For the first time in its 25-year history the World Cup heads to China this weekend. Chongli, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province plays host to a top field of international and Chinese mountain runners, all battling it out in stage 7 and 8 of this year’s competition.

A former venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Chongli has been dubbed ‘the snow capital of China’, but it’s also fast becoming a hub for trail and mountain running, particularly as the sports explode in popularity in China. With a stunning backdrop of mountains up to 2,100m and pristine meadows, winding birch and pine forests, and cool summer climate, it’s a perfect venue for our next World Cup race and a fitting place to mark this significant milestone.

Staging a World Cup race in China has taken a huge amount of work and support from World Athletics and the Chinese authorities. The World Cup races will be part of a week-long trail festival in Chongli.

With top runners from China, Kenya, Italy, Great Britain, Thailand, Germany, Norway, New Zealand and Mongolia all coming together, we should see some really exciting racing.

THE RACES

On Saturday 5^th July there’s the classic uphill race, which is 7.2k with 706m of ascent. Starting from Wanlong Ski Resort, already at over 1600m, it soon begins to climb around 300m over the first 2.8k. Then there’s a brief reprieve before another short, steep climb, a fast flatter section and then a final gradual climb up to the finish at Jinhuage Top.

On Sunday 6^th there’s a classic up and downhill race of 21.9k with 1417m of ascent. This race starts and finishes in Yunding Ski Resort, the main hub for the race. It’s an uphill start, with a climb of 170m over the first kilometre. The runners then lose all of that elevation again immediately, before taking on a much bigger climb of 450m over the next few kilometres. From there it’s downhill to the 7km checkpoint, then another climb back up to 2100m to take them to halfway. The runners then remain up close to 2000m for the rest of the race, until a fast and furious descent over the last 2km to the finish, which should lead to some great racing.

THE FAVOURITES

We’re incredibly excited that a truly international field will be assembled in Chongli for the inaugural Chinese race. From strong runners from Asia we have never seen in action in the World Cup to familiar faces from different continents.

Great Britain’s Scout Adkin (HOKA EU), our current women’s World Cup leader and defending champion, will be on the start line, as will Kenyan runner Valentine Jepkoech Rutto (Atletica Saluzzo), who is currently lying in fifth place. Other strong Kenyans include Michael Selelo Saoli and Gloria Chebet (both On/Run2gether).

Hotly tipped Chinese runners include Yousheng Guan, Peiquan You, Juwei Zi, and Min Qi for the men, and Wenrong Zheng, Anna Li and Xiaolan Chen for the women. We will see a large cohort of runners from Mongolia, several from Thailand and one from Korea.

There is a very strong contingent of European runners making the trip to China. German Lukas Ehrle (ASICS) comes hot on the heels of his great run at Broken Arrow. The stellar line-up of Italian runners includes Andrea Rostan (La Sportiva), Luca Merli (Atletia Valchiese), Andrea Elia (La Recastello Radici Group), Henri Aymonod (The North Face), Irene Aschieris, Alberto Vender (New Balance), Tiziano Moia (Gemonatletica SRL), Martin Dematteis, Maria Constanza Beliardo and Arianna Del Pino.

 Other strong women who could feature include Florencia Milanesi (ASICS), Kirsty Dickson (Scottish Athletics), Elle Twentyman (England Athletics) and Simone Troxler (Altra). We will also see New Zealand runners Jessie Speedy (HOKA) and Michael Sutton (Merrell), who could definitely be ones to watch.

MAKING HISTORY

We will bring you all the news from this historic race for the WMRA. Some of the runners will be experiencing their third continent in the World Cup competition this year, as well as the hospitality of a country where mountain running is booming.