2026 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon Preview

It’s the 25th year for the Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon in Spain’s Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park in Basque Country, and it’s going to be an absolute blockbuster.

Casually known as Zegama or as the Zegama Marathon — Zegama is Zegama, as they say — the race is again part of the Golden Trail World Series, and this year’s might be the best yet. The mountain runners of Basque Country play incredible hosts, as the region fills for the weekend with legions of fans supporting the lucky folks taking part in this year’s edition.

The race takes place on Sunday, May 17 at 9 a.m. local time, which is 1 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time.

The start and finish line is in the village of Zegama in northeastern Spain, and the course climbs four of the highest peaks in the area — Aratz, Aizkorri, Aitxuri, and Andraitz — and then descends back to Zegama. It’s on a looped course with 2,736 meters of climbing over a sometimes technical 42 kilometers. That’s roughly 8,976 feet of elevation gain over 26.2 miles.

The first 16k is nearly all up as the race climbs up to Aratz, part of the Aizkorri massif. It then drops back down, and then goes back up the Sancti Spiritu climb at 20k. This is the “wall of noise” that’s popularly photographed during the race, with spectators lining the steep 600-meter climb. The cycle repeats with another downhill, a shorter climb, and an ultimate 12k descent back to Zegama.

This year’s race is the first of the 2026 Golden Trail World Series (GTWS), and it’s the first race of the year for many of the top runners. Prize money runs 10 deep with 3,000 Euro for the winners.

After a nine-year hiatus from this event, iRunFar is back in Zegama and covering the race. Stay tuned!

Read on for a full race preview.

2026 Zegama Marathon Women’s Preview

A year ago, Spain’s Sara Alonso won the women’s race in 4:27. She is back for a title defense, and Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, a relative newcomer to trail running, will likely be her strongest challenger. But with a mix of Zegama veterans and those new to the race, anything can happen.

Women’s Podium Contenders

Spain’s Sara Alonso is the defending women’s champion. She won last year’s race in 4:27, and she’s already in good form for 2026. Alonso won two Skyrunner World Series races to start 2026. She was second at the Trail World Championships Short Trail race in 2025 — to Sweden’s Alexandersson — and fourth at OCC, all as part of another world-class year. Further back, Alonso was third at Zegama in 2022 in 4:26. Alonso is local to the area and will benefit from strong crowd support.

Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson doesn’t race on trails often, but when she does, she’s really, really good. Alexandersson raced for the first time in 2026 — and for the first time in new-sponsor Salomon gear — when she won the Grand Raid Ventoux 50k in France in late April. One could say the race wasn’t that competitive because she won by 27 minutes, but she won last year’s Trail World Championships Short Trail race by almost 34 minutes. Alonso was second. That was an incredibly dominant performance on a giant stage. Further back, Alexandersson was second at the 2023 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race and has won world championships in six different sports. If Alexandersson runs well at Zegama, she could threaten Nienke Brinkman’s 4:16:43 course record from 2022.

Alexandersson and Alonso starred at the Trail World Championships Short Trail race last year, and Italy’s Fabiola Conti starred at the Trail World Championships Long Trail, where she was third. Her only Zegama start appears to have been in 2022 when she finished fifth. Conti started 2026 with a third-place run at the Skyrace des Matheysins in early May.

Swiss runner Judith Wyder chased Alonso around Zegama last year and finished second in 4:29. It was her first Zegama outing, and she blasted the final downhill. Unlike many others, Wyder has already raced this year and was second at the Chianti 75k. She finished over nine minutes back from the win while racing with stomach issues. Can Wyder stay closer early to give her downhill prowess a chance late?

Local Basque runner Malen Osa has raced Zegama twice and finished no worse than third. She was second in her debut at the race in 2024 and third last year behind Alonso and Judith Wyder. Osa won the Skyrace des Matheysins in France in early May 2026, finishing well ahead of fellow Zegama contender Conti. Is Osa a lock for another podium run, or better? Like Alonso, Osa will receive enormous fan support.

