Courtney and Swenson ride to Victory in Epic XCM World Championships!
Photo by Fabio Piva/Red Bull
USA riders Kate Courtney and Keegan Swenson have made history, winning the 2025 UCI Cross Country Marathon World Cup in Valais, Switzerland overnight.
Despite the demanding 125km course producing long finish times (Swenson 6:01:44, Courtney 7:10:11), both the Elite Men’s and Women’s races delivered tight battles across the Swiss Alps.
Swenson secured victory with just a 25-second margin over Italy’s Samuel Porro, while Courtney claimed the women’s win by 3 minutes 44 seconds ahead of Swiss local Anna Weinbeer.
Kate Courtney is a former Cross Country Olympic discipline world champion, winning the shorter discipline in 2018 ahead of Annika Langvad, Langvad winning the cross country marathon titles the same year.
Courtney has been honing her form in the USA, recently taking the win and all time course record in the altitude-heavy Leadville 100 – the record taken from none other than Langvad.
Keegan Swenson is one of the strongest ultra-endurance racers in the USA, and with this win he cements his place in the history books as both Courtney and Swenson represented the first USA rider to win an XCM World Champs*.
The Australian riders battled through tough conditions, with Monique De Abreu making her marathon titles debut to finish 44th in 9:24:24.
James Kelly crossed the line 79th in 7:20:18, while Matt King placed 94th in 8:54:25.
*As far as we can assess, using historical records
