The final of the Golden Trail World Series will this year be held in Locarno and Ascona, on the banks of the Lago Maggiore, in Switzerland. The date: October 17 to October 20. “After choosing island or coastal courses for the last four finals, we wanted to return to the Alps”, explains Grégory Vollet, director of the Golden Trail Series.
In the eyes of the organization the region of Ascona-Locarno shows the essence of trail running; outdoor culture, stunning scenery and very well maintained trails, that offer a big variety of challenges. In just a handful of kilometres, you can go from lakeside palm trees to the Bàsodino glacier.
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Flower format race
Like 2023, the 2024 Grand Final will be a flower format race, with 23,5 kilometres and 1.400 metres of elevation; meaning that the athletes will run different loops, passing the start and finish zone 6 times.
The final will start with a 7 kilometres prologue, that has 400 metres of elevation. In this race the runners will pass the fan zone four times.
All the athletes that are in the the top 30 of the Golden Trail World Series 2024, after the final race in Mammoth Lakes in California, United States, will get a place in the final.
Sophia Laukli and Remi Bonnet
Last year Elhousine Elazzaoui (Morocco) won the men’s final. Philemon Kiriago (Kenya) finished second, Patrick Kipngeno third. Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland) finished fourth, which was, thanks to his comfortable lead, enough for him to win the Golden Trail World Series title.
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The women’s final last year was won by Madalina Florea (Romania). Judith Wyder (Switzerland) finished second. The third place of Sophia Laukli (USA) was enough for her to win the Golden Trail World Series title. Laukli and Wyder both finished the series with 958 points, but because Laukli won one race more, the title was hers.
