Kiriago crushes record for men's title as Chebet wins women's finale at World Cup goes down to wire

The Mountain Running World Cup reached its dramatic finale this weekend on the iconic slopes of Smarna Gora – and it went right down to the wire.

The final stage, a classic up and downhill race, of this year’s competition took place on a course with a deep history of mountain running where we’ve seen many epic duels in the World Cup over the years.

And with everything to play for in the World Cup competition, we knew we were going to see something special. Here’s how it played out…

Men’s race

With his third place in Saturday’s Velika Planina Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (Run2gether) pulled ahead of Paul Machoka (Run2gether) to take the lead in the men’s World Cup by just 10 points, setting up an enticing men’s competition.

It was no surprise to see a trio of Run2gether athletes taking it out from the start. Josphat Kiprotich initially took command, with Kiriago and Richard Omaya Atuya, Saturday’s men’s winner, right on his heels. They opened a gap of 30 seconds to Machoka, who was desperate to secure those all-important points he needed to take the men’s World Cup. 10 seconds further back Michael Selelo Saoli (Run2gether) and Mwangi Ephantus Njeri (Run2gether) were also in the mix, with Lorenzo Cagnati (La Sportive) also keeping pace.

Kiprotich kept the lead but never succeeded in shaking Kiriago, who looked ominously comfortable despite the relentless pace. Atuya also looked focussed and was holding off Machoka, though never really extending the gap and now Saoli was starting to challenge. And the splits were indicating that the course record may well go.

Kiriago finally made his move, overtaking teammate Kiprotich, and attempting to put some daylight between them. He could not be caught and he took the win, knocking a big chunk off the course record, lowering it to 40.47 (from 41.30, set by Atuya just last year).

Kiriago wins WMRA finale 2025 — Kiriago takes the win – and the title [Photo credit: Pijavim.se | WMRA]

Kiprotich held on to take second in 40.55 and Atuya took third in 41.07. All three were under the course record, showing what a fierce competition it was.

Women’s race

Things were more clear-cut in the women’s as with a DNF on Saturday, Valentine Jepkoech Rutto (Atletica Saluzzo) could no longer catch Scout Adkin, who wasn’t able to run here due to injury but was effectively confirmed the winner again of the women’s World Cup.

Adkin had executed a pretty perfect season, taking part in nine events, winning three, coming second in five and fifth in one.

But there was still a huge amount of potential for shaking up the rest of the women’s competition.

After yesterday’s DNF it was uncertain how Rutto would do here at Smarna Gora, but normal service was resumed as she and Glora Chebet (Run2gether) led it out for the women.

Along with them were Coppinger and, a few seconds back, Mayr, continually pushing each other. Elle Twentyman, another breakout star of this year’s World Cup, and Clement were 30 seconds back and not letting them get away.

After 6km Chebet was still leading, but Rutto was still holding on to her and the gap remained at around 20 seconds. By this point Coppinger and Rutto were running neck-and-neck and they had opened more of a gap on Mayr. But you can never discount Mayr, whose consistency over the last 20 years has been nothing short of astounding.

Eventually Chebet could not be caught and she stretched out her lead in the final kilometres, taking the win in 49.55. Rutto held off Coppinger, taking second in 51.02, with Coppinger 7 seconds behind. Mayr never stopped pushing and took fourth.