Who were the best mountain/ultra/trail runners of the year in 2025? You might have a very simple or very complicated answer to that question, depending on how you look at it.
Comparing 100-mile ultrarunning races to shorter distance mountain running to very short and steep vertical kilometer races to fastest known time efforts is always an incongruent apples-to-oranges enigma at best. The collective disciplines of off-road running exist in a very big tent, and each is vastly different from the others, which makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fairly compare and categorize results.
But now that the theatrics around the numerous 2025 trail running awards are done and the virtual trophies have been doled out, it’s time to conclude the year as we get off and running into 2026. But before we do, I offer this award wrap-up as an attempt to sort through the numerous accolades and try to determine a definitive ranking of the best trail runners of the year across all categories and disciplines.
You might be confused or even overwhelmed by what all of the acronyms stand for—UROY, FKTOY, TROY, ITRA, WMRA, UTMB, and GTWS—but I’ll help you sort out this alphabet soup and perhaps give you a better understanding of the world of trail running in general.
I’ve made an attempt to aggregate all eight major international awards and rankings into a singular list, which will, hopefully, once and for all, show who the best runners were in 2025. Or maybe it will just stimulate more passionate discussion that will carry on into the coming year. Who knows?!
Ultra Runner Of the Year (UROY)
These are the sport’s original awards. Initiated in 1981 by Peter Gagarin, Stan Wagon, and Fred Pilon—the original publishers of UltraRunning Magazine—these awards have been going for 44 years. The sport of ultrarunning was tiny back when they were started, and the UROY awards established credibility and were highly coveted. Former owner/publisher John Medinger has been the administrator since 2007, and the awards remain as cherished as they were then.
Details: Male and female award winners, plus masters (50 years+) awards and performances of the year for men and women. (Only individual men’s and women’s results are used in this aggregation.) Open only to citizens of the U.S. or Canada, and to non-citizens who reside in North America. Only races longer than a marathon count, but they can be on the road, track, or trail.
How rankings are selected: About 40 voters cast ballots, mixture of race directors, ultrarunning media, and a few veteran observers. Voters submit their top 10, which are given the numbers 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1; highest scores determine the top ten.
Timing: Voting concluded December 24. Top 10 was rolled out on Ultrarunning.com starting January 2 and concluded on Jan 17.
What’s cool: These rankings have long-term credibility in the U.S. ultra community. The list of previous winners resembles an ultrarunning hall of fame.
2025 Ultra Runner Of the Year (UROY) Results
| 1. Katie Schide, USA (France) | 1. Jim Walmsley, USA |
| 2. Anne Flower, USA | 2. Caleb Olson, USA |
| 3. Abby Hall, USA | 3. Ben Dhiman, USA (France) |
| 4. Rachel Entrekin, USA | 4. David Roche, USA |
| 5. Megan Eckert, USA | 5. Hans Troyer, USA |
| 6. Tara Dower, USA | 6. Seth Ruhling, USA |
| 7. (tie) Jade Belzberg, Canada | 7. Chris Myers, USA |
| 7. (tie) Riley Brady, USA | 8. Will Murray, USA |
| 9. Careth Arnold, USA | 9. Mathieu Blanchard, France (Canada) |
| 10. Courtney Dauwalter, USA | 10. David Sinclair, USA |
Trail Runner Of the Year (TROY)
A newer award system conceived in 2022 by Freetrail, a company started and managed by athlete/podcaster/entrepreneur Dylan Bowman, opens the field of candidates to all trail runners no matter the distance or location. This is the only system where the public does some of the voting.
Details: The Freetrail system ranks the top 10 women and top 10 men, as well as the top performances of the year, and the top trail running teams of the year. Mountain/Ultra/Trail running of any distance around the world is considered, but not road or track results.
How rankings are selected: 2,280 ballots cast from more than 50 countries, plus “informed individuals,” for a weighted Borda points system: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Timing: The TROY ballot was announced December 6; the voting ended December 16. A countdown revealing the winners concluded January 12.
What’s cool: Voters use a very robust custom web platform (built by Travis Loncar), which for 2025 listed 102 nominees from 25 countries complete with all their racing results.
