Frédéric Tranchand is one of France’s most talented trail runners who, in spite of his prowess in the sport, has been considered an underdog on the start line. But that all changed at the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, when Tranchand earned his place in the spotlight. The 37-year old Frenchman from the Loire Valley was crowned World Champion in the short trail race, besting top trail runners from around the world and earning France one of its eight medals during the championships (France earned top honors among all the participating nations in the overall point tally followed by Italy in second and Team USA in third – read more here).
Trail running orientation
In 2020, Tranchand broke onto the trail running scene, finishing second in Switzerland’s world-renowned Sierre Zinal trail race to the non-other-than-trail-running G.O.A.T. (greatest of all-time), Kilian Jornet. “I knew Sierre Zinal was an important race but I didn’t fully understand how big it was. I read Kilian’s books and followed him for ten years prior. I felt incredibly lucky to have placed second to him, which also earned me a ticket to the golden trail series where I started my trail running career.”
Before Sierre Zinal, Tranchand may have had little experience in trail races, but he was already a seven-time medalist in the World Orienteering Championships.
Orienteering, a timed endurance sport rooted in military history since the 1800s, involves navigating checkpoints in mostly natural, off-trail landscapes. Participants self-navigate routes between checkpoints without relying on GPS systems. Athletes develop their own strategies for how they’ll run the races based on their prior analysis of the course and experiences. Tranchand explains the difference between orienteering and trail running, “They are quite different sports. In orienteering we run outside of the path with a map. We must plan the route and navigate ourselves.”
Tranchand continues, explaining how orienteering has made him a better trail runner, “Trail running is a young sport and when I first started very few elite athletes had figured out proper training methods. My experiences on the national orienteering team helped me structure my training and life to be a good athlete. Also, the more technical Skyrunning and trail running courses have more cross over to the route finding we do in orienteering, which perhaps helps me find flags more quickly than others.”
2025 golden year
Tranchand has demonstrated himself as one of the world’s top trail runners in the past five years. His results include a third in the 2020 Golden Trail Series Championship Final, second place at the 2022 World Skyrunning Championships, third at the 2023 DoloMyths Skyrun, and fifth at the 2024 European Mountain Running Championships (Uphill). But in spite of these results, Tranchand had never become a national or world champion in trail running. That is until 2025, when he accomplished both titles in the same season.
In the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, Tranchand felt disappointed by his result (though he still placed ninth overall in the short trail distance). “In the last world championships, I was frustrated that I didn’t prepare well enough. This helped me be more focused and motivated to set proper goals for this year.”
In 2025, Tranchand explains his heightened focus on training and racing, “It was quite clear the main goal was the World Championships for this year. I used the French championships earlier in the season to qualify for the team and the course itself was also on similar terrain to the World Championships. This race was the perfect step to preparing myself for the championship and gave me the confidence to race well there.”
While Tranchand is incredibly pleased with his gold-medal performances this season, he hasn’t let his increasing success and fame in the trail running world affect his way of life, “Even after becoming a world champion, I don’t think it will change a lot. Personally, it was a big goal for me and I’m happy how well I prepared for it and very grateful for the result. It will change my CV more than anything, or perhaps I will gain more sponsors, but overall it’s no big difference to my normal way of life.”
Read more stories from the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships here.
French trail dynasty
Trail running is a rapidly growing sport in the United States, but France is still far ahead in terms of its development of the sport. With competitions that attract thousands of competitors from around the world such as UTMB or Festival les Templiers, to high participation numbers and brand involvement, France is one of the leading countries in the world for trail running. Tranchand speaks about the French trail running scene, “Especially after the COVID pandemic, I noticed a rise in participation and more and more trail running events were becoming fully booked. With such great trail running density, there’s more people inspired and motivated than ever before. The brands know it’s a large market and high level athletes know there’s a possibility for super good support systems that allow them to focus on their training.”
France has produced many of the top trail runners in the world, but equally as impressive is the comradery amongst these top athletes. Tranchand speaks to the dynamic between himself and other elite French runners and teammates from the French National Championship and World Championship races, “It’s always a good team atmosphere and great friendships. Throughout the year, we have a couple of weeks to train together during French national team training camps. We don’t race for ourselves as much as for the team. We compete with each other, leaving it all out on the line, but we can share beers and shake hands afterwards. It’s quite healthy.”
Tranchand explains the French team mentality further during the 2025 World Championships, “The goal was that everyone went home with a medal. We wanted to have the best chance possible for the team performance.”
Tranchand at World Champs.
US bound?
Tranchand may still lack the recognition he deserves amongst US trail running crowds, but he’s also no stranger to racing on US soil. In 2024, Tranchand raced both Golden Trail Series events, Headlands and Mammoth Trail Fest (placing 7th and 21st respectively). Tranchand speaks on his time in the US, “In addition to those two races in California, I visited the mountain meccas of Boulder and Leadville which I enjoyed very much. I would love to come back and stay longer in the US if I could.”
Follow Tranchand on his Instagram here.
