World Mountain Championships - All-time finishes

I’m really into numbers, so if you are not interested in numbers skip this post. I’ve compiled all of the results from the 25 years that the World Mountain running championships (previously called the “World Trophy”) and here are some of the stats. Mostly I was looking at who has made it to the championship the most times. That may not be as hard a feat as it sounds, some countries have strict qualifying standards others do not. You will get some indication of who the best mountain runners are by looking at the number of times and the best finish place. This doesn’t tell the whole story but I never claimed to know the whole story. Also keep in mind that speeling errors (yes I know I spelled that wrong) can mean that I have missed results for someone. Corrections are always welcome.

In all there have been 6,672 recorded finishes from the championship and those are accounted for by 3,641 different athletes. Of those 3,641 the breakdown of how many races they did is below:

Finished # of people
21 --- 1
18 --- 2
17 --- 1
16 --- 1
15 --- 2
14 --- 2
13 --- 5
12 --- 5
11 --- 5
10 --- 11
9 --- 10
8 --- 29
7 --- 24
6 --- 47
5 --- 82
4 --- 146
3 --- 280
2 --- 629
1 --- 2359

As you can see, far and away the largest percentages (65%) of runners only make it to one World’s. Below I’ve listed all runners who have done 7 or more which puts them in the top 2%.

In my opinion the best woman mountain runner (and by best I mean best over an extended period of time at the World championships) has to be Isabelle Guillot (FRA) who took home 9 medals (4 gold) over her 18 times at the championship. In addition she placed five more times in the top ten. On the men’s side I’d say Marco DeGasperi is tops with his six gold medals and six more top ten finishes in 14 appearances, . DeGasperi is one of the rare breed who was good as a junior (7th one year and 1st another) and went on to be great as a senior runner. Of course you can’t talk about mountain running without mentioning Jonathan Wyatt. He has an amazing record of six gold medals, one silver, and one seventh place finish. His winning percentage (75%) is tops for anyone doing 7 or more races.

Here are the US runners who have competed the most times:
No.---Best pl---first yr---last yr---Name
8 ----- 15 ------ 1999 --- 2007 --- Paul Low
8 ----- 45 ------ 1994 --- 2002 --- Dan Verrington
7 ----- 2 -------- 1992 --- 2000 --- Dave Dunham
7 ----- 10 ------- 2002 --- 2008 --- Simon Gutierrez
7 ----- 44 ------- 1990 --- 1996 --- Lyndon Elefson

