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Mud, Miles & Glory: World Athletics Cross Country Tour Returns for 2026/27

The 2026/27 World Athletics Cross Country Tour is back, bringing the world's leading distance runners together for another season of high-level racing across grass, mud and challenging cross-country courses.

The new season officially got underway at the TCS Lidingöloppet in Lidingö, Sweden, on September 26. The Gold-level event featured the traditional 30km race and marked the opening of the new World Athletics Cross Country Tour campaign.

The opening meeting saw Ebba Tulu Chala win the men's race in 1:38:50, while Evelina Henriksson claimed the women's title. Both victories gave Sweden a home double at the season-opening event.

Attention now turns to Spain, where the 72nd Cross Internacional Zornotza will be held in Amorebieta-Etxano on October 18. The race is the next Gold-level stop on the World Athletics Cross Country Tour calendar.

The calendar features a packed series of international cross-country races through the end of 2026 and into early 2027. Gold-level meetings are scheduled in Spain, Germany, Italy, Zambia, the Netherlands and Kenya, among other locations.

The tour will provide elite distance runners with an opportunity to compete over varied terrain while building their cross-country seasons. With major names expected to target the circuit, the coming months will bring a mixture of traditional European classics and major African cross-country races.

Among the athletes attracting attention is Nadia Battocletti, who enters the new campaign as the reigning World Athletics Cross Country Tour champion after securing the overall title in the previous season.

The 2026/27 tour will continue until February, with the Sirikwa Classic Continental Tour Gold in Eldoret, Kenya, scheduled for February 13, 2027.

For fans of distance running, the new cross-country season promises a long series of races where endurance, tactics and the ability to handle difficult terrain will once again be tested.

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