Britain’s Scout Adkin and Andrew Douglas finished second behind Kenyan runners at the WMRA mountain event in Portugal.
The 2026 Mountaineering World Cup season got off to a spectacular start with the São Brás Cross in central Portugal providing a fitting and atmospheric curtain call. This year’s World Cup competition is the most ambitious yet, spanning four continents and 10 countries across 16 races; a global showcase that balances beloved calendar highlights such as Sierre-Zinal and the Grossglockner Mountain Run with new venues designed to showcase exciting new locations and landscapes.
THE COURSE
São Brás Cross made an immediate impression on its World Cup debut, featuring just the variety of terrain and surfaces its name implies. The classic up-and-down graded 10.9km route with 628m of ascent was a fitting season opener for the World Cup given its manageable distance and elevation.
The course immediately established its personality on the runners. Starting among the cobbled streets and stone-fronted houses of a traditional Portuguese village, the course dropped into a steep valley where competitors crossed a gravel river, their first taste of the gorge and river terrain that defines this part of Central Portugal. From there, the run climbed steeply to its high point before a quick, switchback descent gave way to a forest track that ran along the river until the 7km mark.
The closing stages promised to be unforgiving. A long penultimate climb was followed by a descent into town before the final, punishing climb en route to the finish line ensured no athlete could afford to rest until they crossed the line.
As the home race of World Cup sponsor Tourism Central Portugal, the São Brás Cross had every incentive to impress, and it did. An extremely steep or technical course was a true mountain classic; diverse, scenic and demanding enough to sort out the field without overwhelming it. A great first test for the athletes in this year’s competition.
ACTION FROM FEMALE AND MALE TRIBES
The race had separate starts for men and women, with the women starting first.
In the women’s race, it was the defending World Cup champion Scout Adkin (GBR, HOKA EU) who struck, followed closely by one of the leading stars of last year’s World Cup Nellie Cleman (FRA, Gap Hautes Alpes Athlétisme) and 2025 World Championship Classic race runner-up, Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga (KEN, Run2gether On Trail). Elle Twentyman (GBR, New Balance) completed the preliminary group, with Marie Nivett (FRA, Nike ACG) 15 seconds back.
For men, as expected, it was Michael Crying Saoli (KEN, Run2gether On Trail), third overall at last year’s World Cup, who set the early pace. He was initially joined by a group of nine including Theodore Klein (FRA, Entente Haute Alsace), 2019 World Cup Champion Andrew Douglas (GBR, Westerlands CCC) and Matthew Knowles (GBR, Salomon Great Britain), Junior World Champion 2019.
The first gaps began to open on the long climb that took the runners 3.5km to the summit. Adkin led Gitonga, then Clement was 30 seconds behind them, followed by Xan, another gap to Martina Falchetti (ITA, La Sportiva) and Nivet. The climb had a similar effect on the men’s race, with Saoli breaking away from the pack to take the lead, with Douglas just 10 seconds behind, trailing; Oscar Dawn-Symons (GBR, Team OMM / Ambleside AC), Klein and Knowles.
But while the long climb began to shake things up, it was the downhill section between kilometers four and six that proved decisive. It was here that Gitonga made his move and passed Adkin and it was here that Saoli left the chasing Douglas. Gaps began to open in the top 10 in both areas.
At 7.5km, Gitonga was 25 seconds ahead of Adkin, opening up 30 seconds with Clement remaining third, then a minute back of Twentyman, with Nivet another minute adrift of the women’s top five. It was starting to look like the top three would be hard to catch, but anything can happen on fast, classic courses like this.
At the same point for the men, Saoli had built a 30-second gap to Douglas and Klein, a small gap to Subuh-Simons, with Knowles a little further back. The men’s podium was still within reach for a number of runners, and it would all come down to the next climb, a super-fast descent and the city’s last lung-busting uphill sprint to the finish.
Although Adkin applied consistent pressure, Gitonga proved impossible to turn around and she won the women’s 49-12. Adkin was second in 50:13 and Clement finished third in 51.20, closing his gap to Twentyman to almost two minutes. Gitonga announced himself on the World Cup stage in a big way and looks set to be a new force alongside Adkin.
Saoli couldn’t catch up either to win the men’s race in 42:22 with Douglas a really strong second in 43:27. Subuh-Simons overtook Klein in the final kilometers to take third, a major milestone in her mountain running career thus far. In this race we saw a number of male athletes new to the World Cup, which bodes well for an exciting season ahead.
Women
- Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga (KEN, Run2gether On Trail) – 49:12
- Scout Adkin (GBR, HOKA EU) – 50:13
- Nellie Cleman (FRA, Gap Hautes Alpes Athlétisme) – 51:20
- Elle Twentyman (GBR, New Balance) – 53:07
- Marie Nivett (FRA, Nike ACG) – 53:20
Men
- Michael Crying Saoli (KEN, Run2gether On Trail) – 42:22
- Andrew Douglas (GBR, Westerlands CCC) – 43:37
- Oscar Dawn-Symons (GBR, Team OMM/Ambleside AC) – 44:07
- Theodore Klein (FRA, Entente Haute Alsace) – 44:39
- Matthew Knowles (GBR, Salomon Great Britain) – 45:37
The World Cup next heads to China for a double-header in Beijing with an up-and-down climb and classic race at the Yanshou Trail Challenge next weekend. See the full World Cup calendar here WMRA WORLD CUP
