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The USA 2025 WMTRC (World Mountain and Trail Running Championships) team is poised to make history in Canfranc, Spain, with a stacked long trail roster featuring three former Western States 100 champions: Jim Walmsley, Adam Peterman, and Caleb Olson.
This biennial event, set against the brilliant Pyrenees, offers a rare chance for the U.S. to challenge European dominance on a world stage. With Walmsley’s recent OCC victory, Peterman’s resilient comeback, and Olson’s blazing Western States triumph, Team USA’s depth and firepower signal a defining moment for American trail running at the WMTRC.
[see also: Can USA dominate 2025 WMTRC? + 2025 Speedgoat Race Report]
I went into my Saturday long run with UTMB live coverage playing through my AirPods, eager to follow the finish unfold in Chamonix. Early morning here in Loveland, Colo., steady miles clicking by, while the men’s podium was being decided half a world away.
I heard the top three announced mid-stride—a race in Europe carried straight into my own run. That’s the odd beauty of trail running: the biggest stages can feel distant and immediate all at once.
And this fall, that thread stretches even further—from Western States to the Pyrenees, where Jim Walmsley, Adam Peterman, and Caleb Olson will trade Auburn’s dust and Chamonix’s lights for the chance to represent the U.S. on a world stage at the 2025 WMTRC —an opportunity that only comes every two years.
WSER M1s at the Starting Line
Jim Walmsley: Form and Fire
Walmsley is the veteran now, though it hardly feels that way. For years his career was defined by near misses and relentless chasing—Western States heartbreaks, bold moves at UTMB that didn’t pan out. Then came the breakthroughs: finally winning at States, then conquering UTMB itself.
The question was whether he still had the edge. The answer came this past week in Chamonix, where Walmsley didn’t just show up at OCC—he closed hard, sprinting away from a deep field to take the win in five hours flat.
A reminder that he’s still sharp, still competitive, and still ready to suffer for it.
In Canfranc, he won’t be racing in Hoka blue. He’ll be racing in U.S. colors, anchoring a 2025 WMTRC Long Trail team that, for once, looks strong enough to challenge the European powers on their home terrain.
Adam Peterman: Talent Reasserted
Alongside Walmsley is Adam Peterman, a runner whose career feels like it’s already spanned eras despite still being early. He burst onto the scene by winning nearly everything he entered: JFK 50, Western States, CCC. He made it all look easy—smooth stride, calm face, hardly showing the effort.
Then came injuries and the long climb back. Peterman’s return hasn’t been flashy, but it’s been steady. In 2024 he tested himself at Speedgoat, finishing sixth—not the headline result of his early career, but proof he was willing to put himself on technical ground while still piecing things together.
I ran Speedgoat myself a year later, in 2025, and the course left its mark: climbs that tilt straight into the sky, descents that punish long after they should be done. Seeing Peterman on that same course the year before reminded me that results mattered less than the choice to keep testing yourself on tough courses.
What also sets him apart is that he’s one of the few at this level who is self-coached. Since turning professional in 2018, he’s built his own training plans, trusted his instincts, and leaned on those closest to him. He comes across the same way he trains—approachable, charismatic, grounded.
Before Western States he went to Arizona to log heat miles. Back in Montana, when the weather cooled, he improvised: setting up his dad’s ice-fishing tent in the yard, heaters blasting, bike trainer inside. A backyard sauna, born of the same creativity he brings to his running.
For Peterman, the 2025 WMTRC in Canfranc is more than just a shot at medals. It’s a chance to see whether that mix of talent, patience, and resourcefulness can translate onto the steep density of the Pyrenees.
Caleb Olson: New Torchbearer
The third pillar is Caleb Olson, this year’s Western States champion. His 14:11:25 victory (second-fastest time in course history) was the kind of breakout that changes how people talk about a runner. Olson isn’t just promising anymore; he’s the man with M1 pinned to his chest, carrying the lineage of America’s most storied ultra.
Olson admitted he was “wrecked” after States. His summer has been about recovery and careful rebuilding, not more racing. That choice underscores both the magnitude of his effort in June and the stakes of stepping onto the line in Spain.
