Sierre-Zinal is one of mountain running's most iconic trail races, and the course proved to be a worthy opponent for Katie Schide this year, as the runner managed to take third place on the podium just seconds ahead of the next runner.
Fresh off a win at Colorado's Hardrock 100 race in July, the Maine native headed to the Swiss Alps for the 31k course, which takes runners up a steep 7,220ft (2,200m) climb from the start and ends with a 3,600ft (1,100m) vertical drop in the Valais Alps.
It wasn't Schide's first time on the course; she ran it back in 2021 in an elites-only edition during Covid while testing out an early prototype of the On Cloudvista shoes that she's now back in after returning to her original sponsors earlier this year. In that race, she didn't get close to the podium, so she knew how hard it was going to be, writing to Instagram last week: "I really can’t think of a more competitive trail race out there. A perfect place to be humbled by some crazy fast ladies."
In the end, she shaved nearly 20 minutes off her previous time, coming in at 2:58:32, but it was a tough battle for the podium, with Switzerland's Maude Mathys coming in only 25 seconds behind her. Mathys still holds the women's course record and has won the race four times since it began in 1974.
The real story from the race, however, is the many victories enjoyed by Kenyan runners this year. In the women's race, Joyline Chepngeno's downhill skills gave her gold for the second year running with a time of 2:54:50, just seconds slower than last year's win. Caroline Kimutai started out in the lead but got swallowed up by Chepngeno and took second place, coming in less than a minute behind the winner.
In the men's race, Kenyan runners dominated the entire podium with Philemon Kiriago taking his third win on the course in 2:28:45, though he failed to touch Kilian Jornet's course record. Less than 30 seconds later, Patrick Kipngeno joined him at the finish line after another extremely tight battle with Michael Selelo Saoli, who took third place only five seconds behind him. Italy's Francesco Puppi was further down the list, taking 10th place.
The race was the final event of the Golden Trail World Series, before the Ledro Sky Trentino Grand Finale on October 9 -12. Check out the full results of Sierre-Zinal here.
