Twenty-six-year-old Teton Village runner Anna Gibson is making a splash at her first-ever World Mountain and Trail Running Championship in Spain this weekend.
She’s representing Team USA in two of the event’s five races and started strong with a bronze medal in the Uphill 6k on Thursday, coming out on the podium in a pack of more than a hundred women. The race winds through a pine forest and up the summit of Larraca Mountain, covering more than 3,000 feet of elevation gain over just four miles.
Gibson crossed the finish line in 46 minutes and seven seconds, coming up just eight seconds behind Finish runner Susanna Saapunki. Nina Engelhard of Germany took gold with a time of 45 minutes and 33 seconds.
“THIRD IN THE WORLD 🤯,” Gibson wrote on her Instagram page after the race. “Still at a loss for words. It turns out that showing up every day and running for the love of it is enough.”
Rémi Bonnet of Switzerland took the top spot in the men’s heat of the race, followed by Kenyan runners Richard Omaya Atuya and Patrick Kipngeno. Utah-based athlete Christian Allen took fourth.
Boulder-based climber Jane Maus took seventh in Friday’s 45k Short Trail race, which climbs nearly 12,000 feet over a little more than 27 miles. She finished in about 5 hours and 48 minutes, and previously set the Fastest Known Time on the Grand Teton earlier this summer.
Teton Village runner Anna Gibson will also run in the event’s final race on Sunday: the 14K Classic. The women’s race starts at 10:30 a.m. in Spain, so night-owls can tune in live at 2:30 a.m. MST in the early hours of the morning.
Over 1,700 athletes from nearly 80 countries will race throughout the weekend.
