We’ve entered the final countdown in our TROY top ten! Today we get to celebrate the two athletes that made their way to second position in the end of year rankings as we recognize the career highlights they accomplished over the past season. For one runner this is their fourth appearance in the TROY top ten in four years (but their highest finish yet), and for the other it took a successful step up in distance to launch them into the TROY top ten for the first time ever. Both these athletes had absolutely fantastic seasons in 2025, but we have a feeling 2026 may be even better!
If you’ve missed any of the countdown thus far, you can find them here: third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth.
This year in second position we have adidas TERREX’s Ruth Croft and HOKA’s Francesco Puppi.
With a career that spans well over a decade there are a whole host of superlatives we could use to describe Ruth Croft’s running prowess. She’s been wildly consistent, dominant, patient, studious, calculated, spectacular… the list goes on. 2025 was no exception to what we’ve come to expect when Ruth steps to the start line, something great. Ruth made one mistake this season, a miscalculation with the weather and succumbing to hypothermia at Transvulcania led to what might be her only DNF to date. She vowed to not repeat that same mistake, learning and adapting, and when the weather turned to some of the worst ever during UTMB this August she was ready. When the sun rose and the rain and blowing snow cleared Ruth Croft was working her way up through the podium, into third, then second, finally taking the lead by the time she was climbing into Champex Lac on the Swiss side of the mountain. From there the race was her’s – betttering her second place finish from 2024 – Ruth won the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc (170-kilometer) making her the first woman and second runner to ever win all three championship races during the UTMB Finals week (OCC, CCC, and UTMB).
While UTMB certainly was the high point of the season, a big mission accomplished, Ruth had a spectacular 2025 from nearly start to finish linning up at five races and winning four of them. Ruth kicked things off at home in New Zealand winning the Tarawera Ultra-trail by UTMB 102-kilometer in record fashion, turning down a golden ticket, but putting on an incredible show. Post Transvulcania mishap and a return to her European training base Ruth went on to win the adidas TERREX MaXi-Race 60-kilometer as her tune up race for the effort around the Mont-Blanc at UTMB. Post UTMB Ruth headed to Asia, to Hong Kong and China, places she has called home winning the Ultra-Trail Ninghai by UTMB 60-kilometer race to close out her year. Ruth is now back home in New Zealand preparing for the 2026 season by adventuring, hiking, running workouts on grass tracks and we hope preparing to snag a golden ticket to maybe join us back at Western States this June. Only time will tell, but we’ve got our popcorn ready!
We can tell you right now the battle between first and second in the men’s TROY top ten was really really close. Some will say we got it right, others will say we got it wrong, but what we can say is both Francesco and our men’s TROY winner put together mind boggling seasons. Many of these performances we’ll be reliving for a very long time.
While this might be Francesco Puppi’s first time in the TROY top ten, he’s been an athlete on the rise for effectively a decade as he’s dabbled across surfaces and distances to find his sweet spot. Maybe it was the increased coverage of sub-ultra trail runnning via race circuits like the Golden Trail World Series, but it feels like Francesco came onto our radar in a major way in 2021 when he finished the season ranked second overall. In 2022 he popped up again when he was the athlete pushing Jim Walmsley every step of the way finishing a close second place at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in the Short Trail race. From there it seems there was no looking back, Francesco was here and he was here to climb the podium.
Francesco had a really good 2024, but his step up in distance progressively over the course of the 2025 season havs decidedly put him amongst the very best ever. He started his season with wins at distances we knew he was good at; winning the Ronda Ghibellina Trail race, the Transgrancanaria Marathon, and the Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB Marathon. From there Francesco came state side to line up at the always competitive Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB 100-kilometer, a golden ticket race in the heart of Western States Country. The weather was horrible but Francesco made the win look easy in a course record time. While we, the talking heads, were disappointed he turned down his golden ticket for 2025 we knew he had gotten a taste for the oversized prize ticket. After Canyons Francesco notched another win at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB 50-kilometer and ran a stellar “tune-up race” at Sierre-Zinal to finish tenth. The other crown jewel of Francesco’s season came at the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc Finals week where he lined up and won in oustanding fashion at the 101-kilometer CCC. Winning at CCC puts Francesco into a select group of runners who have won more than one event during UTMB Finals… and while the full loop around the mountain is likely several years away, you know we are already excited about it. Finally, to close out his season Francesco tried to pull off the very hard double from UTMB Finals to the World Championships (WMTRC) in Canfranc – and while it was not his day ultimately, a ninth place finish against the world’s best isn’t too shabby.
Ruth and Francesco, you’re both seasoned veterans of the sport, and the way you both added to your already incredible race resumes this past year continues to drive that point home. You are both incredible champions, and while someone has to come second, you found a lot of ways to come in first throughout 2025. Here’s to incredible 2026’s – hope to see you both at the big dance in June!
Thanks to All Conditions Gear for their support of the 2025 Trail Runner of the Year awards!