Everyone with 7 or more

No. Finished	Best place	First yr	last yr	# consecutive	Country	Name
21	2	1985	2008	18	SCO	Colin	Donnelly
18	1	1988	2008	5	FRA	Isabelle	Guillot
18	42	1988	2006	13	NIR	Brian	Ervine
17	13	1990	2006	8	AUT	Rudolf	Reitberger
16	7	1985	2000	14	SLO	Franci	Teraz
15	3	1989	2009	9	ITA	Maria Grazia	Roberti
15	43	1992	2008	8	NIR	Neil	Carty
14	1	1995	2009	10	ITA	Marco	DeGasperi
14	4	1986	2007	7	IRL	Robin	Bryson
13	1	1986	2005	3	IRL	John	Lenihan
13	1	1986	2005	10	ITA	Antonio	Molinari
13	9	1985	1994	10	WAL	Hefin	Griffiths
13	15	1991	2008	5	SLO	Igor	Salamun
13	21	1995	2009	10	SLO	Joze	Ceh
12	1	1986	2001	5	ITA	Lucio	Fregona
12	4	1992	2004	6	AUS	Louise	Fairfax
12	5	1993	2008	8	WAL	Timothy	Davies
12	15	1986	1998	7	SLO	Marija	Trobec
12	48	1989	2000	12	NI	James	Patterson
11	5	1991	2004	10	FRA	H.Evelyne	Mura
11	10	1989	2005	6	FRA	Thierry	Icart
11	19	1994	2005	10	CZE	Zdenek	Zoubek
11	25	1995	2007	5	NIR	Tricia	Sloan
11	27	1985	1996	8	SLO	Ivan	Urh
10	1	1997	2009	9	NZL	Melissa	Moon
10	1	1995	2005	9	SCO	Angela	Mudge
10	1	2000	2009	10	CZE	Anna	Pichrtova
10	2	1998	2009	5	FRA	Raymond	Fontaine
10	2	1989	1998	10	FRA	Jean Paul	Payet
10	7	1988	2001	3	ENG	John	Taylor
10	10	1985	1992	5	SCO	Jack	Maitland
10	21	1991	2004	6	SLO	Anica	Zivko
10	22	1989	1998	10	NED	Jan	Korevar
10	26	1985	2002	4	SMR	Gian Luigi	Macina
10	56	1994	2008	5	WAL	Mathew	Collins
9	1	1992	2004	7	ITA	Rosita	Rota Gelpi
9	1	1991	2008	2	AUT	Helmut	Schmuck
9	2	1995	2009	5	ITA	Emanuale	Manzi
9	3	1985	1994	7	ENG	Robin	Bergstrand
9	3	1998	2008	7	SUI	Alexis	Gex-Fabry
9	4	1988	2001	8	GER	Dieter	Ranftl
9	7	1999	2008	6	GER	Timo	Zeiler
9	8	1998	2008	5	ENG	John	Brown
9	13	2000	2009	7	SLO	Peter	Lamovec
9	51	1993	2005	3	CZE	Petr	Vymazal
8	1	1986	1996	6	ITA	Constantino	Bertolla
8	1	1985	1992	8	ITA	Fausto	Bonzi
8	1	2000	2009	6	SLO	Mitja	Kosovelj
8	1	2000	2008	5	AUT	Andrea	Mayr
8	1	1987	2007	3	SUI	Fabiola	Rueda Oppliger
8	1	1998	2008	3	NZL	Jonathan	Wyatt
8	2	1997	2009	6	ITA	Gabriele	Abate
8	2	1997	2005	5	SCO	Tracey	Brindley
8	2	1986	2002	2	ITA	Davide	Milesi
8	2	1996	2004	7	POL	Izabela	Zatorsak
8	3	2002	2009	8	ITA	Marco	Gaiardo
8	3	1996	2009	3	ENG	Billy	Burns
8	3	1986	1993	8	GER	Wolfgang	Munzel
8	7	1998	2005	8	SVK	Ludmila	Melicherova
8	7	1992	2002	3	FRA	Sylvain	Richard
8	7	1988	2000	5	AUT	Elisabeth	Rust
8	8	1992	2003	7	AUT	Cornelia	Heinzle
8	11	1996	2004	7	AUT	Florian	Heinzle
8	15	1992	2005	3	WAL	Angela	Brand-Barker
8	15	1999	2007	6	USA	Paul	Low
8	23	1995	2005	6	SLO	Bostjan	Novak
8	23	1995	2005	4	AUS	David	Osmond
8	32	1988	2003	3	SCO	Dave	Rodgers
8	33	2001	2009	4	POL	Daniel	Wosik
8	36	1990	2005	5	IRL	Richard	Rodgers
8	36	1997	2005	6	NZL	Michael	Wakelin
8	45	1994	2002	6	USA	Dan	Verrington
8	50	1994	2006	3	WAL	Alun	Vaughan
8	101	1995	2007	4	RUS	Petr	Kojin
7	1	1997	2008	5	ENG	Viktoria	Wilkinson
7	2	1992	2000	5	USA	Dave	Dunham
7	2	1985	1992	6	AUT	Florian	Stern
7	4	1996	2004	3	ITA	Flavia	Gaviglio
7	4	1994	2004	3	SCO	Robert	Quinn
7	5	1988	2001	2	ITA	Andrea	Agostini
7	5	1994	2008	3	WAL	Andrew	Davies
7	7	2001	2008	4	SVK	Martin	Urbanovski
7	7	1992	2000	5	SCO	Neil	Wilkinson
7	10	2002	2008	7	USA	Simon	Gutierrez
7	14	1999	2008	5	AUT	Thomas	Heigl
7	15	1988	1997	3	SCO	John	Wilkinson
7	18	1986	1996	3	SCO	Dermot	McGonigle
7	19	1991	2005	4	AUT	Markus	Kroll
7	21	1994	2000	7	IRL	Mark	Doyle
7	23	2000	2009	3	SUI	Georges	Volery
7	23	1986	1998	2	IRL	Gerard	McGrath
7	23	1988	1998	4	SLO	Stojan	Melinc
7	24	1995	2004	4	SCO	Sonia	Armitage
7	25	1988	1997	3	WAL	Alice	Bedwell
7	30	1986	2009	5	MON	Jean	Biamonte
7	44	1990	1996	7	USA	Lyndon	Elefson
7	49	1993	2004	4	NIR	Anne	Sanford
7	83	1992	2002	4	SMR	Matteo	Zafferani