It’s the twenty fifth 12 months for the Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon in Spain’s Aizkorri-Aratz Pure Park in Basque Nation, and it’s going to be an absolute blockbuster.
Casually often called Zegama or because the Zegama Marathon — Zegama is Zegama, as they are saying — the race is once more a part of the Golden Path World Collection, and this 12 months’s could be one of the best but. The mountain runners of Basque Nation play unbelievable hosts, because the area fills for the weekend with legions of followers supporting the fortunate of us collaborating on this 12 months’s version.
The beginning of the 2025 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon. Photograph: Zegama-Aizkorri
The race takes place on Sunday, Could 17 at 9 a.m. native time, which is 1 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time.
The beginning and end line is within the village of Zegama in northeastern Spain, and the course climbs 4 of the very best peaks within the space — Aratz, Aizkorri, Aitxuri, and Andraitz — after which descends again to Zegama. It’s on a looped course with 2,736 meters of climbing over a generally technical 42 kilometers. That’s roughly 8,976 ft of elevation achieve over 26.2 miles.
The primary 16k is almost all up because the race climbs as much as Aratz, a part of the Aizkorri massif. It then drops again down, after which goes again up the Sancti Spiritu climb at 20k. That is the “wall of noise” that’s popularly photographed through the race, with spectators lining the steep 600-meter climb. The cycle repeats with one other downhill, a shorter climb, and an final 12k descent again to Zegama.
This 12 months’s race is the primary of the 2026 Golden Path World Collection (GTWS), and it’s the primary race of the 12 months for lots of the high runners. Prize cash runs 10 deep with 3,000 Euro for the winners.
After a nine-year hiatus from this occasion, iRunFar is again in Zegama and overlaying the race. Keep tuned!
Learn on for a full race preview.
2026 Zegama Marathon Ladies’s Preview
A 12 months in the past, Spain’s Sara Alonso gained the ladies’s race in 4:27. She is again for a title protection, and Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, a relative newcomer to path operating, will probably be her strongest challenger. However with a mixture of Zegama veterans and people new to the race, something can occur.
Ladies’s Podium Contenders
Spain’s Sara Alonso is the defending ladies’s champion. She gained final 12 months’s race in 4:27, and he or she’s already in good kind for 2026. Alonso gained two Skyrunner World Collection races to begin 2026. She was second on the Path World Championships Brief Path race in 2025 — to Sweden’s Alexandersson — and fourth at OCC, all as a part of one other world-class 12 months. Additional again, Alonso was third at Zegama in 2022 in 4:26. Alonso is native to the realm and can profit from robust crowd assist.
Sara Alonso profitable the 2025 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon. Photograph: Zegama-Aizkorri
Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson doesn’t race on trails usually, however when she does, she’s actually, actually good. Alexandersson raced for the primary time in 2026 — and for the primary time in new-sponsor Salomon gear — when she gained the Grand Raid Ventoux 50k in France in late April. One may say the race wasn’t that aggressive as a result of she gained by 27 minutes, however she gained final 12 months’s Path World Championships Brief Path race by virtually 34 minutes. Alonso was second. That was an extremely dominant efficiency on an enormous stage. Additional again, Alexandersson was second on the 2023 World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race and has gained world championships in six totally different sports activities. If Alexandersson runs effectively at Zegama, she may threaten Nienke Brinkman’s 4:16:43 course document from 2022.
Tove Alexandersson, the 2025 Path World Championships Brief Path ladies’s winner. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Alexandersson and Alonso starred on the Path World Championships Brief Path race final 12 months, and Italy’s Fabiola Conti starred on the Path World Championships Lengthy Path, the place she was third. Her solely Zegama begin seems to have been in 2022 when she completed fifth. Conti began 2026 with a third-place run on the Skyrace des Matheysins in early Could.
Fabiola Conti completed third on the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Swiss runner Judith Wyder chased Alonso round Zegama final 12 months and completed second in 4:29. It was her first Zegama outing, and he or she blasted the ultimate downhill. In contrast to many others, Wyder has already raced this 12 months and was second on the Chianti 75k. She completed over 9 minutes again from the win whereas racing with abdomen points. Can Wyder keep nearer early to provide her downhill prowess an opportunity late?
