The ETC category, one of the "shortest" in the UTMB events, covers just 15 km.

But don't be fooled by 15 km — short doesn't mean easy. With an average ascent of roughly 80 m per kilometer, total climbing reaches a scary ~1,200 m, very steep.

On a fast course with massive climbing like this, what gear do athletes choose?

Unsurprisingly, for these "short, fast, steep" races everyone opted for thinner-soled, lightweight racing shoes.

Women's winner France's Marie Nivet wore an ACG Kiger prototype. This shoe has appeared before at Chongli 168 and other major races, continuing the Kiger line's signature "thin-soled racing" approach.

Runner-up Axelle Genoud chose the new-generation S/LAB Genesis 2; third-place Vivien Bonzi went with Brooks' "ultra-thin-soled trail racer" Catamount Agil.

In the men's race, American Taylor Stack debuted in a thin-soled version of a Brooks prototype trail shoe. Could Brooks be launching a new generation of "lighter, more technical" thin-soled top trail racers to replace the "older" Catamount Agil?

France's Romain Discher took second, wearing the ASICS FUJI LITE 7.

Why not the Pebax-plated FUJI SPEED 4? Possibly because he prefers a shoe without a plate's intervention, for better flexibility and control.

Third place went to Spain's Jan Torrella Oller. He wore the S/LAB Pulsar 4, a shoe we're familiar with — it's also the favorite of domestic trail runner Fan Banglin, helping him win several stages of this year's Golden Trail Series.