Day two of the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Canfranc, Spain, brought the Trail World Championships Short Trail.
The 45-kilometer (28 miles) race was on Friday, September 26, with an 8 a.m. CEST start. The route was along the longtime CanfrancCanfranc Marathon course and was a single loop with 3,657 meters (12,000 feet) of climbing. Along the way, runners took in most of the prior day’s Uphill course, enjoyed four major climbs, and endured a wild 122 downhill curves from the Collado de Estiviellas to the finish line.
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According to the entrants lists, some 57 different countries were represented in the women’s race and 63 countries in the men’s race. The prize purse for both men’s and women’s races was 24,000 Euro, with 5,000 Euro going to the winners and cash payouts through fifth place.
The skies were clear, but Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) was lightning! Alexandersson, also one of the most successful women orienteers in the sport’s history, absolutely crushed the women’s field with a 5:04 winning time. Alexandersson got to the lead 30 minutes into the race and rolled the rest of the way. It was an incredibly impressive performance that saw her finish 17th overall.
Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail women’s champion, descending near the end of the race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Men’s winner Frédéric Tranchand (France) separated from the field on the first downhill and stayed just ahead of Manuel Merillas (Spain) for the next 3.5 hours. Tranchand won in 4:42, three minutes better than Merillas.
Read on for more race details.
You can also check out more results from the week’s World Mountain and Trail Running Championships:
Runners line up for the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail race start in Canfranc, Spain. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail Women’s Race
The race’s biggest climb came right away and, wearing pink compression socks, Tereza Hrochová (Czech Republic) attacked it early. After running on Hrochová’s shoulder, Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) passed her 30 minutes into the race and gained the lead. The two early leaders were second and eighth at the 2023 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. Anna Plattner (Austria) was running in third at this point.
Alexandersson conquered that opening climb and its 6.6-kilometer distance in first with 1:09 elapsed. Plattner overtook Hrochová for second on the climb and they were three minutes behind the leader. Caroline Kimutai (Kenya), the 2025 Sierre-Zinal winner, and Sara Alonso (Spain) were fourth and fifth up. Slightly further back, 2023 Trail World Championships Short Trail runner-up Judith Wyder (Switzerland) was among a group that suffered multiple wasp stings on the climb. Wyder would later drop from the race as a result. Kimutai also dropped early, for unknown reasons, and early leader Hrochová finished just outside the top 20.
Tove Alexandersson of Sweden wins the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail race. Photo: World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
It was again Alexandersson in the race lead at 16k Canal Roya and it was shocking how far ahead she now was. Alexandersson was there with 1:57 race time elapsed and 11 minutes faster than anyone else. Barring disaster, Alexandersson appeared to already have the women’s win locked up. It was a dynamic chase group behind her, however. Naomi Lang (Great Britain) had jumped from eighth at the top of the first climb to second at the bottom. Plattner was third and another two minutes back, and Alonso was still fourth. After running inside the top five early, Kimutai dropped from the race here.
The second of four major climbs followed. This time it was up Larraca Mountain, mirroring the climb of the prior day’s World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. Alexandersson hit the top in 2:46. The race distance here was 22k, and Alonso had jumped into second. She was, however, now 19 minutes behind runaway frontrunner Alexandersson. Lang was pushed to third and Plattner was back to fourth. Jane Maus (U.S.) had climbed, literally, into fifth after the race’s second major climb.
Alexandersson would add to her lead the rest of the way. Though Alexandersson was counted on as among the race favorites, it was a shock how far ahead she was. Behind her, Alonso and Lang battled for second and third ahead of a larger chase group.
Sara Alonso of Spain holding onto second place during the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Tove Alexandersson won the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail race in 5:04. She was 17th overall and ran only about 8% slower than the men’s winner in a world championships performance that will certainly be remembered. In early September 2025, Alexandersson raced the CanfrancCanfranc Marathon on this same course and finished in 5:39 despite an 18-minute medical stop for five stitches after a fall.
After a long duel, Sara Alonso finally finished second in 5:38, and Naomi Lang was third in 5:38, just 39 seconds back.
Ida Amelie Robsahm (Norway) moved up in the race’s second half to finish fourth in 5:44 and Anna Plattner was fifth in 5:45.
Sweden took gold in the women’s team race, with Spain and France taking second and third.
