Simply eight months after the first-ever mixed Path World Championships and World Mountain Operating Championships had been held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, athletes are gearing as much as go once more — because the 2023 World Mountain and Path Operating Championships head to the Tyrolean Alps, and the joint host venues of Innsbruck and Stubai, Austria.
The motion will happen from June 6 to June 10, Wednesday by means of Saturday, and can function an uphill mountain race, a basic mountain race, a 45-kilometer “Quick Path” race, and an 85k “Lengthy Path” race.
iRunFar’s protection will primarily concentrate on the 85k (53 miles) “Lengthy Path” race, which takes place on Friday, June 9. Don’t fear, we’ll additionally deliver you some information and protection of the opposite races, too!
The course’s terrain and elevation will provide a really completely different set of challenges to final 12 months’s humid, Thai jungle. It packs in 5,554 meters (over 18,000 toes) of climbing on a web downhill, point-to-point course — over steep and technical singletrack. Persistent snow on the excessive factors of the route might pressure a route change to decrease terrain, however the race group’s proposed alternate route will present no reduction, retaining near the whole elevation of the deliberate route. On both route, we’re guessing the ladies’s champion will end in over 9 hours.
The 2022 Path World Championships 80k girls’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Ida Nilsson, 1. Blandine L’Hirondel, and three. Gemma Arenas. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
A Take a look at the High of the Discipline
There’s a stellar line-up for this 12 months’s girls’s race. Seven of final 12 months’s prime 10 are returning, together with reigning world champion Blandine L’Hirondel of France. Notable absentees embody Sweden’s Ida Nilsson, who positioned second final 12 months after main for a lot of the race, and Hungary’s Eszter Csillag, who positioned fourth. Each are presently prepping for this 12 months’s Western States 100. Additionally absent is eighth-place finisher Spain’s Maite Maiora, who seems to be specializing in UTMB, having not too long ago sealed her entry with a win on the 175k Path Alsace Grand Est.
Added into the combo is a contemporary USA squad, together with former Western States 100 champion Clare Gallagher, who ought to combine it up on the entrance of the person race.
We’ll check out the returning top-10 runners first, after which get into groups and different robust people.
Blandine L’Hirondel of France celebrates changing into the 2022 Path World Championships 80k Champion, her second time profitable a Path World Championships. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Returning High Ten
Blandine L’Hirondel — the reigning world champion, reigning CCC champion, and OCC course-record holder — has been working robust so far in 2023. She received the 37k Lyon City Path in March, adopted by the Istria 69k, and extra not too long ago took fifth within the ever-competitive Zegama Marathon. L’Hirondel, who’s adept in a variety of distances, additionally received the 2019 44k Path World Championships and took bronze on the 2019 World Lengthy Distance Mountain Operating Championships. She must be fairly comfy on this very mountainous course and can be exhausting to beat.
Gemma Arenas
Gemma Arenas of Spain positioned third finally 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k, and has an extended historical past with this competitors. This can be her sixth Path World Championships participation, and he or she’s positioned within the prime 10 in all however a type of outings. She’s working robust this 12 months too, having positioned third on the Transgrancanaria Marathon and received the 60k Penyagolosa MiM.
Germany’s Rosanna Buchauer took fifth place final 12 months. She went into the race with kind, having positioned fifth in an additional aggressive girls’s race on the 2022 CCC, and received the 2022 51k Eiger Extremely-Path and the 60k Madeira Island Extremely-Path (MIUT) in late 2021. We’ve haven’t seen a lot of her but this 12 months, and he or she suffered a DNF on the 2023 Penyagolosa MiM 60k.
French duo Audrey Tanguy and Marion Delespierre took joint sixth place final 12 months, to seal the group win for France. In addition they not too long ago shared second place on the 2023 ONE&1 Run to Camp 42 mile in France — these girls stick collectively! Each deliver a wealth of expertise to the French squad. Tanguy has beforehand received TDS twice, in 2018 and 2019, positioned sixth on the 2021 Western States 100, and was second on the MIUT 115k final 12 months. This 12 months, Tanguy additionally received the 46k Path du Ventoux. Delespierre’s earlier standout outcomes embody fourth on the 2021 UTMB and a win within the 85k MIUT that very same 12 months. This 12 months, she’s additionally positioned sixth within the 50k at Tarawera.
Giuditta Turini
Giuditta Turini from Italy positioned ninth finally 12 months’s 80k Path World Championships race, however her related expertise on technical trails would possibly see her climbing a bit additional up the sphere this time round. She positioned second within the 2021 TDS, and he or she received each this 12 months’s 50k Extremely Supramonte Oliena and final 12 months’s 61k However SkyUltra. She additionally positioned second on the 2021 Mont-Blanc 90k — a race that has been likened to this course by some who’ve recced.
