Although the Transvulcania weekend has never been just about the Ultramarathon, the 2026 Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer and Half Marathon step up in competitiveness, too. Both races are part of this year’s Mountain Running World Cup, bringing an internationally competitive field to the shorter races on the Canary Islands.
The 2025 Transvulcania Half Marathon men’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Sergio Álvarez, 1. Luca Del Pero, and 3. David Osanz. Álvarez and Osanz return this year. Photo: Transvulcania/Van Marty
The Vertical Kilometer (VK) goes first on Thursday, May 7, at 5 p.m. local time (Western European Summer Time), or 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time, on a course that climbs 1,164 meters (3,820 feet) and descends 102 meters (334 feet) over 7.28 kilometers (4.52 miles). Prize money runs five deep, with 800 Euro going to the winners.
Two days later, the Half Marathon runs on Saturday, May 9, on a 24.8-kilometer (15.4 miles) course with 2,097 meters (6,880 feet) of climbing. The race begins at 7:30 a.m. local time (Western European Summer Time), which is 12:30 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time. Prize money matches the VK, again with 800 Euro for first.
The races will be the year’s fifth and sixth Mountain Running World Cup races, and series regulars like Kenya’s Joyce Njeru and Philemon Kiriago will look to double up on the points and prize money for the series.
Thanks to the World Mountain Running Association for supporting iRunFar’s 2026 Transvulcania VK and Half Marathon coverage.
iRunFar will be on La Palma covering the racing this weekend.
Be sure to also check out our in-depth 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon preview.
Read on to see who’s racing.
2026 Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer and Half Marathon Women’s Preview
Women’s Top Contenders
Almost all of the top runners are expected to double up and race both the Thursday VK and the Saturday Half Marathon.
It was a good start to 2026 for Kenya’s Ruth Gitonga. She won the year’s first Mountain Running World Cup race, the São Brás Cross Classic Up and Down event, in Portugal in April. Last year, Gitonga was second at the World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. If she’s active in the World Cup this year, she might be the overall favorite, and she should place well at both Transvulcania races.
Ruth Gitonga on her way to finishing second at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Kenya’s Joyce Njeru was fourth in the 2025 Mountain Running World Cup, and she’s already raced twice this year. Njeru was second in the 2026 Mountain Running World Cup Changping Beijing Uphill and won the Changping Beijing Classic Up and Down race, as well. In 2025, she raced in both the Mountain Running World Cup and Golden Trail World Series. She was fourth in the World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race, ninth at Sierre-Zinal, and won the Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k. She excels in up-and-down races more than in purely uphill races. Expect her to finish higher in the Half Marathon than in the VK.
Joyce Njeru, the 2025 Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k women’s winner. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Philaries Kisang from Kenya is a true uphill specialist. She’ll likely be Gitonga’s closest competition in the VK and will likely challenge for a podium spot in the Half Marathon too. Kisang was second at the 2023 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race in Austria, but only 14th in that same race in 2025 in Spain. Kisang is more than capable of running both uphill and downhill, as shown by her win at the Trofeo Nasego 21k in 2025 and fourth-place finish at the 2024 Sierre-Zinal.
Philaries Kisang, the 2025 Vertical Nasego women’s winner. Photo: World Mountain Running Association/Marco Gulberti
Italy’s Camilla Magliano has hit all of the Mountain Running World Cup stops so far this year. She was eighth in the year’s first Mountain Running World Cup race in Portugal, and then she was fourth at both the Uphill and Classic races in China. Before that, Magliano had 2026 wins at Andersen Marathon Trail in Italy and the Istria 42k in Croatia, and she was fourth at the Lavaredo 50k in 2025 and seventh at the 2024 OCC.
Camilla Magliano, the 2024 World Masters Mountain Running Championships Uphill women’s winner. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
Spain’s Silvia Lara was second at last year’s Transvulcania VK and third in the Half Marathon. She was also sixth at the Half Marathon in 2024. Lara doesn’t seem to race much, but when she does, she tends to end up near the front of the field.
More Fast Women
Ruth Aldea has raced almost exclusively in her home country of Spain for the last two years. She was fifth at both the 2025 Transvulcania Half Marathon and the 2025 Val d’Aran 16k. She is only racing the Transvulcania Half Marathon.
Like a few others on the list, Spain’s Maria Benito raced both the Transvulcania VK and Half Marathon in 2025 and returns for another go this year. In 2025, she was fourth in the VK and sixth in the Half Marathon. This year, she’s won the Reventón El Paso 17k.
Unlike everyone else on this list who is doubling up on the VK and the Half Marathon, Spain’s Júlia Font will represent the host country in the VK and the Marathon. Font was fifth earlier this year at the Chianti 46k and won the Ultra Pirineu 42k in both 2024 and 2023. She’s shown success at a variety of distances ranging from shorter skyraces to 50k events.
Júlia Font, the 2024 Gorbeia Suzien Skyrace women’s winner. Photo: Skyrunner World Series
Pauline Girardet has a long list of short-course results in her home country of France and is only racing the half-marathon distance at Transvulcania. Top performances include second-place runs at the 2025 EcoTrail Paris 35k and the 2025 MCC. She was sixth at the 2023 Mont Blanc 23k.
