{"id":1724,"date":"2025-09-28T17:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T17:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2025-12-05T17:15:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:15:35","slug":"nina-engelhard-and-philemon-kiriago-win-gold-in-the-classic-race-at-canfranc-pirineos-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/28\/nina-engelhard-and-philemon-kiriago-win-gold-in-the-classic-race-at-canfranc-pirineos-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Nina Engelhard and Philemon Kiriago Win Gold in the Classic Race at Canfranc-Pirineos 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Germany\u2019s Nina Engelhard and Kenya\u2019s Philemon Kiriago have been crowned World Champions in the Classic discipline on the fourth and final day of the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, which conclude today in the town of Canfranc, in the Aragonese Pyrenees. Titus Masau and Julia Ehrle took the U20 titles.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final day of the Canfranc-Pirineos 2025 World Championships once again enjoyed splendid weather, allowing athletes to fully enjoy the trails of the Aragonese Pyrenees. Thousands of spectators lined the course, turning Sunday into a day of sport, celebration, and festivity. Canfranc says farewell to its World Championships having firmly established itself as one of the global temples of trail running. All the runners and fans agreed, celebrating the rare closeness and intimacy of the event, held in a small Pyrenean village with true alpine character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NINA ENGELHARD: DOUBLE GOLD IN CLASSIC AND UPHILL AT CANFRANCPIRINEOS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The race started with three Ugandan runners leading alongside Kenyan Joyce Muthoni. But as the runners entered the forest, Germany\u2019s Nina Engelhard took the lead, looking to open a gap already on the first climb. By the time they passed the Cargates dam, she had a 20-second lead over Uganda\u2019s Rispa Cherop, Kenya\u2019s Ruth Gitonga, and Switzerland\u2019s Oria Liaci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second loop, Nina extended her lead to more than two minutes by the summit. Behind her, Swiss runner Oria moved into second place, while Gitonga and Cherop battled for bronze. Muthoni slipped back and out of medal contention. Not even a fall on the steep downhill could stop Nina, who crossed the finish line at the iconic International Railway Station with impressive strength. The German secured her second gold of these World Championships, after also winning the Uphill race on Thursday. If there is one clear winner in Canfranc, it’s her. She finished with a time of 1:11:00. The fight for the remaining medals was thrilling: Kenya\u2019s Ruth Gitonga claimed silver in 1:12:54, and Switzerland\u2019s Oria Liaci took bronze with 1:13:15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NINA ENGELHARD STATEMENT:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“I did active recovery over the last three days, combining ice, rest, easy runs, and other activities. Even so, I felt cramps in my quads during the descent, but I managed to keep them under control and take the win.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEAM RESULTS (WOMEN \u2013 CLASSIC):<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Team scoring in the Classic discipline is based on the positions of the top three finishers from each country. The team with the lowest total score wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold<\/strong>: Kenya \u2013 14 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver<\/strong>: USA \u2013 32 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronze<\/strong>: Switzerland \u2013 35 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHILEMON KIRIAGO CROWNED IN CANFRANC<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Uganda\u2019s Martin Kiprotich took the lead right from the start, opening a gap that by the time they reached the first summit was 14 seconds over Kenya\u2019s Philemon Kiriago, with fellow Ugandan Ken Koros another 10 seconds behind. Close behind were Aziz Chebet, Brayan Rodr\u00edguez, and Mason Coppi\u2014all within 30 seconds and still in medal contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiriago closed in on the leader during the descent, narrowing the gap to just 2 seconds. Right behind them were Paul Machoka and Ken Koros. The second summit witnessed a fierce battle for the lead. Ultimately, Kiriago launched a stunning final descent like a diving peregrine falcon, flying down through the forest and crossing the finish line in Canfranc as the winner with a time of 1:00:38.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver went to Uganda\u2019s Martin Kiprotich with 1:01:26, and bronze to Kenya\u2019s Paul Machoka in 1:01:31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHILEMON KIRIAGO STATEMENT:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“I knew I had to launch my attack on the final descent, so I held back, held back\u2014and when I went for it, I gave everything to prevent my rival from keeping up. I\u2019m very happy to win in Canfranc. It\u2019s a dream come true in a place I already knew from before.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEAM RESULTS (MEN \u2013 CLASSIC):<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gold<\/strong>: Kenya \u2013 9 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver<\/strong>: Uganda \u2013 27 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronze<\/strong>: Italy \u2013 37 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNDER 20: UGANDA DOMINATES THE PODIUMS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the U20 category, Uganda\u2019s young talents dominated the podiums, taking five of the six individual top spots and both team golds. Titus Masau led the African team with a gold medal in the men\u2019s race, while Germany\u2019s Julia Ehrle claimed gold in the women\u2019s. Uganda also secured both silvers\u2014Enos Chebe in the men\u2019s race and Nancy Chapkwurui in the women\u2019s\u2014as well as the two bronzes: Abraham Cherotich and Felister Checkwemoi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEAM RESULTS \u2013 U20:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Women:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold<\/strong>: Uganda \u2013 14 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver<\/strong>: Italy \u2013 35 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronze<\/strong>: Spain \u2013 40 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold<\/strong>: Uganda \u2013 6 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver<\/strong>: Great Britain \u2013 29 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronze<\/strong>: Switzerland \u2013 34 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
PICTURES<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany\u2019s Nina Engelhard and Kenya\u2019s Philemon Kiriago have been crowned World Champions in the Classic discipline on the fourth and.. Read more<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1726,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions\/1726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canfrancpirineos2025wmtrc.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}