Sunmaya Budha of Nepal positioned tenth finally 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k. She went into the race with robust kind, having positioned an in depth second behind Blandine L’Hirondel on the 2022 CCC. The month following her top-10 end on the world championships, she took on the 100k at Doi Inthanon. Maybe it was a bit too quickly, ending in a DNF, however she is again on kind this 12 months, having received the Coros 50k and the 30k on the Golden 100 Hong Kong, each happening in Hong Kong, as a part of her build-up for this race.
Others with High 5 Potential (Who Aren’t Famous on Groups Beneath)
Marcela Vašínová of the Czech Republic isn’t any stranger to those trails, having positioned second within the 2019 Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Pageant Marathon, and the Mozart Marathon that very same 12 months. This isn’t a giant shock as she lives comparatively close by in Salzburg, Austria. Extra not too long ago, she has robust ends in a number of the best races on the earth — together with fifth within the Marathon du Mont-Blanc in each 2021 and 2022, sixth within the 2021 Sierre-Zinal, and a win within the 2021 42k Skyrunning World Championships. The technical terrain and mountainous nature of the route will go well with her, however the distance can be on the longer finish of her consolation zone.
Anna McKenna
Australia’s Anna McKenna may be working the Path World Championships 80k as a plan B, as her rating card for 2023 appears as if she was on the hunt for a Western States 100 Golden Ticket — narrowly lacking out with fourth-place finishes at each the Canyons 100k and the Tarawera 100k. She took the win in final 12 months’s Extremely-Path Australia 100k, and will make an actual impression at her first Path World Championships.
Anticipated High Groups
Staff France
Final 12 months’s profitable group, France, has taken a “don’t mend it ‘until it’s damaged” method to group choice, bringing again 5 of their six-woman group who took victory final fall. The group will as soon as once more be headlined by returning total reigning champion Blandine L’Hirondel, and backed up by Audrey Tanguy and Marion Delespierre, who’re all previewed above.
Manon Bohard
Manon Bohard had a considerably below-par run finally 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k, the place she positioned twentieth — nevertheless it’s seemingly this 12 months’s technical, Alpine course will play extra to her strengths. Earlier this 12 months, she ran a stormer on the MIUT 115k, profitable by nearly an hour. She’s additionally beforehand received the 2021 TDS and, in 2022, the 80k race on the Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Pageant and the 76k Path Verbier Saint-Bernard.
Jocelyne Pauly positioned sixteenth finally 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k and has since taken third at each the 2023 French Lengthy Path Championships and the 100k Penyagolosa CSP. She’s most likely unlikely to threaten the general podium, however is a stable addition to this robust French group.
Staff France celebrates profitable girls’s group gold on the 2022 Path World Championships 80k, with the first-place end of Blandine L’Hirondel and the tie for sixth place between Marion Delespierre and Audrey Tanguy. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Staff USA
The USA is bringing a whopper six-woman group this 12 months, and may be France’s strongest opposition. In contrast to Staff France, that is an all new group — with no returning runners from final 12 months’s squad — nevertheless it nonetheless options some big-name runners with plenty of expertise.
Clare Gallagher
First up is Clare Gallagher, who has the potential to problem for a podium spot. Gallagher’s standout outcomes embody profitable the 2019 Western States 100 and the 2017 CCC, and he or she was eighth within the 85k Path World Championships in 2018. Extra not too long ago, she received the 2023 Chuckanut 50k and the 2022 Leadville Path 100 Mile, demonstrating her versatility over a variety of distances in probably the most aggressive fields.
Hannah Osowski has been working actually robust the previous couple of years, and across the 50-mile distance appears to be her candy spot. She positioned fourth on the 2023 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, and in addition received the 2022 San Juan Solstice 50 Mile and the 2022 Gorge Waterfalls 100k.
Shea Aquilano positioned sixth in a aggressive area on the 2023 Black Canyon 100k and took third on the 2022 JFK 50 Mile. She doesn’t have a prolonged again catalog of prime outcomes, however is on a steep upward trajectory the previous couple of years and is one to look at — each on this race and going ahead.
Allison Baca took second within the 2023 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile and within the 2022 Moab Crimson Sizzling 55k. She additionally wasn’t far off the highest 10 finally 12 months’s Western States 100, inserting thirteenth.
Sarah Keyes
Simply behind Baca in third on the 2023 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, and in addition lining up for Staff USA, is Sarah Keyes. Keyes additionally positioned third on the 2021 Black Canyon 100k and twelfth on the Western States 100 that very same 12 months. Regardless of tons of racing expertise, she doesn’t seem to have raced a lot exterior of the U.S., so this technical Alpine route would possibly current fascinating challenges for her.
Emily Schmitz, however, has raced a lot in Europe and not too long ago received the 2023 Path Alsace Grand Est 50k. She additionally took third on this 12 months’s Istria 42k, and was fifth within the 2019 OCC.