2025 Trail Runner Of the Year (TROY) Results
| 1. Katie Schide, USA | 1. Jim Walmsley, USA |
| 2. Ruth Croft, New Zealand | 2. Francesco Puppi, Italy |
| 3. Sara Alonso, Spain | 3. Caleb Olson, USA |
| 4. Abby Hall, USA | 4. Elhousine Elazzaoui, Morocco |
| 5. Nina Engelhard, Germany | 5. Tom Evans, UK |
| 6. Miao Yao, China | 6. Philemon Kiriago, Kenya |
| 7. Madalina Florea, Romania | 7. Rémi Bonnet, Switzerland |
| 8. Tove Alexandersson, Sweden | 8.. Ben Dhiman, USA |
| 9. Judith Wyder, Switzerland | 9. Patrick Kipngeno, Kenya |
| 10. Sunmaya Budha, Nepal | 10. Frédéric Tranchand, France |
Fastest Known Time Of the Year (FKTOY)
Inspired by UROY and conceived in 2016, but with one significant difference: The awards don’t go to a person, but to their top FKT efforts.
Details: Top five female and top five male FKT efforts of the year are recognized. The first year the awards were given for FKTs set in North America only, then a separate award process was added for Europe, and now it’s one process for the whole world.
How rankings are selected: The awards are administered by Allison Mercer for Outside, Inc., owners of FastestKnownTime.com. The site’s regional editors, about 14 in total, compile a list of the top performances and submit their votes for the top five, which are scored 5-4-3-2-1.
Timing: Nominations closed December 1; Voting ended December 16. Results were released on December 30 via social media and FKT podcast.
What’s cool: These awards focus on singular spectacular effort rather than an individual person, which allows runners who don’t race or those who non-elite to be recognized. Five of the 10 winners from 2025 were from outside the U.S.
2025 Fastest Known Time Of the Year (FKTOY) Results
| 1. Tara Dower, USA, Long Trail | 1. Jeff Garmire, USA, Appalachian Trail |
| 2. Carol Morgan, United Kingdom, Wainwrights | 2. Karel Sabbe, Belgium, Te Araroa |
| 3. Paulina Zäck, Germany, Te Araroa Trail | 3. William Boffelli, Italy, Mont Blanc |
| 4. Lyla Harrod, USA, Appalachian Trail | 4. Kilian Jornet, Spain, Norman’s 13 |
| 5. Lucy Gossage, United Kingdom, SW CoastPath | 5. David Hedges, USA, Nolan’s 14 |
World Ultra Runner Of the Year (WUROY)
This award category was developed in 2023 and is also administered by John Medinger for UltraRunning Magazine, with the same qualifications as the UROY awards, except it’s open to anyone in the world. It is being included as a separate award system because the nominees, voters, and scoring are separate from UROY.
Details: Top three female and top three male worldwide runners are recognized with all distances longer than a marathon on road, track, or trail open to consideration. There were 28 voters from 18 countries for the 2025 awards, proportionally selected for ultra race participation per country.
Timing: Ballots were sent December 16; Voting concluded December 24 and results were released on January 17.
What’s cool: Since the sport globalized in the early 2010s, it has made sense to acknowledge the sport and its top athletes universally.
2025 World Ultra Runner of the Year (WUROY) Results
| 1. Ruth Croft, New Zealand | 1. Jim Walmsley, USA |
| 2. Katie Schide, USA | 2. Tom Evans, UK |
| 3. Megan Eckert, USA | 3. Caleb Olson, USA |
World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) Rankings
The WMRA is an international organization working for official recognition of the sport, with the end goal of trail running becoming an Olympic sport. It is a member federation of World Athletics (formerly the IAAF; started in 1913), which is the official worldwide governing body of competitive running. The World Mountain Running Association jointly certifies the World Mountain and Trail Championships, which have been recognized by World Athletics since 2006.
Details: Female and male results from WMRA-sanctioned races are ranked by a complex weighted system of results from selected WMRA-sanctioned races over the previous 365 days; the 2025 end-of-year ranking thus reflects only this past year’s results.
What’s Cool: This system has its roots in the World Mountain Running Trophy, which was a defacto world championship of mountain running the began in the mid-1980s. The WMRA rankings were first rolled out in 1997 by several European federations. The finals were not called championships until 2009 because that term was not deemed appropriate until recognition by the World Athletics.
