The WMRA Mountain Operating World Cup returns to the French Alps this weekend, with the Vauban Mountain Path internet hosting levels 9 and 10 of the season in Briançon on July 18-19.
An Uphill race on Saturday shall be adopted by the Traditional Up & Down race, a part of the World Cup class powered by Turismo Centro de Portugal – “MOVE Centro de Portugal – The Sports activities Area.” The 2 races give athletes very totally different alternatives to gather World Cup factors. With eight races accomplished and eight nonetheless to return, the 2026 World Cup has now entered the second half of the season.
As chances are you’ll bear in mind, the 2026 World Cup consists of 16 races throughout 10 nations and 4 continents. Vauban follows the Grossglockner Mountain Run, the eighth race of the season, and marks the subsequent cease on the European leg of the circuit earlier than Sierre-Zinal in August and the September races at Vertical Nasego, Trofeo Nasego and Maraton Trzech Jezior. The season will then conclude with two races at Défi des Couleurs in Québec, Canada, in October.
Set at greater than 1,300 metres above sea stage, Briançon combines a high-altitude Alpine atmosphere with the historic Vauban fortifications, which kind a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Website. This weekend, nonetheless, the main focus shall be firmly on the racing, with lots of the athletes at the moment occupying the main positions within the World Cup standings confirmed for the two-day programme.
SATURDAY GOES UP. SUNDAY GOES UP AND DOWN.
The World Cup weekend begins on Saturday July 18 with the Montée Verticale, a pure uphill race overlaying 6km and gaining 1,150 metres of elevation. Beginning near the Prorel cable automotive in Briançon, the course climbs in direction of the higher station in a sustained ascent that locations the emphasis on climbing effectivity, pacing and the flexibility to keep up velocity because the gradient and altitude take their toll.
The race is Stage 9 of the 2026 World Cup and counts in direction of the Uphill class.
Racing resumes on Sunday 19 July with the Grand Parcours Vauban Mountain Path, Stage 10 of the World Cup. The 14km course options roughly 1000 metres of ascent and descent and counts in direction of the Traditional Up & Down class.
Vauban would be the final Traditional Up & Down race earlier than the World Cup finals at Défi des Couleurs in Québec, Canada, in October, including additional significance to Sunday’s race within the class standings.
Not like Saturday’s uninterrupted climb, Sunday’s race would require athletes to handle repeated modifications of rhythm and mix uphill power with quick and assured descending. The course begins and finishes round Parc de la Schappe earlier than taking the sector onto the mountain trails surrounding Briançon.
The distinction between the 2 races might have an vital affect on the weekend. Some athletes will give attention to the self-discipline that most closely fits them, whereas others will contest each races and try and safe two sturdy World Cup scores inside 24 hours.
ATUYA ARRIVES IN BRIANÇON SECOND IN THE WORLD CUP
Richard Omaya Atuya (KEN) arrives in Briançon second within the 2026 World Cup standings with 136 factors and is entered for each the Uphill and Traditional Up & Down races. He involves France following victory on the Grossglockner Mountain Run.
Atuya has been significantly formidable in uphill racing. He gained the Transvulcania Uphill in Could in a course report of 45:01 earlier than including one other main victory on the sustained climb at Grossglockner. Saturday’s 6km and 1,150m ascent in Briançon ought to once more play on to his strengths earlier than he returns for Sunday’s Traditional Up & Down race.
Two athletes who confirmed sturdy kind on the opening race of the season may even be among the many names to observe in Briançon. Oscar Subuh-Symons (GBR) produced one of many breakthrough performances at São Brás Cross, ending third, and is entered for each races in Briançon. Théodore Klein (FRA), who completed fourth at São Brás, is entered for the Uphill race and gives a robust native presence for the boys’s competitors on residence soil.
Andrew Douglas (GBR), the 2019 World Cup champion, is at the moment fourth general with 100 factors and is entered for each races, whereas Luca Merli (ITA), sixth general with 90 factors, is entered for the Traditional Up & Down race.
Douglas started the 2026 season with second place at São Brás Cross. He stays one of the vital skilled and constant athletes within the discipline and can have alternatives throughout each of the weekend’s contrasting codecs.
Ephantus Mwangi Njeri (KEN) and Paul Machoka (KEN) are stage on 78 factors, occupying eighth and ninth respectively within the general standings, and each are entered for the Uphill and Traditional Up & Down races. Njeri involves Briançon after ending second behind Atuya at Grossglockner, whereas Machoka was runner-up within the 2025 general World Cup.
The sector additionally contains Martin Dematteis (ITA), who brings in depth worldwide championship and World Cup expertise and is entered for the Traditional Up & Down race, whereas Matt Knowles (GBR), the 2019 world junior mountain-running champion, is entered for each races.
Jake Collier (GBR), Andrei Ivanescu-Gliga (ROU), György Szabolcs István (ROU), Marcelo Gonçalves (POR), Martin Nilsson (SWE) and Finn Lydon (GBR) are additionally entered for each races.