Staff USA girls on the 2018 Path World Championships 85k: Kaytlyn Gerbin (left), Sabrina Little (foreground), and Clare Gallagher (behind Little). Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Staff Italy
Italy is fielding a robust five-woman group, which may give them shot at a podium spot. Final 12 months’s ninth-place lady, Giuditta Turini, returns, as detailed above.
Martina Valmassoi
Additionally beginning is final 12 months’s TDS winner Martina Valmassoi. Valmassoi was on the unique Italian squad for final 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k, however harm dominated her out earlier than the beginning, so she can be eager to make this one rely. A dab hand at technical ultras, Valmassoi additionally not too long ago received this 12 months’s Transvulcania Ultramarathon, in addition to the 2021 Lavaredo Extremely-Path. This tough course ought to go well with her right down to the bottom.
Camilla Spagnol completed twenty third in final 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k, and has had some stable outcomes since, inserting third within the 60k Vibram Maremontana in Italy in March — the Italian group choice race— and second within the 100k Penyagolosa Trails CSP. This 12 months’s world championships course will seemingly be nearer to her consolation zone by way of local weather and terrain, and he or she ought to be capable to enhance on final 12 months’s rating.
Marina Cugnetto, who completed third in final 12 months’s UltraDolomites 80k on the Lavaredo races, and Francesca Pretto collectively full the squad. Pretto completed ninth on the 2022 UTMB, fourth on the 2022 UltraDolomites 80k, and third at Lavaredo in 2019.
Staff Spain
Final 12 months’s third-place lady, Gemma Arenas, can be again as detailed above, on this three-woman group.
Azara García
Azara García may even be lining out for Staff Spain, and will make an actual influence within the particular person race additionally. This 12 months, she received the 85k Transgrancanaria Superior. All in 2023, she received the Transgrancanaria 129k, Extremely Sierra Nevada 100k, and Extremely Pirineu 100k. She additionally has kind within the Path World Championships, having positioned fourth in 2019 and second in 2016 with a extra middling consequence finally 12 months’s occasion.
Shorter path race specialist Rosa María Lara completes the promising trio.
Gemma Arenas of Spain on her solution to ending third on the 2022 Path World Championships 80k. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Staff Poland
Like Spain, Staff Poland is placing all its playing cards on the desk, with three robust girls, however no back-up runners to permit for anybody to have an off day.
Coming back from final 12 months’s squad is Katarzyna Wilk, who completed a reputable seventeenth finally 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k. She’s had lots of success in residence ultras, together with the 2022 European Operating Pageant – Krynicka Setka 100k, which she received final 12 months. On the worldwide stage, she additionally positioned third on the 48k Cortina Path on the 2021 Lavaredo.
Paulina Tracz had a superb run on the 2023 Istria 110k, ending second, simply two minutes again of the chief. Final 12 months she positioned second within the Chudy Wawrzyniec 80k and has received a stack of races at residence in Poland.
Katarzyna Solińska is getting back from a Twenty second-place end finally 12 months’s Path World Championships 80k. She positioned ninth within the Transgrancanaria Marathon earlier this 12 months, two days after profitable the occasion’s vertical-kilometer race, and was second at Lavaredo in 2022.
Different Sturdy Groups
Different robust girls’s groups to look out for are Germany, Japan, and Canada.
Different High Ladies to Watch
Listed below are another prime girls to look at from world wide.
- Honoka Akiyama (Japan) – 14th 2022 Path World Championships 80k; 2nd 2022 Hasetsune Cup
- Johanna Antila (Finland) — thirteenth 2022 Path World Championships 80k; tenth 2022 CCC; 2nd 2022 and 2023 Transgrancanaria Superior 85k
- Esther Fellhofer (Austria) — third 2022 Lavaredo; seventh 2022 MIUT 115k; thirtieth 2022 Path World Championships 80k
- Martina Klančnik Potrč (Slovenia) — seventh 2022 Transgrancanaria 129k; 2nd 2022 Path Verbier St Bernard 45k
- Anne-Marie Madden (Canada) — third 2022 Black Canyon 100k; eleventh 2022 Western States 100
- Jasmin Paris (U.Ok.) — 1st 2021 Extremely Tour Monte Rosa; 1st 2019 Backbone Race
- Eva Sperger (Germany) — tenth 2022 UTMB; sixth 2022 MIUT 115k
- Takako Takamura (Japan) — 14th 2022 Path World Championships 40k; 1st 2022 Hasetsune Cup
- Dominique Van Mechgelen (Belgium) — fifth 2022 Transgrancanaria 129k; eleventh 2019 OCC
- Yuri Yoshizumi (Japan) — 1st 2022 Doi Inthanon 100k; ninth 2023 Canyons 100k
- Arden Younger (Canada) — seventh 2022 Bandera 100k; tenth 2022 Javelina 100 Mile
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