Judith Wyder ending second on the 2025 OCC. Photograph: UTMB
Native Basque runner Malen Osa has raced Zegama twice and completed no worse than third. She was second in her debut on the race in 2024 and third final 12 months behind Alonso and Judith Wyder. Osa gained the Skyrace des Matheysins in France in early Could 2026, ending effectively forward of fellow Zegama contender Conti. Is Osa a lock for an additional podium run, or higher? Like Alonso, Osa will obtain monumental fan assist.
Malen Osa, who hails from Basque Nation, was a fan favourite on the 2024 Zegama Marathon. Photograph: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
Spanish ladies sometimes dominate this race, and Rosa Lara is a part of that group. Seven of final 12 months’s high 10 have been from Spain, and Lara was fourth. She was additionally eighth in 2024. She was fifth on the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path, 11 minutes behind Conti.
Lauren Gregory of the U.S. had a breakout 2025 on the GTWS. She was fourth on the Damaged Arrow Skyrace 23k, Fifteenth at Sierre-Zinal, and fifth on the World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race. That Fifteenth-place end at Sierre-Zinal appears like an aberration, and Gregory will certainly goal one thing higher at Zegama. In 2026, Gregory gained the Gorge Waterfalls 30k in early April and was second on the Canyons 50k on the finish of April. Canyons was Gregory’s longest race so far, and her capacity to get better may impression her Zegama efficiency.
Lauren Gregory wins the 2025 Tepec Path. Photograph: Golden Trails Collection/Rising Story/Colin Olivero
Different Quick Ladies
Mădălina Amariei has a bunch of podium finishes in her dwelling nation of Romania, and he or she gained the 2025 Tatra Skymarathon and the 2024 Giir di Mont race.
Mădălina Amariei, the 2025 Tatra Skymarathon ladies’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Canada’s Jade Belzberg has been up the ranks the final couple of years. She was second on the Chuckanut 50k in March 2026, gained final 12 months’s JFK 50 Mile, and was seventh eventually 12 months’s Damaged Arrow Skyrace 23k, a GTWS contest.
Jade Belzberg, the 2025 JFK 50 Mile ladies’s winner. Photograph: Greg Holder/H3 Images
Czech runner Barbora Bukovjan may’ve solely began racing trails in 2025. Nonetheless, she was Tenth on the 2025 Path World Championships Brief Path.
Júlia Font dropped eventually 12 months’s Zegama. The Spanish runner, although, was thirteenth at Sierre-Zinal and has the potential for a top-10 run. Font can be racing Zegama on one week’s restoration. She was second on the Transvulcania Marathon one week earlier than Zegama.
Júlia Font, the 2024 Gorbeia Suzien Skyrace ladies’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
María Fuentes from Spain had a giant 12 months in 2025. After very restricted leads to the years prior, she raced at the least eight occasions final 12 months. Prime performances included a 14th-place end on the 2025 Path World Championships Brief Path and a fourth-place run on the Pitz Alpine Glacier Path 24k GTWS race. She was additionally second on the 2025 ETC.
In 2025, French runner Lucille Germain gained the Skyrace des Matheysins, the Monte Zerbion Skyrace, and the Hochkönig Skyrace throughout France, Italy, and Austria. She was sixteenth at Zegama in 2022.
Lucille Germain, the 2025 Hochkönig Skyrace ladies’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Spain’s Núria Gil dropped out of Zegama in 2023, her final try on the race. Earlier than that, in 2022, she was sixth. Most just lately, she was second on the January 2026 Arc of Attrition 41k, ending virtually seven minutes again of the winner, Naomi Lang.
Núria Gil on her technique to profitable the 2023 Patagonia Run 42k. Photograph: Patagonia Run/Carlos Mir
Naiara Irigoyen is one other top-level Spanish girl this 12 months. She was thirteenth and Tenth at Zegama in 2024 and 2023.
Naiara Irigoyen, the 2025 Sobrescobio Skyrace ladies’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Swiss runner Theres Leboeuf was fifth at Zegama in 2025, fourth in 2024, third in 2023, and seventh in 2022. She seems to not have raced since dropping from final 12 months’s OCC.
Theres Leboeuf on her technique to third place on the 2023 Path World Championships 40k. Photograph: Roast Media/World Mountain and Path Operating Championships
At Zegama final 12 months, Marta Martínez was one of many seven Spanish ladies within the high 10, slotting in that Tenth-place spot. Martínez was third on the occasion in 2024 and eighth in 2023.
