BENTONVILLE — Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe, both with Specialized Off-road, claimed overall titles in the Life Time Grand Prix on Saturday, each securing a fourth crown in five years after the series finale at Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik. Villafañe topped the women's standings with 137 points, 21 clear of runner-up Hayley Preen and 25 ahead of third-placed Cecily Decker, while Swenson edged Australian Brendan Johnston by a single point, 123 to 122, the slimmest winning margin in the five-year history of the Grand Prix, with both champions earning $50,000, new trophies and invitations for 2027.
Swenson, the former world champion in MTB Marathon who was unseated as champion last year after a trio of winning seasons, did not move into the top position until after Unbound 200 and his win at Leadville Trail 100 and had to salvage his title after disaster at Big Sugar. "Although it’s the fourth one, this win is by far the most special and for sure the one I had to work the hardest for," Swenson posted hours after finishing the mandatory race start. "I made it extra hard on myself by flatting just 13 miles into the race…. I was nearly 5 minutes down at one point but figured I had nothing to lose. So I just put the pedal to the floor and ran the motor to the limit. 24th overall but salvaged 13th in the Grand Prix by the finish and bagged just enough points to win the overall by the skin of my teeth."
Villafañe's path was contrasting, leading from start to finish across five of the six races she contested, with victories at Sea Otter Classic Gravel, Unbound Gravel 200 and Chequamegon MTB to seal four consecutive series wins by her largest margin yet. Johnston, who sprinted to seventh in a front bunch of nine at Big Sugar, reflected on fine margins after a season in which he overcame multiple disasters to podium at Unbound, finished second at Chequamegon and recorded a career-best at Leadville. "I fought from the drop of the flag right to the line at yesterday’s Big Sugar, worked through the extreme tactical battles and executed it exactly as I’d planned. I tried to win the race," he wrote on Instagram. "So while I have spent the past 24 hours pondering ifs and buts, it’s been a proud season for me on reflection." He had skipped a home UCI Gravel World Championships to take fourth-place points at Little Sugar and spent 400 hours travelling to Grand Prix events alone; one more point anywhere would have given his fifth-place points at Big Sugar the tie-break over Swenson.
Both Swenson and Villafañe had skipped Little Sugar MTB to compete at the UCI Gravel World Championships, where travel costs were covered in full by Specialized Off-road and both finished sixth in the elite races, before doing enough at Big Sugar to seal the overall. Johnston and Preen each receive $33,000 as runners-up, while wildcard Matthew Wilson finished third in the men's standings on 120 points, three behind Swenson, followed by Cole Paton on 117 and Bradyn Lange on 115. Last year's men's champion Cameron Jones finished 12th and runner-up Simon Pellaud 13th, with newcomers Andreas Seewald and Mārtinš Blūms taking sixth and seventh, while on the women's side newcomer Karolina Migoń finished fourth on 111 points as Melisa Rollins, Lauren De Crescenzo and Hannah Otto dropped out of the top 10.
All riders in the top 10s share in the $350,000 prize purse and receive automatic entries into the invitation-only competition next season, which will expand to seven events with The Rad Dirt Fest returning in the summer. The finale capped a six-race campaign that also saw Stella Hobbs' solo attack seal Big Sugar Gravel victory in the women's race.