The mountains are calling, and Team Canada is able to climb. Athletics Canada has formally introduced the primary 28 athletes who will characterize Canada on the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Canfranc-Pirineos, Spain, in September. With acquainted faces and rising stars on the roster, the workforce seems to be poised for a robust displaying within the Pyrenees.
Canada’s strongest workforce but
According to Athletics Canada, that is probably the most aggressive mountain and path workforce the nation has ever assembled for the world championships. Key returners embrace Anne-Marie Comeau, who completed fifteenth within the vertical race in 2023, and Alexandre Ricard, who landed sixteenth within the mountain traditional. Both will go well with up once more this 12 months, bringing beneficial expertise to the worldwide stage.
“I’ve massive targets for each of the occasions I’ll be racing in, aiming for a prime 10 end within the Vertical and a prime 5 within the Short Trail,” mentioned Ricard. He’s excited concerning the steep, technical nature of the programs, noting that the vertical race seems to be particularly well-suited to his strengths. “I’m fortunate to have very best coaching terrain right here in Squamish to assist put together.”
New faces, massive ambitions
The squad additionally options recent expertise like Jade Belzberg, who dominated finally 12 months’s Canadian Mountain Running Championships. She’ll compete in each the vertical and quick path races this fall. “I really feel grateful for the chance to race in opposition to one of the best on the earth,” mentioned Belzberg. “It’s an unimaginable honour to characterize Canada and to be becoming a member of such a powerful workforce.”
On the lads’s aspect, Canadian 50K report holder (on the highway) Chris Balestrini and Marcus Ribi will lead the lengthy path contingent, whereas the ladies’s lengthy path squad contains acquainted names like Jazmine Lowther and Sara Bergen, each recognized for their grit on technical programs.
How this Canadian trail-running star prepares for races (and life)
The problem forward
The World Championships, set within the rugged Pyrenees, will take a look at Canada’s greatest in opposition to the steep climbs, sharp descents and skinny air of high-altitude mountain working. “Some of the climbs and descents will likely be fairly lengthy, and the altitude will likely be an enormous issue,” mentioned Team Canada’s coach Bernadette Benson. “For athletes who’ve ready effectively, the reward will likely be racing via the beautiful, uncovered alpine terrain the Pyrenees are recognized for.”
Around 1,700 athletes from roughly 70 international locations are anticipated to race throughout 5 disciplines: uphill-only mountain working, traditional up-and-down mountain working, quick path, lengthy path and U20 traditional occasions.
The workforce
Classic Up-and-Down (Women)
Claudine Soucie
Classic Up-and-Down (Men)
Remi Leroux
Classic Up-and-Down (U20)
Maxime Corbeil
Vertical (Women)
Anne-Marie Comeau
Vertical (Men)
Alexandre Ricard
Short Trail (Women)
Stephanie Ryall
Kalie McCrystal
Nicole Lacis
Carol-Ann Rolle
Laurie Proulx
Short Trail (Men)
Alexandre Ricard
Joshua Potvin
Samuel Hendry
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
Dany Racine
Brendan Morden 
Long Trail (Women)
Sara Bergen
Robyn Mildren
Jazmine Lowther
Geneviève Asselin-Demers
Caitlin Schindel
Mylène Sansoucy
Long Trail (Men)
Marcus Ribi
Chris Balestrini
Jean-Philippe Thibodeau
Christian Meier
Brandon Miller
Elliot Cardin
More to return
The last choices for Canada’s workforce will likely be introduced later this month. For now, the preliminary squad alerts a deep and versatile group, poised to tackle one of many world’s hardest mountain championships. In the phrases of Ricard: “Competing at Worlds for the third time means so much to me. Wearing the maple leaf on a world stage will all the time be an enormous honour.”