Marta Martínez on her technique to third on the 2024 Zegama Marathon. Photograph: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
Élisa Morin of Canada scored a Tenth-place end on the 2025 World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race. She was ninth at OCC earlier than that and gained each the Uphill and Traditional races at Défi des Couleurs late final 12 months.
Élisa Morin, the 2025 Quebec Mega Path 50k ladies’s winner. Photograph: Quebec Mega Path/Olivier Ménard
Sweden’s Ida Nilsson has starred at longer distances in recent times, however she gained Zegama in 2018. She was twenty fifth there in 2022. Final 12 months, Nilsson was fourth on the Western States 100.
Ida Nilsson on her technique to fourth on the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
French runner Élise Poncet doesn’t race usually, however she did win the 2026 Grand Raid Ventoux 26k. She was second on the 2024 Trofeo Kima 52k and 14th at Sierre-Zinal in 2021.
Ida Amelie Robsahm of Norway was inside the highest 10 at Zegama in 2025, too. She completed seventh final 12 months and was ninth in 2024. Robsahm gained the 2026 Chianti 46k in March.
Ida Amelie Robsahm, the 2026 Chianti 46k champion. Photograph: Chianti Extremely Path/Marzia Benigna
It’s her first try at Zegama, however Kenya’s Valentine Rutto was eleventh eventually 12 months’s Sierre-Zinal and gained the 2025 Giir di Mont 31k. She’s seen lots of success in shorter races, together with profitable a Mountain Operating World Cup Traditional race in China in 2025.
Valentine Rutto, the 2025 Chongli Mountain and Path Operating Pageant Up and Down ladies’s winner. Photograph: World Mountain Operating Affiliation/Marco Gulberti
Takako Takamura of Japan was sixteenth on the 2024 Sierre-Zinal. Extra just lately, she was fifth on the Mt. Fuji 40k on the finish of April 2026 and third on the Ueda Skyrace in early Could 2026.
Takako Takamura, the 2024 Asia Pacific Path Operating Championships Brief Path ladies’s winner. Photograph: Asia Pacific Path Operating Championships
Spain’s Anna Tarasova was on the Transvulcania Ultramarathon begin record, however didn’t race. Is that a sign of damage, or only a re-prioritization towards Zegama? Tarasova raced at Zegama in 2024 and 2023, ending Twelfth and twentieth.
Anna Tarasova ending third on the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
Italy’s Martina Valmassoi has raced all around the world, however this seems to be her first Zegama. Extra well-known for long-course success, Valmassoi was seventh on the 2025 World Path Championships Lengthy Path and third on the 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon.
Martina Valmassoi ending third on the 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Lide Urrestarazu from Spain didn’t race a lot in 2025, however was sixth on the Calamorro Skyrace that 12 months. In 2024, she was fifth at Zegama.
Lide Urrestarazu, the 2025 Gorbeia Suzien ladies’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
2026 Zegama Marathon Males’s Preview
Males’s 2025 winner Elhousine Elazzaoui is anticipated again on the beginning line. The Moroccan stormed the final 12k downhill in 2025 to win by over seven minutes. Course record-holder Kilian Jornet of Spain will go for an unbelievable Twelfth Zegama win, and certainly has a race plan to attempt to higher Elazzaoui’s downhill energy. With a number of different males who’ve positioned within the high 5 on the occasion earlier than, the ultimate end result will probably be unpredictable till the very finish.
Males’s Podium Contenders
Elhousine Elazzaoui is generally unbeatable in races not named Sierre-Zinal. The Moroccan boat raced the final downhill in final 12 months’s Zegama and gained in 3:43. Whereas not near the course document, that was extremely seven minutes higher than everybody else on the day. He was second in 2024, too. Elazzaoui’s races typically look the identical. He’ll hit the course excessive level in a lead group after which dash the ultimate downhill to win. Elazzaoui raced an off-the-cuff 33k in Mallorca earlier this 12 months and completed in a first-place tie with teammates Dakota Jones and Kilian Jornet. Let’s hope Elazzaoui and Jornet aren’t content material to accept a tie right here.
