Egide Ntakarutimana wins at Campaccio (© Organisers)
The World Athletics Cross Country Tour returns on Saturday (26), with one of the discipline’s most distinctive events providing the starting point for the 2026-2027 season.
Having previously been a Silver level fixture, the TCS Lidingöloppet in Lidingö, Sweden, has been upgraded to Gold for this season as it joins the top tier of a tour that will take athletes to some of the world’s most prestigious cross-country races over the coming months.
At the time of publication, 20 meetings feature on the 2026-2027 Cross Country Tour calendar, 13 of them at Gold level. They include some of the sport’s most prestigious cross-country races, among them the Cinque Mulini and six leading Spanish meetings, as well as new additions to the Tour such as the Broken Hill Man in Kabwe, Zambia.
First held in 1965, Lidingöloppet lays claim to being the world’s largest cross-country event, with tens of thousands of runners taking part across the weekend. Its history includes victories for distance running greats such as Grete Waitz, Ingrid Kristiansen, Douglas Wakiihuri and Benson Masya.
It is also unlike most other stops on the Cross Country Tour. Alongside the 15km races, athletes can tackle the event’s famously demanding 30km course – the longest race on this season’s tour.
Recent global finalist Egide Ntakarutimana and fellow Burundian Francine Niyomukunzi are among the leading contenders in the 15km races, while several former winners return for the 30km.
Ntakarutimana and Niyomukunzi target another winning start
Ntakarutimana will arrive in Lidingö at the end of a breakthrough track and road season in which he has repeatedly shown his range.
The Burundian has recorded top-10 finishes at two global championships in recent weeks, placing eighth at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship and ninth at the World Athletics Road Running Championships.
Before that he finished second over 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League Final, setting a Burundian record of 12:46.73. He also achieved top-four finishes at the Paris and Zurich Diamond League meetings and has set PBs this year of 7:28.13 for 3000m, 13:12 for 5km and 1:00:34 for the half marathon.
Cross country is also familiar territory. Ntakarutimana began 2026 with victory at the Campaccio and followed it with another win at the Italian Cross Country Championships. Nine months on, he will be looking to make a similarly successful start to his 2026-2027 campaign.
His compatriots Elie Sindayikengdera and Tharcisse Nizigiyimana add further Burundian strength to the field. Sindayikengdera, who has run 13:01.96 for 5000m, finished 20th at the World Road Running Championships last weekend.
Sweden’s Axel Djurberg returns after finishing second at Lidingöloppet last year, while two of the host nation’s leading young distance runners will also be in action.
Karl Ottfalk won 5000m silver and 3000m bronze at last year’s European U20 Championships, while Jonathan Grahn was the European U20 3000m champion in 2023 and added 10,000m silver at the European U23 Championships in 2025.
Niyomukunzi will make her first cross-country appearance since finishing second at the Campaccio in January, having spent much of the intervening period racing on the track and roads.
The Burundian has improved her PBs to 8:33.27 for 3000m and 14:41.46 for 5000m this year, while her 30:42 road 10km best is a national record. She finished 18th in the 5km at the World Road Running Championships last weekend.
Niyomukunzi, who competed over 10,000m at the World Championships in 2025, has already enjoyed success at some of Europe’s most established cross-country meetings, winning the Campaccio in 2024 and in Albufeira in 2025.
Among those challenging her will be Denmark’s Sara Schou Kristensen, the 2024 Lidingöloppet winner and national half marathon record-holder.
Estonian steeplechase record-holder and national cross-country champion Laura Maasik is also entered, along with Amanda Kleijn, who finished fifth in the 15km last year, and Moa Gustafsson, fifth in last year’s 30km.
Former champions return for 30km
The 30km races bring together several athletes with proven form on Lidingö’s challenging course.
Kenya’s William Nyarondia Morwabe will defend the men’s title after making a remarkable winning return last year. Returning to racing after a six-year break, he covered the course in 1:37:15 to beat 2024 champion Ebba Tulu Chala by just 11 seconds.
The pair will meet again on Saturday, while David Nilsson steps up in distance after winning the 15km race last year. Olle Kalered, fifth over 30km in 2024, is another returning contender.
The women’s race could provide a piece of Lidingöloppet history for Sylvia Medugu Kiberenge. A winner in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, the Kenyan is aiming to become the first woman to win the 30km race five times. She came close to adding another victory last year, finishing second in 1:51:18.
That performance remains the second-fastest in the history of the race, bettered only by Carolina Johnson’s course record of 1:49:19 set in winning last year.
Swedish 10,000m champion Evelina Henriksson, third in 2025, returns to challenge again, while 2:28:59 marathon runner Hanna Lindholm is also entered.
The huge fields across the weekend will include athletes with experience stretching across several generations of Swedish distance running.
Swedish record-holder and 2016 European 800m bronze medallist Lovisa Lindh is among the entrants, as is 1989 world U20 cross-country champion Malin Ewerlof. Ewerlof has won the Lidingöloppet 30km three times, with victories in 1996, 2001 and 2009.
