Gold medals go to French and Swedish runners on day two of the World Mountain and Trail Champs as Naomi Lang of Britain earns a bronze medal.

French runner Frédéric Tranchand and Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson have been crowned world champions in the Short Trail event on the second day (Sept 26) of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in the town of Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees.

Tranchand dominates men's race

In the men’s category, two-time champion Stian Angermund was aiming for a third title, a particularly tough challenge given the high level of his rivals. During the first major ascent to the summit of La Moleta (2572m), he was running in the leading trio alongside Tranchand and Spaniard Manuel Merillas, a veteran and 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. Meanwhile, the rest of the Spanish team began moving up the ranks from behind.

By the 35km mark, the Spanish resurgence was in full swing, with Tranchand leading, followed by Merillas, Andreu Blanes, and Alain Santamaría, 2, 8, and 9 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 as the new world champion.

Tranchand took the gold with a time of 4:42:10, setting a course record. Merillas secured silver in 4:45:33, kicking off a Spanish triple podium with Blanes earning bronze in 4:51:52 and Santamaría fourth in 4:55:48.

Tranchard said: "Today I felt great right from the start and enjoyed the whole race. 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."

Merillas added: "I lived in this area for six years, and these are the trails where I grew up as a mountain runner. It’s been a long time since I won the Canfranc-Canfranc Marathon, and it’s very special to return here for the World Championship. As a team, we trained really well and performed according to the work we put in. I'm happy for all of us."

Team scores in the Short Trail are based on the combined times of the top three finishers from each country with Spain winning from France and then Italy.

Alexandersson enjoys women's win as Lang wins Britain's first medal

Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson had already shown her massive potential on this course a few weeks ago at the Canfranc-Canfranc, where she set a women's record of 5hr 38min — despite suffering a hard fall that required medical attention.

Today, with those stitches on her eyebrow still fresh in memory, she delivered an even more stunning performance. From the very start, Alexandersson launched her personal mission, reaching the top of the first major 6km climb to La Moleta with over three minutes on her closest chasers. Never easing up, she kept increasing her lead, which had grown to 22 minutes by 28km in Candanchú.

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.

By Candanchú, Lang was still in second, but Alonso kept fighting and managed to overtake her before Estiviellas, holding on to the position all the way to the finish.

In the end, Alexandersson was crowned world champion with 5:04:20, breaking 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.

Alexandersson said: "Today I was more careful on the descents to avoid repeating the accident I had here three weeks ago. 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."

Lang added: "It was my first mountain race in Spain, and I loved the atmosphere. I arrived last Saturday and was able to check out some sections — I felt the course really suited me. The battle with Sara was great, trading places on the climbs and descents. I thought I could catch her on the final downhill, but she didn’t give me a chance."

Sweden took the team title from Spain and France.

Uphill and Short Trail have already crowned the first world champions at CanfrancPirineos 2025. Starting on Saturday the event enters its second half.