The two athletes that ended up knocking on the door of a TROY top five this year are astonishingly first timers in the TROY top ten – despite their incredible year over year resumes! I guess we will have to celebrate them extra hard as we head into 2026 – and if you need a catch-up on TROY thus far you can find them here: seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth.
In sixth position this year we have Salomon’s Miao Yao and On and Run2gether’s Philemon Kiriago.
Miao Yao is without a doubt one of the most talented atheltes running out of China right now – a staple on the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) and a multi-time and multi-distance champion at UTMB final events in Chamonix it’s hard to comprehend at times just how fast she is (we see you throwing down that casual 2:30 marathon). Miao exploded onto the trail and ultra scene in 2018 winning races like the Hong Kong 100-kilometer, Lavaredo 120-kilometer, and CCC by UTMB, but all that success (and over-racing) came at a pirce. The highest highs, followed by the lowest lows including big bobbles in 2019 followed by several years away from the sport. Somewhere along the way Miao found her love for running again and in 2023 and hasn’t slowed down since. 2025 saw her race a little less than in previous years, but we think that worked out just fine! Miao seemingly did the impossible, defending her OCC title, her third podium at that race in as many years.
The highlight of Miao’s 2025 trail campaign came at the end of August when she won the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc OCC (55-kilometer) for the second year in a row, making her the only athlete to have ever won both OCC and the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc CCC (101-kilometer) twice in their career. We have to imagine at some point we’ll see her look for redemeption for her UTMB 170-kilometer DNF from 2019 – going after something only Ruth Croft has accomplished on the women’s side of winning all three championship finals. Beyond her outstanding OCC, Miao also ran and won the Huangyan Jiufeng Trail Master Challenge, finished fifth in the Jinshanling Great Wall Trail Race (GTWS), won the HOKA Val d’Aran by UTMB 50-kilometer and finished sixth at Sierre-Zinal.
We asked Miao what she learned from her 2025 season and she had this to say, “Overall, 2025 went smoothly for me. I learned how to face both success and failure with more calm and perspective. When I prepare and compete, I give everything I have. So even when the result isn’t what I hoped for, I can accept it.” We can’t wait to see her apply that same perspective to whatever comes ahead in 2026.
Akin to his teammate Patrick Kipngeno, Philemon Kiriago is a prolific racer competing on the World Mountain Running Association (WRMA) circuit, the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS), and representing Keyna at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC). In 2025 Philemon did it all, and did it all well, coming out on top of the WMRA rankings, finishing third in the GTWS (his third top five ranking in as many years), and moved up the podium one spot upgrading to a gold medal at the WMTRC Classic Mountain Race in Canfranc this fall. A champion of champions with atleast 19 races on his 2025 dance card, Philemon has left us darn near speechless. 19 races, only off the podium four times, only one race outside the top ten.
Chronologically Philemon’s race season makes us tired just thinking about it – but here it is: he finished second at the Kobe Trail 22-kilometer (GTWS), second at the Jinshanling Great Wall Trail Race (GTWS), first at the Golfo Dell Isola (GTWS), second at Vertical Nasego (WMRA), first at Trogeo Nasego (WMRA), seventh at the Broken Arrow Ascent (WMRA), second at The Broken Arrow Skyrace 23-kilometer (GTWS), third at Tepec Trail 34-kilometer (GTWS), sixth at the Vauban Mountain Trail Vertical (WMRA), second at the Vauban Mountain Trail Grand Parcours (WMRA), second at the di Mont Uphill (WMRA), first at Thyon-Dixence (WMRA), first at Sierre-Zinal (GTWS), third at the Velika Planina Race (WMRA), first at the Šmarna Gora Race (WMRA), third at Dolomitenmann (WMRA), seventeenth at the World Championships Vertical (WMTRC), first at the World Championships Classic Mountain Race (WMTRC), and fifth at the GTWS Grand Finale (Ledro Sky Trentino). Exhausted? Us too! Here’s to a 2026 calendar full of good racing with Philemon.
Congrats to two of our favorite champions, Miao and Philemon, we cannot not wait to see which podium step you climb onto in 2026. Remember to check back here tomorrow morning to see which two runners made their way into the top five.
Thanks to All Conditions Gear for their support of the 2025 Trail Runner of the Year awards!