Philemon and Caroline lead the African Challenge at Sierre-Zinal

Several of Africa’s finest mountain and trail runners take on many of the world’s best at Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland on Saturday, with South Africa’s ‘Comrades Queen’ Gerda Steyn’s participation adding substantial interest to the contest.

Singularly, the Swiss towns of Sierre and Zinal attract little interest in the sporting world. But the combination of the two into Sierre-Zinal (SZ) instantly commands attention and admiration and many rate it as the world’s most competitive trail race.

31 kilometres with 2,400 metres of elevation gain, the legendary course linking the Swiss towns of Sierre and Zinal crosses the spectacular alpine landscapes of the Valais region beneath five peaks rising above 4000m –  Weisshorn (4,506m), Zinalrothorn (4,221m), Matterhorn (4,478m), Dent Blanche (4,357m) and Obergabelhorn (4,063m).

The course features a demanding, near-continuous climb from Sierre, at 560 metres above sea level, to Nava at 2,424 metres passing iconic locations such as Ponchette, Chandolin and the historic Hotel Weisshorn. From there, runners face a fast and technical descent into Zinal (1,675m), the setting for some of trail running’s most memorable finishes.

The majority of almost 7000 participants from 70 countries will take time to pause to take in the breathtaking landscapes, but the elite men and women’s fields will scarcely notice their surrounds as they summon every ounce of energy, speed and strength in a quest for line honours, a podium place or top ten position.

SZ is part of both the Mountain Running World Cup and the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) and the relatively non-technical terrain underfoot makes is accessible to athletes from track, cross country, road, mountain running and trail backgrounds, making it one of the most competitive in the world.

Even a top one hundred position at SZ will be hard-fought by leading runners, with every one of last year’s top ten back for more.

SZ is also one of the oldest distance races on the planet – Saturday’s will be the 53^rd edition – and its heritage adds value and attraction to the race.

Dominated by European-based athletes for much of its history, the formidable course records are held by two legends of the sport – Spanish athlete Kilian Jornet’s winning time in 2024 of 2 hrs 25 min 34 sec and Swiss athlete Maude Mathys’ 2:49:20 in 2019.

But the emergence of Kenya as a force in trail running in recent years has fundamentally changed the nature of the race and it could be a matter of time before the records tumble. Last year’s winner, Philemon Kiriago, was just two seconds back of Jornet when the Spaniard set the new record two years ago and led no fewer than three other Kenyans into the top five last year, including an unprecedented podium clean-sweep.

Patrick Kipngeno (2^nd last year), Michael Saaoli (3^rd) and Paul Machoka (5^th) will all be back on Saturday in an attempt to equal or improve their positions. Only Swiss triathlete, Adrien Briffod (4^th) could split them twelve months ago.

A fifth African athlete grabbed a top ten position last year, and Moroccan, Elhousine Elazzaoui, is looking to move up several places from his 9^th in 2025.

Elazzaoui was the overall winner in last year’s prestigous Golden Trail World Series and leads this year’s series by a substantial margin. The ‘Flying Camel’ chalked up his third win (after Zegama and Ledro Sky Trentino) in last week’s Salomon Pitz Alpine Glacier Trail in Austria.

While SZ’s more runnable route might not play to his strengths, Elazzaoui’s rich vein of current form could see him challenge for line honours.

Other leading Kenyans capable of top ten positions include Samwel Kiprotich , winner of this year’s GTWS Quebec Mega Trail, Richard Atuya, winner of the 2026 Transvulcania Vertical Kilometre, Ephantus Njeri and Timothy Kibett.

Steyn’s entry into topflight trail running has been long awaited and her performance on Saturday will be watched with interest. Road has been Steyn’s go-to format in athletics for more than a decade and she is one of the world’s best ultra-distance athletes on that surface – arguably the very best.

But SZ is short and furious with some of the world’s best exponents over sub-marathon distance in contention.  Romanian Mădălina Florea is the form trail athlete and will be looking to improve on her 7^th, 3^rd and 12^th in recent years.  Leading this year’s GTWS, she took her third title in that series in winning the Pitz Glacier last weekend but she might also find the fast, runnable course counts against her.

Kenyans Philaries Kisang (who has placed 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th at SZ in past years), defending champion Caroline Kimutai and newcomer Ruth Gitonga, second at the Pitz Glacier, are all likely to be competitive while four-time winner, Mathys, can never be discounted.

Can Steyn transfer her best distance running skills to this competitive off-road race on Saturday and bag a top ten position? 

The presence in the field of leading German athlete, Laura Hottenrott, may offer some encouragement to the South African. Hottenrott, who has excelled in both disciplines, placed a competitive 5^th in last year’s SV in 3:00:30.

The two athletes’ running CV’s have much in common, Steyn’s ultra-distance feats apart. Hottenrott’s marathon PB of 2:24:32 is just 29 seconds slower than Steyn’s while only 11 seconds separate their 10km bests, with Hottenrott’s 32:13 the faster.

Coincidentally, both athletes had disappointing races at the Paris Olympics, with Steyn (who had an excellent 15^th at the Tokyo Olympics Marathon) finishing in 2:32:51 just 90 seconds behind that of Hottenrott.

While a few weeks short of ideal race preparation, Steyn is looking forward to Saturday’s race.  She is no stranger to trails and much of her road running training takes place on the trails near her home in the French Alps. And Steyn chalked up her first trail win in 2017 in a low-profile race near her home in France.

“It is so great to be here,” Steyn reflected from Switzerland yesterday. “It’s an absolutely beautiful place! It will be great fun and interesting to see you I get on. I would have liked another month of preparation but let’s see!”

Earlier Steyn posted on social media that she has been thinking about running SZ for a long time. “And now it’s finally real!  I’m excited to race Sierre-Zinal this weekend – it’s arguably the world’s most iconic trail race.

“I love that there really is no pressure, but of course I still want to do my best, so let’s see how it goes.”

Two other South Africans will be in action following their wins at the Cape Town Trail Marathon in May. Philani ‘PK’ Sengce and Maryke van Zyl took line honours over the testing 43km race on Table Mountain and were delighted that their prize included two tickets to compete at Sierre-Zinal, which offered both athletes their first taste of competition outside their own country.

“I am really excited for Maryke and Philani taking on the world’s best trail runners at SZ this weekend,” commented Ryan Sandes, founder and organiser of the Cape Town Trail Marathon. “It is an incredible opportunity and the whole of South Africa is behind them!”

Sengce is pleased with his preparation, which included competing in another Swiss race last weekend as a warm-up. “I was just jogging easily so I would recover faster,” Sengce reported.

“One thing I can say is that the altitude is something else there. And the views are incredible – what a great place and I’m so blessed to experience such wonders.”

Being his first international race, Sengce will be content simply to enjoy the experience and finish the race feeling good, but admitted he will not be prepared to let the race get the better of him.

“Philani has already raced Thyon Dixence (in Switzerland),” Sengce’s coach, James Montgomery said. “That race had a number of athletes that will race Sierre Zinal, including Philemon Kiriago, so he has a good idea of the standard of the top athletes.”

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