Elhousine Elazzaoui, the 2025 Damaged Arrow Skyrace 23k males’s winner. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Spain’s Kilian Jornet first gained Zegama in 2007, the sixth 12 months of the race. He gained once more in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2024. That’s 11 occasions. His 3:36 run on the 2022 race remains to be the course document. Jornet’s 2025 season was Western States 100-focused, at the least from a racing perspective. He took second on the 2025 Chianti 120k, to get a Western Golden Ticket entry, after which adopted that up with third at Western itself. This 12 months, he’s introduced a mixture of shorter and longer races, together with this one.
Kilian Jornet on his technique to profitable the 2024 Zegama Marathon, his eleventh victory on the race. Photograph: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
Swiss runner Rémi Bonnet may’ve had a tough begin to his 2026 racing 12 months. He light from the entrance of the Grand Raid Ventoux 50k in France in late April to seventeenth place. He had the same sluggish begin to 2025 and was injured for a lot of the 12 months, solely to come back again to smash the sphere on the World Mountain Operating Championships Uphill race. He adopted that up with a brand new Vertical Kilometer world document. Bonnet was fourth at Zegama in 2023, seventh in 2022, and gained in 2018. If that Grand Raid Ventoux 50k was an anomaly and Bonnet is match and wholesome, he’s one who ought to work to hole Elazzaoui earlier than the ultimate downhill.
Switzerland’s Rémi Bonnet, the 2025 World Mountain Operating Championships Uphill males’s champion. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Italy’s Daniel Pattis was third at Zegama in 2025, and he’s raced at the least 4 occasions already in 2026. Pattis was second on the 2026 Chianti 46k, ending 94 seconds behind race winner Francesco Puppi.
Daniel Pattis ending third on the 2025 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon. Photograph: Zegama-Aizkorri
Manuel Merillas of Spain had a foul race eventually 12 months’s Zegama. He was solely nineteenth after profitable the race in 2023. Since final 12 months’s Zegama, Merillas has been on a tear. He was second on the Path World Championships Brief Path and gained two Skyrunner World Collection races to begin 2026.
Manuel Merillas, the 2026 Acantilados del Norte males’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Luca Del Pero was fourth at Zegama final 12 months. The Italian runner was additionally sixth on the Path World Championships Brief Path, seventh at OCC, and second on the Lavaredo 50k final 12 months. By the point of Zegama final 12 months, Del Pero had already gained 4 races. We haven’t seen him but in 2026.
Luca Del Pero, the 2025 Gorges du Tarn Skyrace males’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Davide Magnini of Italy got here again from a long-term damage in 2025 to win the Marathon du Mont-Blanc and end eighth on the Path World Championships Brief Path. He was second at Zegama in 2022.
Davide Magnini, the 2025 Giir di Mont 32k males’s winner. Photograph: World Mountain Operating Affiliation/@marcogulberti_photography
Third at OCC in 2024 and second in 2023, Spain’s Antonio Martínez was seventh at Zegama in 2025. He was slightly off kind in late 2025, ending eighth eventually 12 months’s OCC, thirteenth on the Path World Championships Brief Path, and dropping at Les Templiers 80k. He’s but to race in 2026.
Antonio Martinez, the 2026 Transgrancanaria Marathon males’s winner. Photograph: Transgrancanaria/David Delfour
Zegama didn’t go effectively for Spain’s Alain Santamaría final 12 months, the place he dropped. Santamaría raced at the least 14 occasions final 12 months, although, and was fourth on the Path World Championships Brief Path. Extra just lately, Santamaría was third at Acantilados del Norte in March 2026 behind Merillas.
Alain Santamaría on his technique to fourth on the 2025 Path World Championships Brief Path race. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Different Quick Males
Italian Lorenzo Beltrami was fifth at Zegama in 2025. In 2026, he was third on the Andersen Marathon Path and second on the Istria 42k. He was crushed by fellow Zegama entrants in each races. Within the former, Pattis and Gialluca Ghiano have been in entrance, and within the latter, Beltrami was simply over a minute again of Roberto Delorenzi.
Lorenzo Beltrami, the 2024 Penang Skyrace males’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection/Antton Guaresti
Romania’s Bogdan Damian has but to get inside the highest 10 at Zegama in three makes an attempt. He was twenty third, seventeenth, and eleventh in 2025, 2024, and 2023. Can Bogdan cease the backward development in 2026?
