About
Frédéric Tranchand is a French trail and mountain runner from the Loire Valley who holds seven medals from the World Orienteering Championships — making him one of the most decorated orienteers ever to transition to trail running — and who in 2025 became world champion in the Short Trail discipline at the Trail World Championships in Canfranc. His orienteering background has given him unusually precise movement efficiency, superior route-finding instincts, and a physiological base built on decades of elite aerobic training across technical terrain. He broke into trail running around 2020, finishing second at the iconic Sierre-Zinal behind Kilian Jornet in his breakthrough performance, then earned a second-place at the 2022 World Skyrunning Championships, a third at the DoloMyths Skyrun (2023), and podium finishes at the European Mountain Running Championships. In 2025 he claimed the Short Trail world title at Canfranc, and in 2026 won the Grand Raid Ventoux by UTMB Trail des Coteaux. He runs for the Merrell team and is widely recognised as one of trail running’s most intellectually curious athletes, known for articulating how orienteering’s cognitive demands translate directly to trail performance.
Notable Wins
- — Trail World Championships Short Trail 2025 (world champion)
- — Grand Raid Ventoux by UTMB 2026
- — Sierre-Zinal 2020 (2nd)
- — World Skyrunning Championships 2022 (2nd)
- — 7× World Orienteering Championships medals
Follow Frédéric Tranchand's races in the Crewed app
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