Spanish women typically dominate this race, and Rosa Lara is part of that group. Seven of last year’s top 10 were from Spain, and Lara was fourth. She was also eighth in 2024. She was fifth at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail, 11 minutes behind Conti.

Lauren Gregory of the U.S. had a breakout 2025 on the GTWS. She was fourth at the Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k, 15th at Sierre-Zinal, and fifth at the World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. That 15th-place finish at Sierre-Zinal looks like an aberration, and Gregory will surely target something better at Zegama. In 2026, Gregory won the Gorge Waterfalls 30k in early April and was second at the Canyons 50k at the end of April. Canyons was Gregory’s longest race to date, and her ability to recover could impact her Zegama performance.

Other Fast Women

Mădălina Amariei has a bunch of podium finishes in her home country of Romania, and she won the 2025 Tatra Skymarathon and the 2024 Giir di Mont race.

Canada’s Jade Belzberg has been up the ranks the last couple of years. She was second at the Chuckanut 50k in March 2026, won last year’s JFK 50 Mile, and was seventh at last year’s Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k, a GTWS contest.

Czech runner Barbora Bukovjan might’ve only started racing trails in 2025. Still, she was 10th at the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail.

Júlia Font dropped at last year’s Zegama. The Spanish runner, though, was 13th at Sierre-Zinal and has the potential for a top-10 run. Font will be racing Zegama on one week’s recovery. She was second at the Transvulcania Marathon one week before Zegama.

María Fuentes from Spain had a big year in 2025. After very limited results in the years prior, she raced at least eight times last year. Top performances included a 14th-place finish at the 2025 Trail World Championships Short Trail and a fourth-place run at the Pitz Alpine Glacier Trail 24k GTWS race. She was also second at the 2025 ETC.

In 2025, French runner Lucille Germain won the Skyrace des Matheysins, the Monte Zerbion Skyrace, and the Hochkönig Skyrace across France, Italy, and Austria. She was 16th at Zegama in 2022.

Spain’s Núria Gil dropped out of Zegama in 2023, her last attempt at the race. Before that, in 2022, she was sixth. Most recently, she was second at the January 2026 Arc of Attrition 41k, finishing almost seven minutes back of the winner, Naomi Lang.

Naiara Irigoyen is another top-level Spanish woman this year. She was 13th and 10th at Zegama in 2024 and 2023.

Swiss runner Theres Leboeuf was fifth at Zegama in 2025, fourth in 2024, third in 2023, and seventh in 2022. She appears not to have raced since dropping from last year’s OCC.

At Zegama last year, Marta Martínez was one of the seven Spanish women in the top 10, slotting in that 10th-place spot. Martínez was third at the event in 2024 and eighth in 2023.

Élisa Morin of Canada scored a 10th-place finish at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. She was ninth at OCC before that and won both the Uphill and Classic races at Défi des Couleurs late last year.

Sweden’s Ida Nilsson has starred at longer distances in recent years, but she won Zegama in 2018. She was 25th there in 2022. Last year, Nilsson was fourth at the Western States 100.

French runner Élise Poncet doesn’t race often, but she did win the 2026 Grand Raid Ventoux 26k. She was second at the 2024 Trofeo Kima 52k and 14th at Sierre-Zinal in 2021.

Ida Amelie Robsahm of Norway was inside the top 10 at Zegama in 2025, too. She finished seventh last year and was ninth in 2024. Robsahm won the 2026 Chianti 46k in March.

It’s her first attempt at Zegama, but Kenya’s Valentine Rutto was 11th at last year’s Sierre-Zinal and won the 2025 Giir di Mont 31k. She’s seen a lot of success in shorter races, including winning a Mountain Running World Cup Classic race in China in 2025.

Takako Takamura of Japan was 16th at the 2024 Sierre-Zinal. More recently, she was fifth at the Mt. Fuji 40k at the end of April 2026 and third at the Ueda Skyrace in early May 2026.

