It’s day two of our annual TROY awards, and we cannot wait to share the accolades of these next two incredible runners. Today, we have an athlete on the rise and an outstanding veteran of our sport – and if you missed yesterday’s tenth-place announcement, you can find that here.
In ninth position this year we have HOKA’s Fuzhao Xiang and Ludovic Pommeret.
We’ve talked about the “rise of the Chinese runner” for several years, and Fuzhao Xiang might just be leading the ground swell. While we recognize there is a thriving trail and ultra running scene in China, the ascendant nature to the podium in Western races has us giddy to watch and cheer the sport’s growth. Fuzhao is no stranger to the start line, in 2023, she recorded at least eleven races that we can find, never finishing worse than fifth. So how is this her first time in our top ten?
Well, in 2024, she scaled back the sheer volume of racing and impressed on one of the world’s biggest stages, the 2024 Western States 100-mile, where she finished second in the third fastest time in race history, running an outstanding 16:20:03. While this was her debut at the event she helped to pace her HOKA team and good friend Eszter Csillag an incredible performance the year before. You better bet watching them finish in second and third, respectively, this year brought us to tears on the track. Better yet, if you caught her finish line interview, she blew us away in real time as she let slip that she had been dealing with an injury in the build-up to the race and hoped to run 18:30 – a time she more than eclipsed. We should note that WSER was the only race Fuzhao finished but did not win this season. She kicked off her season winning several 30-50km races in China before WSER. After UTMB did not go to plan in late August Fuzhao pivoted to win her final three races of the year, including the Ultra-Trail Ninghai by UTMB 106km, IZU Trail Journey 70km, and the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships 80km.
Watch Fuzhao race is joy embodied, and while we hope she is getting ample rest after an impressive year of running and racing we can’t wait to see her cross her next finish line.
You’re 49 years old, you’ve won some of the biggest races in ultrarunning, podiumed at basically every trail race that comes to mind… what still eats at you? The Hardrock 100-mile. With wins at UTMB and Diagonale Des Fous, there was still a third incredibly important mountain 100-mile race left for Ludovic Pommeret to win, and in 2024, he finally got his chance. While Ludo was not a wild card on the start line in Silverton by any means, what came next still had our heads turning. When late-breaking appendicitis took out the head-to-head competition we had hoped for, Ludo more than stepped up to the plate swinging big. His effort was not only good enough for the win, but he claimed the course record in the process, running an outstanding 21:33:06 on the circuit. Turns out breaking a Kilian Jornet record is always and will always be a big deal.
While one outstanding race can make a season for any runner, Ludovic put together a great 2024, which included four ultra-length races, never finishing worse than fifth. Before making his way to Silverton in July, he took second place at both the Trail Sainte-Victoire 60km race and the Valhöll Argentina by UTMB 125km. To close out his year, he made his seventh start at UTMB, where he finished fifth for the second year in a row while bettering his time by nearly 30 minutes on the course. The field is speeding up, but so is Ludo.
Right now, Ludo is signed up to return to the Hardrock 100-mile in 2025 to run the loop in the opposite direction. Can he make it back-to-back victories in July? We’ll be there to find out!
Fuzhao and Ludovic both showed up to pinnacle races in 2024 and ran in ways that made us wonder where the limit really is. Here’s to finding out in 2025! Any guesses as to which two runners made the leap to eighth position this year? Check back here tomorrow morning to find out!