US wins both XCM world titles at 2025 MTB Worlds

Kate Courtney and Keegan Swenson produced a shock double for the United States at the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships on Saturday, each claiming the elite cross-country marathon crown after grueling 125-kilometer races across the Valais Alps from Verbier to Grimentz. The pair finished atop stacked fields on a course that featured nearly 5,000 meters of climbing and the Pas de Lona summit at 2,787 meters, race organizers said.

Courtney, the 2018 cross-country Olympic champion on the same Swiss soil, broke away in the women’s race and crossed the line in 7:10:11.1 to take her second world title and her first in the marathon discipline. She finished 3 minutes 44 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Anna Weinbeer, with Austria’s Mona Mitterwallner a further 1 minute 15 seconds back in third. Swenson powered to victory in the men’s race in 6:01:44.3, edging Italy’s Samuele Porro by 25 seconds, while Colombia’s Héctor Páez León claimed bronze at 3 minutes 42 seconds.

The races were contested over punishing alpine terrain that tested endurance, climbing and technical descending. In the women’s event, Courtney and Weinbeer opened a significant gap over the rest of the...