The 2024 Mountain Running World Cup finishes its season this weekend in northern Italy, with the Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc and the Val Bregaglia Trail, and iRunFar is excited to cover these races!
This year’s 12-race world cup, administered by the World Mountain Running Association, began with the Broken Arrow Skyrace events in Northern California in June, traveled to iconic mountain running events like Giir di Mont in Italy, Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland, and Šmarna Gora in Slovenia, before moving to these final two events in Italy in October.
The Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc starts in the town of Chiavenna, at the bottom of a valley called Val Bregaglia, and finishes in the mountainside village of Lagùnc. Interestingly, this is the first vertical-kilometer (VK) course ever established, in 1986! It’s a perfect vertical kilometer of climbing over 3.3 lateral kilometers. This race takes place on Saturday, October 12, at 9:15 a.m. CEST and is run in traditional VK style as a time trial, with athletes starting every 15 seconds.
The trail race, the Val Bregaglia Trail, runs on Sunday, October 13 at 9:30 a.m. CEST. It covers some of the trails tracing their way around Val Bregaglia, which spans the Italy-Switzerland border. The event is 23 kilometers long, has 850 meters of climbing, and has 900 meters of descending on a point-to-point course starting in the village of Promontogno, Switzerland, and finishing in Chiavenna.
The Mountain Running World Cup is scored via an athlete’s best eight results over the course of the season, with points awarded to the top 18 finishers of each race. Prize money totals 30,000 Euro, and goes 10 deep in both the women’s and men’s series. A number of the individual races in the world cup offer their own prize money as well.
The 2022 Trofeo Nasego women’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Joyce Muthoni Njeru, 1. Andrea Mayr, and 3. Lauren Gregory. All three women will compete this weekend. Photo: Marco Gulberti/Corsa in Montagna
This weekend, fast female mountain runners will participate in one or both of these events, hoping to top the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup. In this preview, we look at the women expected to be top performers in one or both races. The world cup standings are presently led by Kenya’s Joyce Muthoni Njeru, and she’s entered in both events this weekend, looking to improve her points total and seal her title. Behind her are a big group of chasers, including the U.K.’s Scout Adkin (pre-race interview) and Kenya’s Philaries Jeruto Kisang (pre-race interview), who respectively sit in second and third place in the world cup thus far.
We’ll be providing coverage of both races this week, so stay tuned.
Thanks to the World Mountain Running Association for supporting iRunFar’s coverage of the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup Finals.
Be sure to check out our in-depth men’s preview as well.
Here are the women we expect to compete for the top spots at one or both the Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc and Val Bregaglia Trail.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru
- Mountain Running World Cup Ranking: 1st
- Top 2024 World Cup Performances: 1st Broken Arrow VK; 1st Broken Arrow Skyrace; 1st Trofeo Nasego; 1st Šmarna Gora
A presence for years on the global mountain running circuit, Kenya’s Joyce Muthoni Njeru is having a big 2024 while simultaneously competing in the Mountain Running World Cup and the Golden Trail World Series — and she’s shining in both. She was also the 2023 Mountain Running World Cup champion. Her lead in the 2024 standings is courtesy of a sweep of the two world cup events, a VK and a Skyrace, at Broken Arrow as well as wins at Italy’s Trofeo Nasego and Slovenia’s Šmarna Gora. She’s registered to compete in both the VK and trail race this weekend. The races and series are hers to lose.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru, 2024 Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k women’s champion. Muthoni Njeru will compete to win the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup this weekend. Photo: Howie Stern
Scout Adkin
- Mountain Running World Cup Ranking: 2nd
- Top 2024 World Cup Performances: 1st Montée du Nid d’Aigle; 2nd Sierre-Zinal
The U.K.’s Scout Adkin (pre-race interview) has been performing on the international level in mountain running since at least the 2022 World Mountain Running Championships, when she took fifth at the Up and Down race. In 2023, she was in the top 10 at the world championships again, taking eighth at the Uphill race. Her top performance in 2024 so far has been a big one, taking second at Sierre-Zinal, which will be this year’s most competitive mountain race by leaps and bounds.
She was also fourth at the European Off Road Championships Up and Down race this year. The world cup rankings are quite close for 1st through 3rd places Joyce Muthoni Njeru, Adkin, and Philaries Jeruto Kisang, and with Adkin also registered in both events, there’s plenty of room for a shakeup in the women’s podium.