Spain’s Anna Tarasova was on the Transvulcania Ultramarathon start list, but didn’t race. Is that an indication of injury, or just a re-prioritization toward Zegama? Tarasova raced at Zegama in 2024 and 2023, finishing 12th and 20th.

Italy’s Martina Valmassoi has raced all over the world, but this appears to be her first Zegama. More well known for long-course success, Valmassoi was seventh at the 2025 World Trail Championships Long Trail and third at the 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon.

Lide Urrestarazu from Spain didn’t race much in 2025, but was sixth at the Calamorro Skyrace that year. In 2024, she was fifth at Zegama.

2026 Zegama Marathon Men’s Preview

Men’s 2025 winner Elhousine Elazzaoui is expected back on the start line. The Moroccan stormed the last 12k downhill in 2025 to win by over seven minutes. Course record-holder Kilian Jornet of Spain will go for an incredible 12th Zegama win, and surely has a race plan to try to better Elazzaoui’s downhill strength. With several other men who’ve placed in the top five at the event before, the final outcome will likely be unpredictable until the very end.

Men’s Podium Contenders

Elhousine Elazzaoui is mostly unbeatable in races not named Sierre-Zinal. The Moroccan boat raced the last downhill in last year’s Zegama and won in 3:43. While not close to the course record, that was incredibly seven minutes better than everyone else on the day. He was second in 2024, too. Elazzaoui’s races generally look the same. He’ll hit the course high point in a lead group and then sprint the final downhill to win. Elazzaoui raced a casual 33k in Mallorca earlier this year and finished in a first-place tie with teammates Dakota Jones and Kilian Jornet. Let’s hope Elazzaoui and Jornet aren’t content to settle for a tie here.

Spain’s Kilian Jornet first won Zegama in 2007, the sixth year of the race. He won again in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2024. That’s 11 times. His 3:36 run at the 2022 race is still the course record. Jornet’s 2025 season was Western States 100-focused, at least from a racing perspective. He took second at the 2025 Chianti 120k, to get a Western Golden Ticket entry, and then followed that up with third at Western itself. This year, he’s announced a mix of shorter and longer races, including this one.

Swiss runner Rémi Bonnet might’ve had a rough start to his 2026 racing year. He faded from the front of the Grand Raid Ventoux 50k in France in late April to 17th place. He had a similar slow start to 2025 and was injured for much of the year, only to come back to smash the field at the World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race. He followed that up with a new Vertical Kilometer world record. Bonnet was fourth at Zegama in 2023, seventh in 2022, and won in 2018. If that Grand Raid Ventoux 50k was an anomaly and Bonnet is fit and healthy, he’s one who should work to gap Elazzaoui before the final downhill.

Italy’s Daniel Pattis was third at Zegama in 2025, and he’s raced at least four times already in 2026. Pattis was second at the 2026 Chianti 46k, finishing 94 seconds behind race winner Francesco Puppi.

Manuel Merillas of Spain had a bad race at last year’s Zegama. He was only 19th after winning the race in 2023. Since last year’s Zegama, Merillas has been on a tear. He was second at the Trail World Championships Short Trail and won two Skyrunner World Series races to start 2026.

Luca Del Pero was fourth at Zegama last year. The Italian runner was also sixth at the Trail World Championships Short Trail, seventh at OCC, and second at the Lavaredo 50k last year. By the time of Zegama last year, Del Pero had already won four races. We haven’t seen him yet in 2026.

Davide Magnini of Italy came back from a long-term injury in 2025 to win the Marathon du Mont-Blanc and finish eighth at the Trail World Championships Short Trail. He was second at Zegama in 2022.

Third at OCC in 2024 and second in 2023, Spain’s Antonio Martínez was seventh at Zegama in 2025. He was a little off form in late 2025, finishing eighth at last year’s OCC, 13th at the Trail World Championships Short Trail, and dropping at Les Templiers 80k. He’s yet to race in 2026.

Zegama didn’t go well for Spain’s Alain Santamaría last year, where he dropped. Santamaría raced at least 14 times last year, though, and was fourth at the Trail World Championships Short Trail. More recently, Santamaría was third at Acantilados del Norte in March 2026 behind Merillas.

