World Mountain & Trail Running Champs: who, what and when guide

Everything you need to know about this week’s big off-road endurance running event in Austria

The best mountain and trail runners in the world descend on Innsbruck-Stubai in Austria this week for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.

Taking place just eight months after the inaugural event in Chiang Mai in Thailand, a 30-plus-strong British team will be challenging for medals. That’s twice as many athletes as the GB team for this year’s World Cross Country Championships in Australia. A sign of the times? Or is it merely a reflection of the fact there are 10 races over a four-day period from June 7-10?

British hopes will be high too as the squad features Jon Albon, Scout Adkin and junior Rebecca Flaherty (all pictured in main image above) among others. Runners from Uganda and Kenya will be difficult to beat, though, while Italy, Switzerland, France and Spain all have a good tradition on the hills and trails.

In total 1500 athletes from around 70 countries will take part in an event which sees World Athletics joining forces with the World Mountain Running Association, International Trail Running Association and the International Association of Ultrarunners.

For our coverage of last year’s event in Chiang Mai, click here, whereas you can find an in-depth feature on the background to the 2023 event here.

June 7: Senior men’s and women’s uphill only vertical race (7.3km, 1020m elevation)

This uphill event starts in Neustift in Stubai and, after a circuit of the village, heads on to narrow forest trails.

Leading contenders are expected to be last year’s one-two, Allie McLaughlin of the United States and Andrea Mayr of Austria, in the women’s race, with defending champion Patrick Kipngeno and Ombago Kiriago Philemon of Kenya facing top Europeans like Alejandro Garcia and Daniel Osanz of Spain in the men’s race.

Jacob Adkin, the 2019 European champion, leads the GB men’s hopes with Andrew Douglas, Chris Richards and Joe Steward.

Scout Adkin of Ambleside is joined by Kate Avery, Phillipa Williams and Sara Willhoit in a strong GB female team. They will be going for gold too as they finished just two points behind the winners United States in the team stakes in this race in Chiang Mai last year.

June 8: Short trail (44.6km, 3132m)

Jon Albon, the Norwegian-based Brit who won the 2019 world title, leads GB hopes in this event. Albon has won multiple world and European obstacle course racing titles and…