Trail Performance of The Year (TPOY) is here, and we can’t wait to celebrate all the incredible runs. While sometimes one standout performance is enough to land a runner in the TROY top ten, this gives us a way to add recognition for the performances that truly rocked our socks off – one-off or amid an incredible season! Trail Performance of The Year, like TROY, is distance agnostic and tries to recognize incredible race performances from Vertical Kilometers (VKs) to ultra-ultra-distance endeavors. The 2025 season was so steeped in incredible performances this year we are listing out the top ten performances of the year. Thank you again to our incredible voters and to All Conditions Gear for their support of the 2025 awards!
Women’s Trail Performances of The Year
- Tove Alexandersson – World Championships (Short Trail 45km)
Winning a World Championship title is a big deal, winning the marathon distance trail title by 34 minutes puts you squarely into a leauge of your own, ascendant behavior. - Katie Schide – World Championships (Long Trail 82km)
One of her many ‘best in class’ performances for 2025, Katie ran away with the Women’s Long Trail title at the World Chmpaionships by 25 minutes, dominant. - Ruth Croft – HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc (UTMB 170-km)
Winning this year’s UTMB in a phenomenal 22:56:23 made Ruth the first ever woman to have notched wins across all three distances at the UTMB Finals. - Anne Flower – Leadville Trail 100 Mile
Anne became the first woman to run 18-hours at the historic race, breaking Ann Trason’s 31-year old record in a time of 17:58:19. - Katie Schide – Hardrock 100 Endurance Run (Counterclockwise)
Katie’s win at Hardrock made her the third person to notch wins at the four most iconic 100 milers in the world: Hardrock, Western States, UTMB, and Diagonale des Fous. Her time of 25:50:23 established a new women’s course record for the event. - Abby Hall – Western State 100 Mile
Running the fourth fastest time ever, Abby Hall cemented her return from a broken leg and a long golden-ticket hunt to win in 16:37:16. - Tara Dower – Javelina Hundred Mile
Just a month removed from a DNF at the Mammoth 200, Tara ran an impossibly fast 13:31:47 to establish a new course record and win a golden ticket in the process. - Nina Engelhard – World Championships (14km Classic Mountain)
A new face of the best in class, Nina’s wire to wire run to win the Classic Mountain race put her nearly two minutes clear of the best in the world. - Rachel Entrekin – Cocodona 250 Mile
Winning for the second year in a row her time of 63:50:55 was the fastest time ever run by a woman on the route by seven plus hours and netted her fourth overall in the 2025 edition. - Nina Engelhard – World Championships (Vertical Uphill)
No sprint finish for Nina at World’s in her double gold medal weekend. Her winning time of 45:33 put Nina almost 30 seconds clear of second.
Men’s Trail Performances of The Year
- Jim Walmsley – World Championships (Long Trail 82km)
Winning his second ever individual World Championship title Jim came out on top during the Long Trail race running 8:35:11 to best the French duo that pursued him all day by nine minutes. - Rémi Bonnet – Kilomètre Vertical De Fully (World Record)
27:21… the fastest man to ever run a vertical kilometer shattering the previous world record by 92 seconds. - Caleb Olson – Western States 100 Mile
Doubling back from the fastest WSER debut in 2024, Caleb’s 2025 run leveled up. After a long battle with Chris Myers he finally broke free to win in the second fastest time ever running a stellar 14:11:25. - Tom Evans – HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc (UTMB 170km)
After two back-to-back DNFs Tom returned to UTMB to execute on a long time dream – winning UTMB. Tom had to battle the mountains, the men’s field, and the weather to come away with the win in 19:18:58. - Francesco Puppi – HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc (CCC 101km)
For his first year of 100-kilometer racing, Francesco cemented himself as one of the best “middle-distance” ultra runners in the world winning CCC in 10:06:02. - Jim Walmsley – Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB (120km)
A sleeper best performance of the year, Jim’s March 2025 win over Kilian Jornet and Vincent Bouillard at Chianti in 9:59:48 left us speechless and excited for the year of racing ahead. - Francesco Puppi – The Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB (100km)
Canyons 100-kilometer promised a deep field for Francesco’s debut at the distance, the weather was bad but Francesco was historically fast running 8:04:36. - Rémi Bonnet – World Championships (Vertical Uphill)
On skis or on foot Rémi has established himself as the best in the world, no questions asked, and at this year’s World Championships he put himself over a minute clear of the field running 37:50. - Ludovic Pommeret – Hardrock 100 Endurance Run (counterclockwise)
Another year older and just as fast, the now 50 year old took on a new set of challengers at this year Hardrock 100-mile and came out victorious running away with it in a new course record time of 22:21:53. - Jim Walmsley – HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc (OCC 50km)
Flexing his range this season Jim stepped down in distance during UTMB finals to win a nail-bitter during OCC in 5:00:35.
While this list is by no means exhaustive, and there were many performances that didn’t quite make it into the top ten, we still have so much to celebrate. The athletes that make up this sport, the races, the places, and the magic that is moving with your own two feet – 2026, you’ve got your work cut out for you!