Other Fast Men

Italian Lorenzo Beltrami was fifth at Zegama in 2025. In 2026, he was third at the Andersen Marathon Trail and second at the Istria 42k. He was beaten by fellow Zegama entrants in both races. In the former, Pattis and Gialluca Ghiano were in front, and in the latter, Beltrami was just over a minute back of Roberto Delorenzi.

Romania’s Bogdan Damian has yet to get inside the top 10 at Zegama in three attempts. He was 23rd, 17th, and 11th in 2025, 2024, and 2023. Can Bogdan stop the backward trend in 2026?

Switzerland’s Adrien Briffod was 49th at the 2024 Olympic Games in the triathlon. In 2025, he led Sierre-Zinal through the halfway point and ultimately finished fourth. In 2026, he was second at the Grand Raid Ventoux 26k.

Like Bogdan, Raul Butaci is from Romania too. He won the April 2026 Penyagolosa CSP. Historically, he hasn’t been as good at Zegama, finishing 35th and 32nd in 2025 and 2023, respectively. Butaci was 14th at the Transvulcania Ultramarathon only one week before this year’s Zegama.

French runner Sylvain Cachard has had success at Sierre-Zinal, but this is his first Zegama. He was seventh and fourth at Sierre-Zinal in 2024 and 2023, and he placed ninth at the Trail World Championships Short Trail in 2025.

Louison Coiffet had a great Trail World Championships Long Trail in 2025 when he finished in a second-place tie alongside French teammate Benjamin Roubiol. He was 20th at Zegama in 2024.

Switzerland’s Roberto Delorenzi hasn’t yet got Zegama right yet. He dropped in 2025 and was 29th in 2022. He was off at Sierre-Zinal last year too, finishing 53rd after two previous top-five finishes at the event in 2024 and 2023. More recently, he won the 2026 Istria 42k race ahead of Beltrami.

Prolific racer Gianluca Ghiano from Italy dropped at Zegama in 2022, his only attempt at the race. He was second at the 2026 Andersen Marathon Trail race to Pattis and won the 2026 Istria 69k.

Spain’s Nicolás Molina was eighth at Zegama in 2025. In 2026 so far, he was sixth at the Calamorro Skyrace, and first at the Penang Skyrace in Malaysia and the Ueda Skyrace in Japan.

Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago and Patrick Kipngeno are GTWS regulars, but don’t appear on the Zegama start list. Kenya’s Robert Pkemoi is, however. He was sixth at Zegama in 2024 and fifth in 2023.

Loïc Robert from France dropped from Zegama last year. He was ninth there, though in 2024 and this year, he was fifth at Acantilados Del Norte 29k.

Professional road cyclist Lorenzo Rota Martir of Italy was 11th at Zegama in 2025 and 10th at the Trail World Championships Short Trail race last year, too.

Alongside French teammate Coiffet, Benjamin Roubiol was part of the second-place tie at last year’s Trail World Championships Long Trail. Zegama might be a little short for him, though he was 11th at the 2024 OCC. He was 28th at Sierre-Zinal in 2025 and fifth at Skyrace des Matheysins in 2026.

Ezekiel Rutto from Kenya was fourth at the 2025 Marathon du Mont-Blanc and 10th at Sierre-Zinal in 2024.

This will be a big step down in distance for China’s Jia-Sheng Shen. He was sixth at the Tarawera 102k in February of 2026 and eighth at UTMB in 2025. He also just finished 16th at the Transvulcania Ultramarathon a week before Zegama.

Taylor Stack is the American men’s great hope. Stack had a breakout 2025 that included a 12th-place finish at the World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race, 12th at Sierre-Zinal, and sixth at the Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k. In 2026, he set a new course record at the Desert RATS 50k in April.

Call for Comments

• It’s a long list of elite entrants. Who did we leave that out that should be highlighted?
• Who are we too high on, and too low?