Grayson Murphy saved her best performance for last at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.
Murphy took home the gold medal, winning the women’s Mountain Classic Senior race in Innsbruck-Stubai, Austria on Saturday.
“My plan was to go out in the front pack and really push it,” Murphy told World Athletics in an interview after the winning race. “There were a lot of strong women in the race. I’ve done a good amount of road running and track running so I knew once I got to the flat parts, I’d have a chance.”
On the men’s side, Leonard Chemutai (Uganda) earned the men’s title, finishing the 15-kilometer course in 56:14, just ahead of Kenya’s Ombogo Kiriago Philemon (56:22) and Germany’s Filimon Abraham (56:27) to round out the podium.
Just three days prior to Murphy racing and winning the Mountain Classic race, she placed third to earn the bronze medal in the women’s Vertical Uphill race.
For Murphy, her win on Saturday at the World Championships was her first since 2019, when she made her event-debut. She has won two U.S. Mountain Running Championships since 2019.
Prior to shifting her focus to mountain racing, Murphy was a standout athlete on the track and on the cross-country course at the University of Utah. She was a five-time All-American (four in track, one in cross-country) and she holds school records in the 3000m steeplechase, the indoor and outdoor 5000m, as well as the 10,000m.