2025 WMRA Final Rankings
| 1. Scout Adkin, United Kingdom | 1. Philemon Kiriago, Kenya |
| 2. Valentine Jepkoech Rutto, Kenya | 2. Paul Machoka, Kenya |
| 3. Joyce Muthoni Njeru, Kenya | 3. Richard Omaya Atuya, Kenya |
| 4. Nina Engelhard, Germany | 4. Michael Selelo Saoli |
| 5. Andrea Mayr, Austria | 5. Andrea Elia, Italy |
| 6. Gloria Chebet, Uganda | 6. Patrick Kipngeno, Kenya |
| 7. Nélie Clément, France | 7. Andrea Rostan, Italy |
| 8. Philaries Jeruto Kisang, Kenya | 8. Tiziano Moia, Italy |
| 9. Benedetta Broggi, Italy | 9. Josphat Kiprotich, Kenya |
| 10. Anna Gibson, USA | 10. Théodore Klein, France |
International Trail Running Association (ITRA) Rankings
ITRA was formed in 2013, and like the WMRA, is a partner organization with World Athletics. Its rankings are based on the largest and broadest data set of any ranking system, drawn from its database of more than 1.7 million runners from 22,400 different races.
Details: A numerical ranking (“Performance Index”) of every runner in the world who has participated in a race that has submitted results to ITRA. The 10 highest scores from 2025 are listed below for this aggregation proess. Runners must sign up to view their results, or pay a small fee to manage them.
The complex ranking formula was invented by Didier Curdy with a push from UTMB co-founder Michel Poletti in what was initially a shared ranking system. However, when the two organizations split a few years ago, UTMB took the formula, so ITRA “back-engineered” its own version.
Timing: Points are based on a weighted mean of the five best ITRA scores from the previous 36 months, so this is a rolling three-year system and is NOT specific for 2025. Thus it skews our 2025 meta-score, but since World Athletics considers ITRA the official ranking system for all trail running, it is included.
What’s Cool: The ITRA formula factors in course, distance, and difficulty rather than simple race results. The importance of these race-specific scores has grown as they are needed for elite runners to qualify for events, and can determine which “wave” all runners are placed at the start lines of major events.
International Trail Running Association (ITRA) Rankings
| 1. Tove Alexandersson, Sweden | 1. Jim Walmsley, USA |
| 2. Courtney Dauwalter, USA | 2. Remi Bonnet, Switzerland |
| 3. Katie Schide, USA | 3. Philemon Ombogo Kiriago, Kenya |
| 4. Miao Yao, China | 4. Elhousine Elazzaoui, Morocco |
| 5. Judith Wyder, Swiss | 5. Patrick Kipngeno, Kenya |
| 6. Antonina Iushina, Neutral Athlete | 6. Francesco Puppi, Italy |
| 7. Yngvild Kaspersen, Norway | 7. Kilian Jornet, Spain |
| 8. Fuzhao Xiang, China | 8. Caleb Olson, USA |
| 9. Anya Tarasova, Spain | 9. Cristian Minoggio, Italy |
| 10. Ruth Croft, New Zealand | 10. Thomas Evans, United Kingdom |
Mile & Stone Trail Running Awards
Organized by Miles Republic, a French media company that also produces newsletters and podcasts, has put together a dramatic end-of-year awards celebration since 2023 to showcase the top female and male trail runners of the year, plus other categories relating to trail teams, products and media.
Details: All mountain and trail runners are eligible. Winners are determined by nine prmary voting jurors, plus a small at-large public vote. Only one women’s and one men’s winner are recognized.
Timing: Winners were announced December 9 at an evening gala in Annecy, France.
What’s Cool: It’s French, so there’s naturally a lot of pomp and circumstance.
2025 Mile & Stone Trail Running Awards – Runners of the Year
| 1. Ruth Croft, New Zealand | 1. Jim Walmsley, USA |
UTMB Index
This is another proprietary system developed by the UTMB World Series, used for the sole purpose of qualifying runners to gain entry into races owned or managed by the UTMB Group. The scoring formula is complex and similar to the ITRA Index. Importantly, they score the top five race results over the previous three years, so it is not included in our meta-score. However, it is interesting to note how a three-year weighted average shows how runners have performed with consistency.