GITONGA ARRIVES IN BRIANÇON WITH THREE WORLD CUP WINS IN 2026
Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga (KEN) arrives in Briançon as one of many excellent performers of the 2026 season and second within the general World Cup standings with 186 factors. She is entered for each the Uphill and Traditional Up & Down races.
She opened her marketing campaign by successful the Traditional Up & Down race at São Brás Cross, forward of defending World Cup champion Scout Adkin (GBR) and Nélie Clément (FRA). She then gained the World Cup Lengthy Distance race at Transvulcania in a course report of two:22:50 and most not too long ago claimed victory on the Grossglockner Mountain Run.
Her three victories have come throughout totally different race codecs, underlining the flexibility that has made her one of many central figures of the 2026 World Cup. She additionally completed second within the Traditional Up & Down race on the 2025 World Mountain and Path Operating Championships.
With present World Cup chief Joyce Muthoni Njeru (KEN), who has 262 factors, not among the many confirmed Vauban entries, the 2 races in Briançon give Gitonga a possibility to cut back the hole on the high of the general standings.
The standings instantly behind her are additionally intently matched.
Benedetta Broggi (ITA) is fourth general with 109 factors, simply two factors forward of Kirsty Skye Dickson (GBR), who’s fifth with 107. Each are entered for the Uphill and Traditional Up & Down races, giving them two alternatives so as to add to their totals in Briançon.
French curiosity shall be led by Nélie Clément (FRA), at the moment seventh general with 87 factors and entered for each races.
Clément has already demonstrated her power within the Traditional Up & Down self-discipline this season, ending third on the World Cup opener in São Brás. She additionally returns to an occasion the place she has beforehand loved success, having gained the Vauban Traditional Up & Down race in 2025.
Her earlier performances in Briançon, mixed with the familiarity of racing on residence terrain, make her one of many main French athletes within the ladies’s discipline.
The entry additionally contains defending general World Cup champion Scout Adkin (GBR), who’s entered for each the Uphill and Traditional Up & Down races. The British athlete gained the ladies’s World Cup in each 2024 and 2025 and began the present season with second place behind Gitonga at São Brás Cross.
Gloria Chebet (KEN) and Miriam Chepkirui (KEN) are additionally entered for each races. Chebet completed third at Grossglockner, with Chepkirui fourth, inserting each athletes among the many main performers in the latest World Cup race earlier than Vauban.
Martina Falchetti (ITA), Ingrid Mutter (ROU), Elle Twentyman (GBR), Ellen Weir (GBR), Selina Burch (SUI), Elisa Morin (CAN), Gabrielle Pilote Fortin (CAN), Marie Nivet (FRA) and Caroline Harney Ayton (IRL) are additionally entered for each World Cup races, finishing a broad worldwide ladies’s discipline for the weekend.
VAUBAN COULD RESHAPE THE WORLD CUP STANDINGS
The following section of the 16-race World Cup begins in Briançon with a number of athletes from the main positions within the 2026 standings on the beginning lists and vital factors out there throughout the weekend’s two races.
With Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (KEN) not competing at Vauban, Richard Omaya Atuya (KEN) arrives because the highest-ranked man within the present standings among the many confirmed starters, sitting second general with 136 factors.
Behind him, Andrew Douglas (GBR) sits fourth with 100 factors and Luca Merli (ITA) sixth with 90, whereas Ephantus Mwangi Njeri (KEN) and Paul Machoka (KEN) are stage on 78 factors in eighth and ninth respectively.
The focus of main contenders signifies that outcomes throughout the 2 days might produce significant motion within the general standings.
The ladies’s standings convey a distinct dynamic. Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga (KEN) arrives second general with 186 factors, behind Joyce Muthoni Njeru (KEN) on 262. With the present chief absent from the confirmed entry listing, the 2 Vauban races supply Gitonga a possibility to cut back that benefit.
The standings instantly behind her are additionally intently matched. Benedetta Broggi (ITA) is fourth with 109 factors, solely two factors forward of Kirsty Skye Dickson (GBR) in fifth on 107, whereas Nélie Clément (FRA) is seventh with 87 factors. All three are confirmed for Vauban.
With a number of athletes from the higher positions of each the boys’s and girls’s standings entered, Vauban has the potential to provide a few of the most important motion but within the 2026 general World Cup standings.
WEEKEND PROGRAMME
The World Cup programme begins with the Montée Verticale on Saturday July 18, a 6km uphill race with 1150 metres of ascent.
The Grand Parcours Vauban Mountain Path follows on Sunday 19 July, overlaying 14km with roughly 1000 metres of ascent and descent.
Each World Cup races kind a part of the broader Vauban Mountain Path weekend in Briançon.
After eight races throughout 4 continents and a primary half of the season that has already produced shut battles, course data and modifications on the high of the classifications, the World Cup now reaches Briançon with a lot of its main contenders on the identical begin line.
Two totally different races await them. The factors collected within the French Alps might show more and more vital because the 2026 World Cup strikes in direction of its decisive closing months.
