WMTRC Short Trail 2023: Geoffray wins, Angermund defends title

In two stunning races, Stian Angermund and Clementine Geoffray won the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships WMTRC 2023 short trail titles.

This was Norwegian Stian Angermund’s second straight WMTRC short trail win following on from his victory in the discipline at last year’s delayed 2021 WMTRC Chiang Mai, while this was French runner Geoffray’s first win in the tournament.

Both were engaged in tight battles for victory, with the 45.2km route from Innsbruck to Neustift with over 3100m of elevation gain providing the setting for two thrilling races.

Angermund proves too much for Roach

Angermund’s biggest challenge came in the form of Britain’s Thomas Roach. The two broke away early on in the race, with another Brit in Jonathan Albon – third in 2021 – joining them over the opening 15km of the race.

But in a move which set the tempo for what was to come, Angermund broke away from that point onwards, opening a gap of a minute and a half over his nearest rival.

That was a lead he maintained the rest of the race, only briefly seeing his advantage ahead of Roach cut as the defending champion made his way to the highest point of the race at Starkenberger.

But some masterful work on the descent saw Angermund increase his lead as he headed towards the finish at Neustift, crossing the line as a two-time WMTRC short trail champion with the clock reading 4:19:00.

Roach had stayed in respectable contact with Angermund, finishing just over two minutes later, while Albon had slipped away to ultimately finish fifth. Italian Luca Del Pero finished over three minutes behind Angermund in a time of 4:22:04.

Stian Angermund (credit: WMTRC 2023/Roast Media)

Geoffray hunts down Wyder

The women’s race provided further excitement, with eventual winner Geoffray chasing down long-time race leader Judith Wyder.

Swiss runner Wyder sprung into the lead early on and maintained it up until she neared the peak at Starkenberger where Geoffray finally surpassed her just shy of the race’s highest point.

On the descent, Geoffray steadily increased her lead despite the best efforts of Wyder who eventual finished just two minutes behind the victorious French runner, who finished in a winning time of 4:53:12.

In a similarly tight battle for third, another Swiss runner Theresa Leboeuf beat out the US’ Jennifer Lichter for the bronze by around two and a half minutes. She finished in a time of 5:09:29.

The fastest Brit was Eleanor Davis who finished in 17th in a time of 5:23:30.