After a brutal 82km of attritional running in the Pyrenees mountains, French duo Benjamin Roubiol and Louison Coiffet called a truce and crossed the line together to share silver in the long trail race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Canfranc Pirineos on Saturday (27).
There was also a medal for Italy’s Fabiola Conti in the women’s trail race.
Iconic moment
The men’s race delivered an iconic moment for trail running and a demonstration of the deep bonds forged through such challenging off-road terrain. USA’s Jim Walmsley won gold after taking the lead from Roubiol between the checkpoints at Izas and Formigal, around one-third of the way through the race.
At around 60km, Coiffet seemed to have a firm grip on silver, moving more than five minutes clear of Roubiol and closing to within 65 seconds of Walmsley.
But Roubiol, world champion two years ago in Innsbruck and European silver medallist in Annecy last year, is made of stern stuff and began to find his second wind.
With a little over 10km to go, he drew alongside Coiffet and the duo ran in lockstep towards the finish.
In the dash to the line, they shared the French tricolore flag and savoured the closing strides together, clocking 8:46:05 to share silver and a warm embrace. Walmsley had already secured gold in 8:35:11.
France won the team title ahead of USA and Italy.
Duel for silver
In the women’s race, USA’s Katie Schide took charge from the outset and ran relentlessly for a dominant victory of more than 25 minutes in 9:57:59. But behind her, a fascinating duel was unfolding.
Italy’s Conti was clear in second place at the first checkpoint at Carretón, 14.9km into the race. Just 24 seconds behind, however, Nepal’s Sunmaya Budha had her well within sight.
At the next checkpoint at Izas (25.6km), the Nepalese runner was 30 seconds in front. But Conti was far from finished—she chipped away and, by Coll d’Ayous (46.8km), had retaken second.
She could not shake off Budha, though. By Tuca (70.5km), the Nepalese runner had established an eight-minute lead, and the medals were set. Budha eventually claimed silver in 10:23:03, with Conti taking bronze in 10:35:51.
Conti-inspired Italy took the team title ahead of USA and France.