Wow wow wow – that’s right, we’ve made it to the top five of this year’s TROY awards! The two runners in our top five could not have found more different ways to land in the TROY top ten. One a long-time pro entering the pinnacle years of their career who finally snagged one of his most important wins, and the other a relative unknown who is now a two time World Champion in mountain running. Champions who stories we love and who we couldn’t be more excited to root for in the years to come! As Dylan would say – Best. Sport. Ever. If you’ve missed any of the countdown thus far, you can find them here: sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth.
In fifth position this year we have the unsponsored Nina Engelhard and Asics’ Tom Evans.
Nina Engelhard is as fascinating as she is fast! The twenty-eight year old German athlete has no social media, no sponsors, works as an environmental engineer for Germany’s Autobahn, and took up trail running 2023 when she had a few months off in the summer between completing her Masters degree and starting her now full-time career. She also happens to be the reigning European Off-road Champion in both the Vertical and Classic Mountain race, which she won in 2024 besting a field full of professional runners who spend their seasons cutting their teeth on the World Mountain Running Association World Cups (WMRA) and the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS). In a world of known mountain champions, the unknown Nina was winning in convincing fashion. Nina backed up those performances opening her 2025 by winning the German Mountain Running Championships selection race in June and the Tegelberglauf uphill race in Switzerland in August.
Then came the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships… Despite coming in the reigning double European Mountain Running Champion, Nina still felt like an underdog to many of us watching from the outside in Canfranc this fall. Chalk that up to us not being in the know, because the quietly calm and composed German knew exactly where she was meant to be – and that was at the front of the races. Nina won both the Vertical and the Classic Mountain race at the World Championships by 26 seconds and nearly two minutes respecitively. An underdog no more. We’re happy to hear that Nina doesn’t plan to make any major changes anytime soon, and applaud her turning her phone off for a week after bringing home two gold medals this fall. Whichever mountain she decides to race up in 2026 we’ll be happy to be cheering her on!
In so many ways Tom Evans finishing fifth in this year’s TROY top ten feels like third times the charm. This is Tom’s third appearance in the TROY top ten and after two back to back DNFs at the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc 170-kilometer, 2025 was the year he finally broke the pattern and climbed to the top of its podium. Tom is no stranger to success on the world’s biggest stages with wins at Western States, Transgrancanaria, Tarawera, the MIUT, CCC… the list goes on. However, like many other great athletes there was a race win that had eluded him. After finishing on the podium during the 2022 UTMB, Tom returned to the event in both 2023 and 2024 hoping to better his third place finish. Each time his day ended early. 2025 brought big changes to the Evans Coldwell household, and in the spring of this year Tom and his wife Sophie welcomed their daughter into the world. Maybe dad strength is real, or maybe it was the intentionality of this season, but either way Tom and Sophie and baby Phoebe got to close the loop around Chamonix together in August. Not everyone can pull off the new dad to UTMB champion pipeline quite so gracefully.
While cracking the code at UTMB and winning in an outstanding 19:18:58 was a key highlight of Tom’s season, we were incredibly impressed with how he built his entire 2025 up to that moment. Sticking close to home in the spring Tom opened his season by winning the Arc of Attrition by UTMB 80-kilometer in January followed up by winning the Tenerife Bluetrail by UTMB 110-kilometer in March. From there on out it was about settling in with Sophie and Phoebe and completing the loop around the Mont-Blanc in August. Dialed and focused. To mix sports metaphors, he hit a home run by sinking the putt.
In 2026 Tom now has the oppurtunity to do something only a handful of other atheltes have managed – adding a Hardrock 100-mile win to his ultrarunning resume.
Nina and Tom, you both absolutely wowed us this season. Your composure and silent determination to tackle the effort at hand is something that truly inspires us and we cannot wait to see what you accomplish in 2026. Check back here tomorrow to see which two runners found their way to number four!
Thanks to All Conditions Gear for their support of the 2025 Trail Runner of the Year awards!