The Mountain Running World Cup arrived on La Palma this week for the most dramatic stretch of the 2026 calendar, with Wednesday's vertical kilometre and Saturday's half marathon serving as stages four and five of the eight-event series. By the time the half-marathon field assembled in Tazacorte on Saturday morning, both leaders' jerseys had changed shape: Kenya's Joyce Njeru had stretched her advantage in the women's standings, while compatriot Richard Omaya Atuya took over the men's lead with a convincing VK win on Wednesday.
Atuya's victory on the 7.28-kilometre course up Cumbre Vieja came in 45:01, a time that put him 32 seconds ahead of Philemon Kiriago, who finished in 47:33. Ephantus Mwangi Njeri rounded out a Kenyan podium sweep in 47:39. The men's race had begun the day with three athletes within ten points of the World Cup lead, but Atuya — who had not raced a VK on the 2026 circuit before La Palma — claimed a maximum points haul that pushed him to the top of the standings ahead of Italy's Andrea Rostan and Switzerland's Patrick Kipngeno, both of whom finished outside the top ten on the steep La Palma course.
The women's race was a further demonstration of Njeru's range. The Kenyan, who had taken the season-opening São Brás Cross title on grass in Portugal, rebuilt her lead with a measured pacing strategy, coming through the halfway checkpoint in second place before pulling away over the second half of the climb. Italy's Lia Schweizer and Spain's Ainhoa Sanz, the runners who had been closest to her in the standings, slipped further back after off-podium finishes. With three stages still to come, Njeru now holds a points lead that World Mountain Running Association statisticians describe as effectively a one-result cushion: even a poor day at one of the final three stages would not cost her the overall jersey.
The Transvulcania Half Marathon on Saturday is the longer and gentler of the two La Palma stages, but it carries equal points weighting under the 2026 World Cup format. Britain's Sophia L'Hirondel, the surprise winner of the China double-header, leads a women's startlist that includes Njeru, Russia's Ekaterina Mityaeva and Spain's Ainhoa Sanz. The men's race lines up American Ben Dhiman, French course-specialist Thomas Cardin and the Forsberg brothers behind Atuya. The half marathon course is run downhill from the rim of Cumbre Vieja toward Tazacorte and rewards descending technique as heavily as climbing fitness.
After La Palma the World Cup pauses for two weeks before stage six at Penyagolosa Trails in Castellón, Spain, on May 23, with the season closing at Beijing Changping in June and the Mountain Running Festival in Innsbruck-Stubai in July. The 2026 series is the first under a revised points structure that grants extra weight to the closing two events, meaning the leaders cannot yet treat the standings as settled. For Njeru and Atuya, however, La Palma has converted what was a multi-name title race in March into one with two clear favourites at the front of the field.