Germany’s Nina Engelhard looks back to her best after an injury-affected season, with a dominant victory by almost two minutes at the Défi des Couleurs.

Reigning uphill world champion Nina Engelhard of Germany and Meikal Beaudoin Rousseau of the USA won the uphill races at the Défi des Couleurs in Quebec on Saturday (Oct 10), the opening event of a decisive final weekend of the 2026 World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup.

Visa problems prevented several Kenyan athletes from travelling to Canada, a new venue for the World Cup, with the men’s race particularly affected and both the men’s and women’s rankings shaken up.

The runners enjoyed beautiful sunshine but had to contend with a cold wind, especially at the finish on the 800-metre summit of Mont-Sainte-Anne. They started in front of the Jean Larose Falls, ran a fast flat section to the resort and then began a long climb of just over 3km through the ski slopes, with some runnable sections and some steeper, hands-on-quads stretches. With the autumn colours in full bloom, it was a great test for an uphill-only race.

Richard Atuya, Michael Saoli and Patrick Kipngeno – second, third and fourth in the World Cup standings – were all missing because of visa issues. That left Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago, who led the men’s World Cup on 304 points going into the race, as the favourite on this season’s results. He was going to be pushed, however, by rivals who were much more of an unknown quantity than his Run2gether team-mates.

The men set off fast and made light work of the flat opening 2km, with a tightly packed group of about 10 including Kiriago, Americans Mason Coppi, Cameron Smith and Beaudoin Rousseau, and Canada’s Remi Leroux.

The field began to spread out once the climb started. Leroux led at first with Kiriago on his heels, followed by Smith, Beaudoin Rousseau and Coppi, while Italy’s Andrea Elia headed a small chasing pack. The podium increasingly looked certain to come from the leading group as they opened a gap on the rest, and the question was whether Kiriago, as he has done so often, was biding his time before breaking clear.

It was Beaudoin Rousseau who made the decisive move, though, and he went on to win in 28:55. Leroux was seconds behind in 29:04 and Smith completed the podium in 29:12. Kiriago had to settle for fourth, Elia was fifth and Britain’s Edward Hobbs, 21, who burst on to the World Cup scene at Vertical Nasego this year, took an impressive sixth.

In the women’s race, World Cup leader Ruth Gitonga and fifth-placed Miriam Chepkirui were also absent because of visa problems, but several of the leading ten were on the start line and the points on offer were decisive for the final positions. They included Kenya’s Joyce Muthoni Njeru, 74 points behind Gitonga, and third-placed Kirsty Skye Dickson of Britain. The big favourite, however, was Engelhard, who appeared to be back in top form.

Engelhard wasted no time in hitting the front and by 2km had opened a gap on a small group that included Skye Dickson, Canada’s Elisa Morin and Njeru. She continued to turn the screw on the climb, looking ominously comfortable, as Skye Dickson led the chase, joined now by Canada’s Anne-Marie Comeau and Erin Moyer of the USA.

Engelhard stretched her lead even further and won in 36:43. Skye Dickson was second in 38:32 – 1min 49sec back – and Moyer completed the podium in 38:44. France’s Nelie Clement finished strongly for fourth, Switzerland’s Celine Aebi took fifth and Njeru was eighth.

The race settled the final standings in the uphill category. Njeru won the women’s title with 134 points, ahead of Skye Dickson on 126 and Gitonga on 110, while Atuya took the men’s title with 142 points from Kiriago on 110 and Kipngeno on 100.

The World Cup concludes on Sunday (Oct 11) with the Classic up-and-down race over 11km and 800 metres of ascent.