Spain’s Estela Guerra was fifth at the 2025 Transvulcania VK and 11th at the 2024 Transvulcania Half Marathon. She’s only racing the VK this year.
A ski mountaineering winter Olympian for Australia, Lara Hamilton was just outside of the top 10 at last year’s Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k.
Spanish runner Moana Lilly Kehres was sixth at last year’s Transvulcania VK and fourth in the Half Marathon. She was also 16th at the Zegama Marathon in 2024.
In late April 2026, Romania’s Ingrid Mutter was ninth at the Mountain Running World Cup Changping Beijing Uphill race in China and 11th in the Up and Down event. Going back to 2018, she was 12th at the world-class Zegama Marathon and eighth at the 2017 World Mountain Running Long Distance Championships. Mutter raced mostly in Romania in 2025 and additionally had a 12th-place finish at the Italian Lavaredo 50k.
New run2gether team member Jedidah Sang ran her first race outside Kenya in March 2026, where she was second at the Madrid Half Marathon in 1:09. These will be her second and third races outside of Kenya. Alongside Gitonga, Kisang, and Njeru, it could be a Kenyan sweep of the top four spots in both races.
The U.K.’s Sara Willhoit was fifth and ninth at the two 2026 Mountain Running World Cup races in China in April 2026. She was 18th at the Acantilados del Norte race in Spain earlier this year, and eighth at the 2025 Trofeo Nasego 21k.
2026 Transvulcania Men’s Vertical Kilometer and Half Marathon Preview
Men’s Top Contenders
With a few exceptions, most of this group will also race both the VK and Half Marathon disciplines.
Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago is one of the best in the world and could run away with the Half Marathon crown. He won the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race and was 17th in the Uphill race at the same championships. Kiriago won Sierre-Zinal in both 2023 and 2025 and surely has a title defense there high on his summer priority list.
Philemon Kiriago (Kenya), the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down men’s champion. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Richard Omaya Atuya from Kenya can climb with the best and should be near or at the front of the VK. He was second at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race, and that came after 2025 wins at the Vauban Mountain Trail Uphill and Vertical Nasego races.
Richard Omaya Atuya of Kenya takes second at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Spain’s Daniel Osanz will only race the Half Marathon. He won the race in 2024 and was third in 2025. Osanz had a great 2023 with a fifth-place finish at the Mammoth 26k and a seventh-place run up the Pikes Peak Ascent, both in the U.S. If he has any of that 2023 form, he could be on the podium in the Half Marathon.
Daniel Osanz, the 2022 Canfranc Canfranc VK men’s winner. Photo: Ruben Fueyo
Uphill specialist Andrea Elia from Italy will only race the VK. He was eighth at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race and could challenge for the VK win here. In 2024, he won the Mountain Running World Cup Finals VK.
Andrea Elia, the 2024 Kilometro Verticale Lagunc champion. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Spain’s Sergio Álvarez was second in the Half Marathon in 2025 and sixth in 2024. This year’s race will go quicker, but Álvarez was only 12 seconds behind race winner Luca Del Pero last year and over a minute better than third-place Daniel Osanz. Can he hold that finish spot against World Cup competition?
More Fast Men
Last year’s third-place finisher in the Transvulcania Ultramarathon was Manuel Anguita of Spain. Later in 2025, he was 20th at the Trail World Championships Long Trail. He’s just entered in the VK, and this is a very short course for his typical racing.
Álvaro Escuela from Spain was seventh at the 2025 Transvulcania Half Marathon and third at the event in 2024.
Watch out for France’s Anthony Felber in the VK and Half Marathon. His top race last year was 10th at the Marathon de Mont Blanc, and back in 2023, he was sixth at OCC.
Spain’s Arezki Habibi has been around the top 10 here the last two years. In 2025, he was seventh in the VK and 13th in the Half Marathon, and in 2024, he was 11th in the Half Marathon. This year, he was third at the Reventón Trail 17k.
A 2:12 marathoner in 2017, Tyler McCandless has moved to the trails. He was part of Team USA for the uphill race at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships and was also seventh at the Changping Beijing Classic Up and Down race in China in April 2026. Earlier in April 2026, he was only ninth at the Gorge Waterfalls 30k.
Tyler McCandless on his way to fourth place at the 2025 Broken Arrow VK and a spot on Team USA for the Uphill race at World Mountain Running Championships. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Sweden’s Martin Nilsson won the 2025 Tatra Skymarathon and was seventh at the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail. He was also sixth at Sierre-Zinal the same year.
Martin Nilsson, the 2025 Hochkönig Skyrace men’s winner. Photo: Skyrunner World Series
Ephantus Njeri is another Kenyan with the potential to do well. He was ninth at the 2025 Pitz Alpine Golden Trail World Series race and third at the Vauban Mountain Trail 14k.
Antoine Thiriat from France finished ninth at the 2024 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. He typically races longer than the half marathon for which he is signed up here, and was third at the 2025 Les Templiers 80k. He was seventh at the 2024 OCC.
Call for Comments
- Will anyone challenge the Kenyan runners in this year’s Mountain Running World Cup?
- What other storylines in these races will you be following?