Naomi Lang of Great Britain finished a close third at the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail Women’s Results
- Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) – 5:04:20
- Sara Alonso (Spain) – 5:38:15
- Naomi Lang (Great Britain) – 5:38:54
- Ida Amelie Robsahm (Norway) – 5:44:54
- Anna Plattner (Austria) – 5:45:40
- Clémentine Geoffray (France) – 5:46:28
- Jane Maus (U.S.) – 5:48:23
- Ikram Rharsalla (Spain) – 5:53:19
- Johanna Gelfgren (Sweden) – 5:56:41
- Barbora Bukovjan (Czech Republic) – 5:56:43
The 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail women’s podium (left to right): 2. Sara Alonso, 1. Tove Alexandersson, 3. Naomi Lang. Photo: World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail Men’s Race
It was straight to the front for Andreu Blanes (Spain) at the start. Many runners went quick off the line to gain position before an early singletrack climb limited passing opportunities, but Blanes did more than that and put a gap on everyone right away. Davide Magnini (Italy) led the large chase group on the opening climb’s lower parts.
The chasing train of men finally gained Blanes 50 minutes into the race. Two-time defending champion Stian Angermund (Norway), Magnini, Eli Hemming (U.S.), Frédéric Tranchand (France), and Manuel Merillas (Spain) lined up behind leader Blanes as all were hiking the still-first climb’s steeper stretches. The group finally hit the course’s high point after 6.6k of distance and after over 1,400 meters of elevation gain, and all just over an hour into the race. Technical running experts Tranchand, Merillas, and Angermund gained some separation from the others on the downhill.
Tranchand came into the 16k Canal Roya aid station alone in the lead at 1:49. Merillas and Angermund were in second and third and just over a minute behind. Blanes hung on in fourth and Daniel Pattis (Italy) was fifth. From there, runners climbed again, this time to the high point of the day prior’s World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race, and Tranchand maintained his lead to the top. The day’s two biggest climbs were done, and Tranchand was still nearly a minute in front of second-place Merillas.
Frédéric Tranchand of France leads the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail with only a final climb and descent to go. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The chase was on early into and throughout the race’s second half, but Tranchand continued to lead and steadily added time on his gap to second-place Merillas. Angermund stayed third with fourth-place Pattis on his heels, but trouble was coming for both.
Over the second half’s two lesser climbs, Tranchand and Merillas stayed in the front, but Angermund fell back on the third climb, and Pattis did too. Blanes moved up to third and Alain Santamaria (Spain) improbably jumped from way back to fourth. He was only 15th at the top of the race’s second climb 12k earlier. Angermund would later drop from the race, and Pattis finished outside the top 10.
Santamaria’s big move wasn’t enough to shake up the podium, however.
Frédéric Tranchand won the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail race in 4:42 after breaking away on the first descent and being uncatchable the rest of the way.
After chasing Tranchand down the early climb, Manuel Merillas was second for almost all of the race, and he finished in that position in 4:45.
Manuel Merillas of Spain was second at the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Andreu Blanes, who led the race’s early minutes, was third in 4:51.
Alain Santamaria was fourth in 4:55 and Marcin Kubica (Poland) rocketed downhill for fifth in 4:56.
Spain won the men’s team race, and France and Italy were the second- and third-place teams.
[Stian Angermund served a 16-month doping ban after testing positive for the prohibited masking agent chlortalidone at the 2023 OCC race in France.]
Andreu Blanes ran to third place at the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail, putting three Spanish runners in the top four. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail Men’s Results
- Frédéric Tranchand (France) – 4:42:10
- Manuel Merillas (Spain) – 4:45:33
- Andreu Blanes (Spain) – 4:51:52
- Alain Santamaria (Spain) – 4:55:48
- Marcin Kubica (Poland) – 4:56:38
- Luca Del Pero (Italy) – 4:56:57
- Martin Nilsson (Sweden) – 4:57:09
- Davide Magnini (Italy) – 4:57:42
- Sylvain Cachard (France) – 4:58:23
- Lorenzo Rota Martir (Italy) – 4:58:54
The 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail men’s podium (left to right): 2. Manuel Merillas, 1. Frédéric Tranchand, 3. Andreu Blanes. Photo: World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