Scout Adkin, the 2023 Sky Gran Canaria Vertical winner. Adkin is competing in both races this weekend. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
Philaries Jeruto Kisang
- Mountain Running World Cup Ranking: 3rd
- Top 2024 World Cup Performances: 2nd Grossglockner Mountain Run; 2nd Trofeo Nasego
Philaries Jeruto Kisang (pre-race interview), of Kenya, rocketed onto our radar last summer at the 2023 World Mountain Running Championships when she took second at the Uphill race, and seventh at the Up and Down race. Like her countrywoman Joyce Muthoni Njeru, she’s also having a big mountain running summer while competing in the Mountain Running World Cup and the Golden Trail World Series.
She took second in the 2023 Mountain Running World Cup, behind Muthoni Njeru. She’s registered for both Saturday’s VK and Sunday’s trail race, and the points difference between her and the rest of the women’s top three in the world cup are close enough that it’ll come down to these two races.
Philaries Jeruto Kisang on her way to finishing second at the 2023 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. She should be in the mix this weekend as well. Photo: iRunFar/Sarah Brady
Susanna Saapunki
- Mountain Running World Cup Ranking: 4th
- Top 2024 World Cup Performances: 3rd Vertical Nasego; 3rd Trofeo Nasego
Susanna Saapunki, from Finland but living in Italy, has several years of excellence in mountain running under her belt, with perhaps her top performance of the last couple being a sixth at the 2022 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. Earlier this year, she was sixth at the 2024 European Off Road Championships Up and Down race.
In this year’s world cup, her performances have gotten stronger as the season has progressed, and she podiumed at both events in Nasego, Italy, at the start of September. Also, just a week after Nasego, Saapunki took the win at the Jungfrau Marathon, showing that her later-season form might be peaking at just the right time for this weekend. She’s signed up for both the VK and trail race.
Susanna Saapunki on her way to winning the 2023 Šmarna Gora. She’ll likely be near the front of this weekend’s races as well. Photo: Jonathan Wyatt
Lauren Gregory
- Mountain Running World Cup Ranking: 41st
- Top 2024 World Cup Performances: 8th Vertical Nasego; 6th Trofeo Nasego
The U.S.’s Lauren Gregory is registered for the VK, and is a pretty good bet for a top-five position in this race. Her top mountain running result thus far was in taking 12th at the 2022 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. She’s also a two-time U.S. Mountain Running Champion, having won both the 2022 and the 2024 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Uphill race.
Lauren Gregory during the 2022 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. She finished 12th and helped Team USA secure the team gold medal. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Sara Willhoit
- Mountain Running World Cup Ranking: 7th
- Top 2024 World Cup Performance: 3rd Giir di Mont
All signs point to the U.K.’s Sarah Willhoit being a runner on the rise in the global mountain running scene, with her participating in both the 2023 and 2024 Mountain Running World Cups. Last year, she took ninth in the overall standings. Her top performance in the world cup this year was third place at Giir di Mont, but she also competed at both races in Nasego, taking eighth and 10th at the VK and trail race, respectively. She’s registered for both races this weekend.
Sara Willhoit will be competing this weekend. Photo: World Mountain Running Association
More Top Women to Watch at the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup Finals
And these are the women we expect to see running for top-10 positions at the VK and/or trail race this weekend.
- Ioana Mădălina Amariei (Romania) – 1st 2024 Giir di Mont; 2nd 2024 Maga SkyMarathon
- Vivien Bonzi (Italy) – 5th 2024 Trofeo Nasego
- Martina Brambilla (Italy) – 2nd, 4th, & 6th 2017, 2016, & 2015 Giir di Mont
- Nina Carisch (Switzerland) – 1st & 2nd 2024 & 2023 Swiss Irontrail 50k
- Elisa Compagnoni (Italy) – 5th 2019 Thyon-Dixence
- Arianna Dentis (Italy) – 5th 2024 Italian Mountain Running Championships Uphill race; 6th 2024 Fletta Trail
- Eli Anne Dvergsdal (Norway) – 12th & 1st 2023 & 2019 Zegama Marathon
- Alice Gaggi (Italy) – 2013 World Mountain Running Champion; 5th & 9th 2023 & 2021 Sierre-Zinal
- Naomi Lang (U.K.) – 4th 2024 Trofeo Nasego; 5th 2024 European Off Road Championships Up and Down race
- Camilla Magliano (Italy) – 6th 2024 Montemuro Vertical Run; 18th, 11th, & 13th 2024, 2023, & 2022 Sierre-Zinal
- Laurel Moyer (U.S.) – 16th 2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k; 8th 2023 Broken Arrow Skyrace
- Rachel Tomajczyk (U.S.) – 2nd 2024 & 2023 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Uphill race; 3rd 2023 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race
Call for Comments
- How do you see the Mountain Running World Cup Finals finishing this weekend?
- What runners will you be watching in particular?
Rachel Tomajczyk (right) would take second at the 2022 Whiteface Skyrace. Behind her Megan Lacy chases, and she took seventh. Photo: Michael Scott
