Golden Path World Collection kicks off in Kobe, Japan this weekend

If you happen to haven’t jumped on the Golden Path World Collection (GTWS) prepare, you’re lacking out. The path working world has already produced some intense races this season, and the primary race of the GTWS, kicking off this weekend in Kobe, Japan, will probably be no exception. The sector is deep, the course is fascinating, and the stay stream will probably be a thriller. Right here’s what it’s essential know to comply with alongside.

The GTWS is an eight-race sequence, the place the highest 30 women and men from the general rating, after the eighth race, will probably be invited to the Grand Last, to be held this 12 months within the Swiss area of Ascona-Locarno. Saturday’s race in Kobe marks the first-ever Asian race within the GTWS, and can characteristic a 21-kilometre course with 2,109 metres of vertical elevation in a “flower-race” format. (Runners will run 4 totally different loops that take them by way of the beginning/end zone 5 occasions–so the course map resembles a flower.)

Click on right here to take a look at your entire 2023 season, full with behind-the-scenes footage, in a YouTube sequence known as Chasing Desires.

Ladies’s discipline

American path star Sophia Laukli, winner of the GTWS 2023, had a shocking season final 12 months. She will probably be taking up a difficult discipline that features Swiss runner Maude Mathys, the 2020 Golden Path Championship winner and 2021 GTWS winner, and fellow U.S. phenom Allie McLaughlin, who gained the 50K on the 2023 Tarawera Ultramarathon by UTMB in New Zealand and topped the rostrum on the 2023 version of the Damaged Arrow Skyrace in Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Spain’s Sara Alonso, who in 2023 gained the brutal 15K UTMB Expertise Path Courmayeur, will probably be displaying off her famed downhill working expertise, and can line up in opposition to Daniela Oemus of Germany, winner of the 2023 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon in Spain. Becoming a member of the contenders is Squamish, B.C.’s Kalie McCrystal, who took sixth at Meet the Minotaur 30K in 2023 and gained the 50K race at Whistler Alpine Meadows in 2022.

Different names to look at:

Grayson Murphy (U.S.)
Joyce Njeru (Kenya)
Sylvia Nordskar (Norway)
Júlia Font (Spain)
Malen Osa (Spain)

Males’s discipline

All eyes will probably be on race favorite Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya, who had a spectacular 2023 season culminating in a second-place end within the GTWS. Kipngeno will face off in opposition to his compatriot, Philemon Kiriago, who demonstrated his capability to dominate the paths when he topped the rostrum on the 2023 version of the legendary Sierre-Zinal 31K race in Switzerland. Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morrocco can even be a scorching contender after successful the 2023 Dolomyths SkyRace and taking second at Zegama.

Canmore, Alta.’s Sam Hendry will probably be toeing the road after a robust 2023 season that included a fourth-place end at Mammoth Trailfest 26K in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and twelfth at Pikes Peak Ascent in Manitou, Colo.

Different names to look at:

Roberto Delorenzi (Switzerland)
Bart Przedwojewski (Poland)
Álex García (Spain)
Daniel Pattis (Italy)

The Golden Path Collection is understood for placing on a wonderful present, and you’ll click on right here to tune in to the stay stream on April 20, with the ladies’s race beginning at 12:05 a.m. ET.