Switzerland’s Adrien Briffod was forty ninth on the 2024 Olympic Video games within the triathlon. In 2025, he led Sierre-Zinal by way of the midway level and finally completed fourth. In 2026, he was second on the Grand Raid Ventoux 26k.
Like Bogdan, Raul Butaci is from Romania too. He gained the April 2026 Penyagolosa CSP. Traditionally, he hasn’t been pretty much as good at Zegama, ending thirty fifth and thirty second in 2025 and 2023, respectively. Butaci was 14th on the Transvulcania Ultramarathon just one week earlier than this 12 months’s Zegama.
Raul Butaci wins the 2024 Transgrancanaria Traditional. Photograph: Transgrancanaria/Miguel Travieso
French runner Sylvain Cachard has had success at Sierre-Zinal, however that is his first Zegama. He was seventh and fourth at Sierre-Zinal in 2024 and 2023, and he positioned ninth on the Path World Championships Brief Path in 2025.
Sylvain Cachard after profitable the 2022 SkyRace des Matheysins. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Louison Coiffet had an amazing Path World Championships Lengthy Path in 2025 when he completed in a second-place tie alongside French teammate Benjamin Roubiol. He was twentieth at Zegama in 2024.
Louison Coiffet (left), Benjamin Roubiol (center) through the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Switzerland’s Roberto Delorenzi hasn’t but bought Zegama proper but. He dropped in 2025 and was twenty ninth in 2022. He was off at Sierre-Zinal final 12 months too, ending 53rd after two earlier top-five finishes on the occasion in 2024 and 2023. Extra just lately, he gained the 2026 Istria 42k race forward of Beltrami.
Roberto Delorenzi, the 2024 SkyMasters males’s champion. Photograph: Antton Guaresti
Prolific racer Gianluca Ghiano from Italy dropped at Zegama in 2022, his solely try on the race. He was second on the 2026 Andersen Marathon Path race to Pattis and gained the 2026 Istria 69k.
Gianluca Ghiano, the 2025 Monte Zerbion Skyrace males’s winner. Photograph: Skyrunner World Collection
Spain’s Nicolás Molina was eighth at Zegama in 2025. In 2026 to date, he was sixth on the Calamorro Skyrace, and first on the Penang Skyrace in Malaysia and the Ueda Skyrace in Japan.
Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago and Patrick Kipngeno are GTWS regulars, however don’t seem on the Zegama begin record. Kenya’s Robert Pkemoi is, nonetheless. He was sixth at Zegama in 2024 and fifth in 2023.
Loïc Robert from France dropped from Zegama final 12 months. He was ninth there, although in 2024 and this 12 months, he was fifth at Acantilados Del Norte 29k.
Loïc Robert on his technique to profitable the 2024 Madeira Sky Race. Photograph: Antton Guaresti
Skilled street bike owner Lorenzo Rota Martir of Italy was eleventh at Zegama in 2025 and Tenth on the Path World Championships Brief Path race final 12 months, too.
Alongside French teammate Coiffet, Benjamin Roubiol was a part of the second-place tie eventually 12 months’s Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Zegama could be slightly brief for him, although he was eleventh on the 2024 OCC. He was twenty eighth at Sierre-Zinal in 2025 and fifth at Skyrace des Matheysins in 2026.
Benjamin Roubiol operating to a second-place tie through the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Ezekiel Rutto from Kenya was fourth on the 2025 Marathon du Mont-Blanc and Tenth at Sierre-Zinal in 2024.
This can be a giant step down in distance for China’s Jia-Sheng Shen. He was sixth on the Tarawera 102k in February of 2026 and eighth at UTMB in 2025. He additionally simply completed sixteenth on the Transvulcania Ultramarathon every week earlier than Zegama.
Jia-Sheng Shen on his technique to fourth on the 2023 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Taylor Stack is the American males’s nice hope. Stack had a breakout 2025 that included a Twelfth-place end on the World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race, Twelfth at Sierre-Zinal, and sixth on the Damaged Arrow Skyrace 23k. In 2026, he set a brand new course document on the Desert RATS 50k in April.
Taylor Stack ending third on the 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships. Photograph: American Path Operating Affiliation/Nancy Hobbs
Name for Feedback
It’s a protracted record of elite entrants. Who did we go away that out that ought to be highlighted?
Who’re we too excessive on, and too low?
