The stadium season has barely drawn to a close, yet the next chapter of the athletics calendar is already waiting among the forest trails of Sweden.
The 2026 and 2027 World Athletics Cross Country Tour begins on Saturday September 26th at TCS Lidingöloppet, an event that describes itself as the world’s largest cross country race. This is no quiet return to the hills. Around 35,000 people are expected to take part across three days of running on the island of Lidingö, close to Stockholm.
There will be international athletes chasing victories and tour points, but the scale of the weekend reaches far beyond the elite fields. The flagship 30km race has sold all 18,000 places, forcing organisers to use a planned entry limit for the first time in the event’s history.
It offers a striking handover from the precision of the track season to one of distance running’s oldest tests: changing ground, sharp climbs and the difficult task of judging effort without a lane or a flat surface to help.
A Race That Has Outgrown Its Start Line
Lidingöloppet was first held in 1965 and has developed into one of Sweden’s major participation events. The 30km remains its defining race, beginning at Koltorp before winding across the island towards the finish at Grönsta Gärde.
Interest has risen sharply for 2026. The 18,000 entries in the main race represent an increase of almost 20 per cent on last year, while the entire weekend has attracted about 4,000 more registrations than it did in 2025.
The increase is especially pronounced among younger adults. Runners aged from 18 to 30 account for 34 per cent of the 30km field, with entries from that group up by 22.5 per cent in the space of a year.
Those figures make Saturday more than the opening stop on an international tour. They also provide another sign that the recent running boom is continuing to bring younger people towards events that demand far more than a quick road time.
The 30km Course Offers No Easy Passage
The headline distance contains 522 metres of climbing. Open grass and gravel roads are broken up by sloping paths and steep rises, leaving runners to manage their legs across constant changes of rhythm.
Abborrbacken, the course’s most feared climb, arrives with roughly five kilometres remaining. By then, the field will already have covered most of the island and the early enthusiasm of a crowded start will have been replaced by a much simpler calculation of what energy remains.
The women’s race brings back Sylvia Medugu Kiberenge, who has won the 30km four times and finished second in each of the past three editions. A fifth victory would make her the first runner to reach that total in the event’s main race.
She faces Sweden’s Evelina Henriksson, the reigning Nordic cross country champion and a third place finisher at Lidingöloppet in both 2024 and 2025. Emma Eriksson, fourth last year and a European trail bronze medallist over 52km this spring, also arrives with the type of off road background suited to the course.
Defending men’s champion William Nyarondia Morwabe returns after winning in 1:37:14 last year. His challengers include Swedish distance runner David Nilsson, a former national record holder in the marathon and half marathon, and Olle Kalered, an ultra distance orienteering champion who placed second at the 45km Idre Fjällmaraton in August.
Burundi Heads The 15km Fields
The shorter elite races provide the first Gold level contests of the new World Athletics Cross Country Tour.
Burundi’s Egide Ntakarutimana is the leading name in the men’s 15km after a season that carried him into a global final. He also began 2026 with victory at Campaccio in Italy, one of the traditional fixtures on the international cross country circuit.
His compatriot Francine Niyomukunzi leads the women’s contenders. Niyomukunzi ran 14:41.46 for 5000m during the track season and now returns to the terrain on which she finished second at Campaccio in January.
Denmark’s Sara Schou Kristensen, winner at Lidingöloppet in 2024 and the holder of her country’s half marathon record, is among those attempting to prevent a Burundian double.
The 15km race starts at 10am local time on Saturday, followed by the first wave of the 30km at 12.30pm.
A New Tour Begins Almost Immediately
Lidingöloppet has moved from Silver to Gold status for the new season, placing it in the top tier of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour. The current calendar contains 20 meetings, 13 of them at Gold level.
The months ahead will take the circuit through established European events such as Cinque Mulini in Italy and six meetings in Spain. The schedule also has new ground, including the Broken Hill Man race in Kabwe, Zambia.
That reach gives cross country an important role between the end of the outdoor track programme and the return of major championship racing. Athletes can move from measured laps and fast times to events shaped by gradients, surfaces and conditions, while local runners share the same weekend and much of the same terrain.
Ten Races Across Three Days
The main events form only part of the programme on Lidingö. Racing begins on Friday September 25th with a schools relay, events for participants with disabilities and a 5km race.
Saturday also includes junior and masters contests over 4km and 10km. Sunday is given to children’s races and the Pink Ribbon events over 4km and 10km.
That mixture is central to the identity of Lidingöloppet. A recent global finalist can compete for a Gold level victory in the morning, while thousands of recreational runners confront the same island’s climbs later in the day.
The track season may be finished, but athletics has not paused. It has simply left the stadium and headed for the trees.
Further details, start times and live coverage information are available from the TCS Lidingöloppet website. The international series schedule is available through World Athletics.
Image: TCS Lidingoloppet
