s runner-up Judith Wyder (Switzerland) and last year’s fourth-place Sara Alonso (Spain), two-time Sierre-Zinal winner Joyline Chepngeno (Kenya), Maude Mathys (Switzerland), and others. The group reached the Champex-Lac aid station, 4.5 miles in together with just under 44 minutes elapsed.
Yao and Chepngeno started to break away, but Wyder quickly pounced and was careful not to let the lead escape as Alonso, who was coming back from injury, started to fall back. After Champex-Lac, the race descended almost 10 miles to its low point at Martigny, 14 miles in.
Miao Yao running through the clouds at the 2025 OCC, on her way to second place. Photo: UTMB
At about 1:40 into the race, Yao, the defending champion, took advantage of a short technical section and dropped her chasers to gain the day’s first solo lead. The alternate course then hit a sticky situation. There was a train crossing, and while Yao and Chepngeno got through, Wyder and Alonso were railroaded. They were stopped at 1:50 elapsed before Martigny, and then dipped under the crossing after the freighter passed.
Yao was 17 seconds up on Chepngeno at Martigny, and Alonso and Wyder were over two minutes back of Chepngeno in third and fourth. Americans Sophia Laukli and Hannah Allgood were among the back half of the top 10 here.
The race then started a nearly 10-mile, 5,000-foot climb to its high point at Col de Balme, 24 miles into the race. Once on the climb, it didn’t take long for Chepngeno to power past Yao, who was quick to fight back, and the duel was fully on. The pair leapfrogged on the climb, including in the midway aid station at Trient, mile 23.5.
Joyline Chepngeno en route to winning the 2025 OCC. Photo: UTMB
Chepngeno finally scored some meaningful separation from Yao by Argentière at mile 31 and had more than a two-minute lead. Behind, Wyder and Mathys ran within a minute of each other, about seven minutes off the lead. The Americans, Laukli and Allgood, dropped out of the top 10, to eventually withdraw and finish 14th, respectively, which was now filled out by two Swiss, two Spanish, and two Canadian runners.
Though racing longer than she ever had before, Chepngeno led the rest of the way. She stumbled with only two kilometers to go, adding some uncertainty to the finish. Joyline Chepngeno ultimately won in 5:34.
Miao Yao, the defending champion, never surrendered much ground and finished second in 5:35, only 70 seconds behind. Yao won the 2024 race on the traditional course in 5:54.
Wyder and Mathys battled over the race’s second half for the final podium spot, and eventually Judith Wyder got there in third in 5:38, well clear of the rest of the field.
Judith Wyder finished third at the 2025 OCC. Photo: UTMB
2025 OCC Women’s Results
- Joyline Chepngeno (Kenya) – 5:34:03
- Miao Yao (China) – 5:35:13
- Judith Wyder (Switzerland) – 5:38:22
- Maude Mathys (Switzerland) – 5:45:43
- Sara Alonso (Spain) – 5:50:26
- Ida Amelie Robsahm (Norway) – 5:52:28
- Rosa Lara Feliu (Spain) – 5:55:54
- Ikram Rharsalla (Spain) – 5:56:21
- Jazmine Lowther (Canada) – 6:02:56
- Elisa Morin (Canada) – 6:03:19
[In 2015, Maude Mathys received a warning without suspension from the Disciplinary Chamber for Doping Cases of Swiss Olympic for two positive tests for clomifene (previously clomiphene) after it was determined that she was mistakenly taking the drug without first obtaining a World Anti-Doping Agency Therapeutic Use Exemption.]
The 2025 OCC women’s podium (left to right): 2. Miao Yao, 1. Joyline Chepngeno, 3. Judith Wyder. Photo: UTMB
