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The USA Long Trail team will bring its most complete squad yet to Canfranc. Jim Walmsley, Adam Peterman, Zach Miller, Tyler Green, Caleb Olson, and Tracen Knopp line up for the men. Katie Schide leads the women’s team, fresh off UTMB titles in 2022 and 2024, alongside Jennifer Lichter, Emily Schmitz, Allison Baca, Klaire Rhodes, and Shea Aquilano.
[full coverage of the 2025 World Champs in Canfranc]
It’s the deepest USA Long Trail roster ever sent to Worlds. But medals at the World Championships aren’t won on resumes. They’re won three finishers at a time, every place counting. Four federations stand in the way, and each brings more than just results. They bring stories.
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Other Countries vs USA Long Trail
France
France knows this game. In Innsbruck 2023, Benjamin Roubiol shocked even himself by winning the men’s long trail world title. “I couldn’t dream of being world champion,” he admitted afterwards, the kind of disbelief that makes a breakthrough resonate. Behind him, France packed in enough depth to secure team gold.
Roubiol returns to Canfranc alongside Vincent Bouillard, an engineer by trade who won UTMB in 2024 in a victory widely described as one of the year’s biggest surprises. Add Louison Coiffet, Baptiste Chassagne, Robin Juillaguet, and Mathieu Delpeuch, and you have a six-deep men’s roster with no weak link.
France’s women may not have a headline favorite, but they arrive complete. The French system has always been built on consistency. They rarely need one superstar when three steady scorers can carry the day.
Italy
Italy brings a mix of steadiness and revival. Andreas Reiterer, runner-up at Innsbruck 2023, has become the metronome of European ultras—rarely spectacular, never poor, always there at the front.
Alongside him is Francesco Puppi, long known for his mountain-running speed. This summer he showed a new side, winning CCC in Chamonix. Off the course, Puppi has been candid about mental health: once admitting he didn’t believe he deserved good things, now saying that taking care of his mind has been the best decision of his career. That honesty, paired with his win in Chamonix, makes him one of the most compelling figures in Canfranc.
With Reiterer’s reliability and Puppi’s resurgence, Italy has two genuine leaders. If their remaining scorers close the gap, Italy could return to the team podium.
Spain
Spain’s story is pride of place. They will race at home with full men’s and women’s squads on terrain they know better than anyone: steep ridges, slow descents, rocky traverses. Canfranc is unforgiving for outsiders, but familiar ground for the Spanish.
They lacked medals in Innsbruck, but this year is different. On home soil, with a crowd behind them, Spain doesn’t need an outright favorite. They need three steady scorers to beat USA Long Trail, and that is exactly how team medals are won.
Canada
Canada has taken a clear step forward. Athletics Canada named full men’s and women’s long trail rosters this summer, the largest they’ve ever sent to Worlds.
Jazmine Lowther, who has already shown she can race fearlessly in Europe, leads the women. Elliot Cardin highlights the men’s team. From Quebec’s Eastern Townships, Cardin has built a reputation for humility and consistency, with podiums at races like Gorge Waterfalls 100K and strong runs at Black Canyon. He trains year-round in the mountains of Quebec, mixing ski mountaineering in winter with trail running in summer, and brings a thoughtful, holistic approach to the sport.
For the men, Brandon Miller, Jean-François Cauchon, and Marcus Ribi add experience. For the women, Lowther is joined by Caitlin Schindel, Geneviève Asselin-Demers, Mylène Sansoucy, Robyn Mildren, and Sara Bergen. It is, as Athletics Canada itself said, the strongest Worlds squad they’ve ever assembled.
Other Names to Watch
The long trail field in Canfranc has depth beyond the four main federations. Switzerland brings Maude Mathys, one of Europe’s most decorated mountain runners, now stepping into the 82-kilometer distance. Germany enters Ida-Sophie Hegemann, a rising ultra talent with strong European results. Slovakia’s Peter Fraňo, third at Innsbruck in 2023, also returns. They may not carry their countries onto the team podium, but as individuals they can shape the race.
The Test Ahead for USA Long Trail
The long trail in Canfranc is 82 kilometers with 5,400 meters of climbing. It is slower than Innsbruck, harsher than Chamonix. Winning times will be long, gaps will open, and medals will come down to the third scorer—the runner fighting for a top-twenty place while leaders chase the podium.
The United States comes in with its most balanced squads. France brings a defending champion who once couldn’t imagine winning and an engineer who took UTMB. Italy arrives with Reiterer’s consistency and Puppi’s renewed belief. Spain races on home ground. Canada has finally built real depth. And in the background, names like Mathys, Hegemann, and Fraňo are capable of shaking up the individual race.
Gold in Canfranc for USA Long Trail will not be decided by Schide or Walmsley alone. It will be decided by the teammates who follow them home. And with so many Nike ACG athletes on the U.S. long trail squad, no one would be shocked if the jersey itself were Radical Airflow. Time will tell!
More to come this week as we lead up to Worlds and the exciting potential of the USA Long Trail Team.
