Mountain Operating sequence continues in Palisades Tahoe this week.
Following a brief break within the calendar, the 2026 WMRA Mountain Operating World Cup resumes in the USA for rounds six and 7 of the sequence at Damaged Arrow Skyrace in Palisades Tahoe, California.
Competitors will get underway on Friday June 19 with the Ascent Race, the subsequent uphill contest on this 12 months’s circuit, earlier than athletes return to the paths on Sunday June 21 for the 23km, the subsequent long-distance problem of the World Cup season.
Damaged Arrow has constantly delivered a few of the best and memorable races on the World Cup calendar, and this 12 months’s version guarantees to be no exception. Each present World Cup leaders are set to contest each races, joined by former champions, rising skills and a few of the deepest fields assembled up to now this season.
With precious factors on supply and demanding mountain terrain awaiting the athletes, the battles on the entrance of each races are anticipated to play a big position in shaping the World Cup standings because the season enters its second half.
Damaged Arrow is outlined by greater than its elite races. A cornerstone of the occasion’s development has been its community-focused method, exemplified by the Elite Athlete Housing Programme. Every year, greater than 75 elite runners are hosted by native Lake Tahoe households, lots of them athletes or race volunteers themselves. The initiative helps take away one of many greatest limitations dealing with worldwide rivals: the fee and complexity of race-weekend lodging. In lots of instances, these stays turn into lasting friendships and help networks that reach effectively past race week.
That community-first philosophy can be mirrored in Damaged Arrow’s broader inclusion efforts. Whereas circuitously linked to the WMRA World Cup races, these initiatives kind an essential a part of the occasion’s id inside mountain and path working. The race has developed insurance policies and programmes supporting non-binary athletes, transgender athletes, adaptive athletes, and moms and households, with the goal of constructing one in every of North America’s largest mountain and path working occasions extra accessible to underrepresented teams.
In 2026, Damaged Arrow additionally raises the bar financially. The occasion has introduced a complete prize purse of $150,000 throughout its main races, together with $30,000 for the winners of the flagship 23km, alongside $6000 for the Ascent champions and $4000 for the 46km winners. It’s a landmark determine for unbiased path and mountain working and displays the game’s continued professionalisation whereas sustaining its grassroots character.
The setting provides additional significance. Palisades Tahoe, host of the 1960 Winter Olympics, will sit on the coronary heart of the mountain and path working world for 2 consecutive weeks. Damaged Arrow opens proceedings from June 18-21 earlier than TrailCon follows on June 22-24 and the Western States 100 takes centre stage on June 27-28. Collectively, the three occasions rework Olympic Valley right into a gathering level for athletes, volunteers, manufacturers, organisers and followers, connecting the game’s historical past, current and future.
THE ASCENT
The race begins on the valley flooring and climbs its means up 914m (3000 ft) over 4.8km (3 miles) to the summit of Washeshu Peak at 2708m (8885 ft). Alongside the best way it takes in some brutally steep terrain, main as much as the enduring Headwall Ridge and the ‘stairway to heaven’ bolted ladder to the summit of Washeshu Peak. Runners will expertise steep rock slabs, snow and scree, which is assured to ship an thrilling race.
THE 23km SKYRACE
The 23km Skyrace options almost 1400 metres of elevation acquire throughout alpine ridges, snowfields, and technical descents. It begins in Palisades Tahoe Village and many of the race takes place above the tree line on technical and demanding trails. Runners might be handled to views of Granite Chief Wilderness and they’re going to expertise Emigrant Go, KT-22 and, just like the VK runners, the ‘stairway to heaven’ ladder to Washeshu Peak. This race is a part of the WMRA World Cup, attracting most of the high names within the sport.
CHAMPIONS RETURN AND NEW CONTENDERS EMERGE
Each the boys’s and girls’s present World Cup leaders might be on the beginning line for each races. Michael Saoli (KEN, Run2Gether On Path) and Joyce Muthoni Njeru (KEN, NNormal) might be seeking to strengthen their positions, and each have sturdy kind up to now this 12 months. As well as Njeru gained the Skyrace final 12 months and was second within the Ascent.
Defending champions and acquainted faces will headline this 12 months’s racing, with final 12 months’s males’s 23k Skyrace winner, Elhousine Elazzaoui (MAR, NNormal), returning recent from his current triumph at Zegama. Christian Allen (USA) and Anna Gibson (USA, Brooks), who claimed victory within the Ascent in 2024, are additionally again to defend their crowns.
Remarkably, nearly each athlete who stood on the rostrum in final 12 months’s Ascent and 23km Skyrace might be again on the beginning line, with solely Joe Grey absent from the lineup. On the ladies’s aspect, Gibson and Njeru might be joined by Madalina Florea (ROU, Scott) and Jade Belzberg (CAN), whereas the boys’s area options Elhousine Elazzaoui, Allen, Philemon Kiriago (KEN, Run2Gether On Path), Patrick Kipngeno (KEN, Run2Gether On Path) and Cameron Smith (USA), setting the stage for a sequence of high-profile rematches within the mountains.
The elite fields are full of athletes concentrating on podium finishes throughout each races. Making his Damaged Arrow debut, Paul Machoka (KEN, Atletica Saluzzo) is ready to tackle the double, racing each distances over the weekend. Italy boasts a robust hand by means of Luca Merli (JOMA), whereas the USA will area a lot of athletes able to that includes on the sharp finish of the competitors, together with Tyler McCandless, Caleb Olson and Liam Meirow.
The ladies’s races look equally attractive. Final 12 months’s World Cup runner-up, Valentine Jepkoech Rutto (KEN, Atletica Saluzzo), may also contest each occasions, joined by thrilling French skills Nelie Clement and Marie Nivet. Sara Willhoit (GBR, Rab/Scarpa) arrives in sturdy kind following a powerful World Cup marketing campaign, whereas Nienke Brinkman’s (NDL) comeback continues within the 23km race. As within the males’s competitors, the house nation is effectively represented, with Tabor Hemming (Adidas Terrex), Courtney Coppinger (Brooks) and Lauren Gregory main a robust American contingent with podium ambitions.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Ascent begins at 8am (PDT) on Friday June 19 and the 23km Skyrace at 8am for the ladies and eight.20am for the boys on Sunday June 21. You may comply with the motion on the WMRA social media channels and keep watch over the AW web site for protection.
