It was a French tie for second place at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail with Benjamin Roubiol and Louison Coiffet crossing the finish line together. In the following interview, Benjamin and Louison discuss running so long with men’s eventual champion Jim Walmsley, what happened when the trio finally separated after the 50-kilometer mark, how the pair came back together and decided to finish in a tie, and how they feel about Team France’s dominance at the world championships.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail results article.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
Benjamin Roubiol and Louison Coiffet Post-2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. It’s the day after the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail and I’m with Benjamin Roubiol and Louison Coiffet. The two of you tied for second place. Congratulations. Felicitacións.
Benjamin Roubiol and Louison Coiffet: Thank you.
iRunFar: We had the medal ceremony. You guys had a long race yesterday. What are the current feelings?
Coiffet: A lot of satisfaction because it was my main objective, and it was almost the perfect day yesterday. And yeah. Great race.
iRunFar: And how about you, Benjamin?
Roubiol: We had a good week here and we just finished the podium ceremony, so for the French team, it’s pretty awesome because we have a really good result, so. We finished the week with a good note.
iRunFar: I was really hoping to do this interview with the both of you together because you spent so much of the race together yesterday. For a moment, in summary, what was it like to spend so many kilometers racing for the podium?
Coiffet: Good question. Yeah, first, we don’t think during the race about the podium, I think. We knew that if we both do a good race, it could be a good day for each of us, and that’s what happened.
Roubiol: I don’t have anything to add.
iRunFar: I think the two of you took slightly different strategies early in the race. You [Benjamin] went out faster than Louison, and you were a little bit back for the first maybe climb, and then you caught each other up maybe around 20k is when you started running together. Is that what it was like?
Roubiol: We had a strong beginning of the race and Louison took his time to have his own rhythm, and he’s a good downhiller, so on the first one, we are not attacking, and he can catch us at this moment.
iRunFar: So you took it easy on the first ascent and then ran naturally on the first descent, and then found Benjamin?
Coiffet: Yeah, the idea was to don’t spend too much energy on the first uphill. And I enjoyed the downhill and naturally, I catch them just maybe 20k or a little bit before. But yeah. After, it repeated the same during the second uphill and the second downhill, just with a lot of pleasure. And I love the downhill, and it was fun and it worked so good.
iRunFar: And then maybe from about 20k till what was it, 50k, you ran together with Jim Walmsley. Mostly together, a little bit apart, a little bit back together. Talk about that part of the race, sharing the race for the lead with the American.
Roubiol: I think these conditions were a bit rough because we are in the same rhythm, and we had good strength at this moment, and I think I can say we are the same level on different segments of the race. And before 60 kilometers, we were having a good time actually.
iRunFar: Somewhere in that point, I think you [Benjamin] fell behind a little bit from Louison and also Jim. Were they pressing the pace and you needed to relax, or did you have a low point where you needed to take care of yourself for a bit?
Roubiol: I think the two. It’s both.
iRunFar: Ok. And how about you [Louison] during that section? Benjamin dropped back. I’m not sure if Jim was quite pressing the pace yet, but you were trying to match, or what was going on for you?
Coiffet: I think Jim made a little bit a difference on the short uphill in this part of the race. Yeah. We were always fast on the downhill, but I think he was faster on the uphill. And then I just tried to keep the lower differences between us. It was not so easy because we know the difference on this part, more flat and runnable. He’s so strong on this and I think it was his part. Yes.
iRunFar: So to be fair, he said when we interviewed him, that he was afraid of your downhilling abilities, and he didn’t want to be in a race on the final downhill with the two of you.
Coiffet: I don’t know if the last one was more technical, but the strategy was also to stay closer than him and to play all our cards on the last part, because it’s more steep and technical, but he’s strong.
iRunFar: And then was it somewhere around 65k, 70k that the two of you found each other again and started running together? How did you come across Louison again?
Roubiol: Yeah. In the 65 kilometers, I catch up with Louison, my friend. So it was a good moment, because it’s the second time in the race that we were meeting again. And at this moment, our team was good for playing for first place, so we have not the strength to come back on Jim, so we decided to keep going together.
iRunFar: I think it must have been really cool to cross the line together, because there’s something about running that’s very individualistic but also, here, it’s a team activity. So, can you talk about what it was like to cross together?
Coiffet: Yeah. We knew that crossing the line together was also a bit stronger for the team, and for the team result. And so it’s better to finish two second than one completely out. And yes. Especially at this moment, it’s always a big emotion to cross the line of the world championships, I think. On the podium, it’s even bigger, and with a friend and a teammate, it’s awesome.
iRunFar: It’s the best.
Coiffet: Yeah.
iRunFar: Benjamin, you were the defending champion, and you returned to take a tie for second place. What does it feel like to now have two medals from the world championships?
Roubiol: I’m really happy about that. It was excellent working to arrive in this race with the best strength possible to have. I think we do the best that we can on Sunday. So that’s awesome to live this moment.
iRunFar: That is awesome. You just claimed Team France’s gold medal for overall team performance at the world Cchampionships these last four days. So back to the celebrations. Congratulations to the both of you and enjoy the party tonight.
Coiffet and Roubiol: Thank you.
