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Kenyans Patrick Kipng’eno, Philemon Kiriago and Spanish runner Alejandro Garcia Carrillo went 1-2-3 in the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chang Mai, Thailand on Friday.

The race lived up to its billing – it was hard and hot.

Kipng’eno won the Uphill Mountain Race category after racing the 8.5 kilometres in 46 minutes and 51 seconds. He was followed in by Kiriago in the time of 48:24. Carrillo performed well for his 49:03 bronze medal performance — among the top-50 mountain runners in the world.

American Allie McLaughlin topped the podium and the mountain on Friday in the women’s race. Andrea Mayr from Austria and Swiss Maude Mathys finished in second and third place, respectively. The three clocked times of 55:15, 55:41 and 56:00.

It is the first time ever that Kenyan men won team medals at the World Mountain Running Championships.

The top three teams were the US, UK and Switzerland using the cross-country reverse scoring system. Italy, Switzerland and Spain, went 1-2-3 in the men’s team category.

World Mountain and Trail Running Championships replaced the previous World Championships hosted individually by the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) for mountain running and the International Association for Ultrarunners (IAU) and the International Trail Running Association (ITRA) for trails.

Full results are here>>