Three-Year UTMB Index (as of end of 2025)
| 1. Tove Alexandersson, Sweden | 1. Jim Walmsley, USA |
| 2. Courtney Dauwalter, USA | 2. Patrick Kipngeno, Kenya |
| 3. Katie Schide, USA | 3. Elhousine Elazzaoui, Morocco |
| 4. Miao Yao, China | 4. Philemon Kiriago, Kenya |
| 5. Judith Wyder, Switzerland | 5. Remi Bonnet, Switzerland |
| 6. Fuzhao Xiang, China | 6. Francesco Puppi, Italy |
| 7. Toni McCann, South Africa | 7. Frédéric Tranchand, France |
| 8. Ruth Croft, New Zealand | 8. Kilian Jornet, Spain |
| 9. Yngvild Kaspersen, Norway | 9. Louison Coiffet, France |
| 10. Joyline Chepngeno, Kenya | 10. Manuel Melillas, Spain |
So who’s the best?
For all eight of the award systems, we assigned a simple 10 points for first down to one point for 10th, and added them all up. Meta-data gives the best result, right? See for yourself!
Our meta-list scoring system worked well. The final aggregated Mountain/Ultra/Trail Runners of the Year list is a perfect mix of runners from all disciplines, ranging from Kenya’s Joyce Muthoni Njeru, a multiple winner in the WMRA World Cup and GTWS, to Megan Eckert of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who ran a world-record 603 miles in a six-day race in France last summer. What a broad and inspirational list!
While Jim Walmsley and Katie Schide finished atop these aggregated lists for their top racing results, Tara Dower, who famously set the overall fastest known time on the Appalachian Trail in 2024 and followed it with an FKT on Vermont’s Long Trail this past year, tied for fourth with Western States 100 champion Abby Hall, showing you don’t have to win big races or survive the race-entry lottery madness to be recognized as one of the best trail runners on the planet. And then there is Kilian Jornet, who cracked the top 10 by way of both his ultra-distance racing results and one of his new FKTs.
2025 Mountain/Ultra/Trail Runners of the Year – Women
| Runner | Points | Total |
| Katie Schide, USA | 8,9,10,10 | 37 |
| Ruth Croft, New Zealand | 10,1,10,9, | 30 |
| Sara Alonso, Spain | 8,9 | 17 |
| Abby Hall, USA | 8,7 | 15 |
| Tara Dower, USA | 5,10 | 15 |
| Megan Eckert, USA | 6,8 | 14 |
| Madalina Florea, Romania | 4,10 | 14 |
| Joyce Njeru, Kenya | 6,8 | 14 |
| Tove Alexandersson, Sweden | 3,10 | 13 |
| Miao Yao, China | 5,7 | 12 |
2025 Mountain/Ultra/Trail Runners of the Year – Men
| Runner | Points | Total |
| Jim Walmsley, USA | 10,10,10,10,10 | 50 |
| Philemon Kiriago, Kenya | 8,8,5,10 | 31 |
| Caleb Olson, USA | 3,8,8,9 | 28 |
| Elhousine Elazzaoui, Morocco | 10,7,7 | 24 |
| Patrick Kipngeno, Kenya | 5,9,6,2 | 22 |
| Tom Evans, United Kingdom | 1,9,6 | 16 |
| Francesco Puppi, Italy | 5,9 | 14 |
| Rémi Bonnet, Switzerland | 9,4 | 13 |
| Kilian Jornet, Spain | 4,7 | 11 |
| Paul Machoka, Kenya | 9,1 | 10 |
About the Author
Buzz Burrell, a 2025 Trail Running Hall of Fame inductee, is the host of The Buzz Podcast.
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2 comments
John Medinger
Excellent summary, thanks Buzz. The criteria are a bit different for each award, but there’s credibility for each. The world championships are starting to catch on with better elite participation each year, but other races (notably UTMB and Western States) are still perhaps more prestigious.
The voting for these awards is significant because there is so little head-to-head competition. Jim Walmsley and Tom Evans were both undefeated in 2025. And the top two women – Katie Schide and Ruth Croft – didn’t race against each other, either.
Buzz Burrell
This was a fun and informative process, and I do think a meta-analysis from different sources provides a better and more balanced result than from a single viewpoint. What do YOU think?