For Olson, 2025 WMTRC in Canfranc is both opportunity and risk. The opportunity to show that his Western States win wasn’t an isolated triumph, but the start of a career that belongs on the world stage. The risk is that the Pyrenees aren’t California—they’re steeper, harsher, less forgiving. Every step will demand adaptation.
Still, Olson has the tools. His run at States showed composure, patience, and the ability to suffer without breaking. Those qualities matter as much in Spain as in Auburn.
2025 WMTRC | Depth Behind the Headliners
Walmsley, Peterman, and Olson may be the marquee names, but the 2025 WMTRC U.S. roster goes deeper.
Tyler Green, ever consistent, brings reliability that matters when 2025 WMTRC team scoring depends on every place.
Zach Miller has long been America’s wild card in Europe—fearless, aggressive, and capable of detonating a race if things go right. And Tracen Knopp, the youngest of the six, brings younger legs and a willingness to take risks.
Together, the six men balance one another—experience and youth, aggression and restraint, polish and unpredictability. That balance could be decisive in Canfranc, where the course punishes not just individuals but entire squads.
For once, Americans won’t be racing only for themselves or their sponsors; they’ll be shoulder to shoulder in the same kit, carrying U.S. colors into the mountains.
Different Paths, Same Start Line
How the Americans arrive in Spain may prove as interesting as what happens once they’re there.
Olson has spent the summer recovering.
Peterman lined up at OCC and came away sixth, steady but still sharpening.
Walmsley, on the other hand, won the race with a furious closing kick, showing he’s in peak form heading into Spain.
Contrast that with the French, whose federation prioritizes the Trail World Championships over UTMB Finals. With Worlds and UTMB only 30 days apart this year, French national team members are barred from racing UTMB by the Fédération Française d’Athlétisme (FFA), a key point of contention between organizers and some elite athletes.
The U.S. approach is looser, leaving runners more freedom to choose. Different gambits, same start line.
The Pyrenean Gauntlet
Canfranc’s long trail course doesn’t look overwhelming on paper—82 kilometers, shorter than UTMB or Western States. But the elevation profile tells a different story: more than 5,400 meters of climbing packed into that distance. That’s roughly 66 meters gained per kilometer, a ratio that breaks rhythm and drains legs.
The race begins and ends at the Canfranc International Station, a sprawling, ornate building at the edge of the valley. It’s the backdrop, nothing more—because once the gun goes off, the station fades and the course takes over. From there it’s ridgelines, rocky passes, and climbs that feel endless.
A course like this leaves no free miles. It will ask for patience, demand resilience, and punish anyone who gives in early.
Lessons in Resilience
Trail running’s volatility isn’t just an American storyline. This year’s UTMB men’s podium—Tom Evans, Ben Dhiman, Josh Wade—proved it. Evans and Dhiman both dropped in 2024. Wade finished 11th. Twelve months later, they stood first through third in Chamonix.
In this sport, the same runner can drop one year and win the next.
That reality is what makes Canfranc so compelling. The same unpredictability that crowns new champions in Chamonix can either elevate or unravel the Americans at the 2025 WMTRC in Spain. And that’s the challenge: not simply to have talent, but to withstand the volatility of the mountains.
2025 WMTRC | Team USA’s Moment
What makes this group compelling isn’t just their resumes, but the convergence of different arcs. Walmsley enters as the veteran who still has fire. Peterman is the talent re-establishing himself after setbacks. Olson is the newcomer carrying momentum from Auburn into Europe. Add Green’s steadiness, Miller’s aggression, and Knopp’s youth, and you have six distinct paths woven into one brilliant 2025 WMTRC team.
That blend matters. In a sport where the line between collapse and breakthrough can be as thin as a season, depth and variety may be the difference in the Pyrenees.
Looking Ahead
When the 2025 WMTRC USA men’s long trail team lines up in Canfranc, they won’t be six isolated names on a results sheet. They’ll be standing as a team, testing whether American depth can finally match Europe’s in the high mountains.
I think back to that long run, listening to the finish unfold in Chamonix as I moved through quiet Colorado streets. That same thread will stretch to Spain: distant peaks, lessons unfolding, and a chance to see if the U.S. can finally line up not just as individuals, but as a team.
