Trail Running at the Olympics

Trail Running at the Olympics

Trail Running at the Olympics – British runners have launched a new campaign to introduce trail running at future Olympic Games, running 455km from London to Paris.

This summer’s Olympics mark 100 years since the last time off-road running was an official discipline, with cross-country, now more commonly known as trail running, last contested at the 1924 Paris Games.

The campaign, led by
Merrell
and supported by athletes from running clubs across the United Kingdom, aims to introduce trail running into the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. This initiative comes after the London to Paris relay race, completed in four days, to draw attention to the need to recognize trail running as an Olympic discipline.

Recently, trail running has gained notoriety through such notable feats as Jasmin Paris in the Barkley Marathons and Russ Cook in Africa, signaling a period of strong growth and global popularity for the sport.

The rapid rise of trail running is highlighted by data from the International Federation of Athletics, which reports it as one of the fastest growing sports in the world with millions of participants in races, events and recreational runs. Enthusiasts argue that given its growing popularity and the physical commitment required, trail running deserves a place on the Olympic calendar, especially considering the introduction of new sports such as breakdancing, surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing planned for Paris 2024.

Merrell sent an open letter to representatives of theInternational Olympic Committee and theInternational Trail Running Association, as well as to Brisbane 2032, asking them to consider including this discipline in the upcoming Games. Simon Sweeney, Merrell’s marketing manager, emphasized the desire to mobilize the international trail running community around this cause, emphasizing that it is time to recognize trail running on the Olympic calendar, ending a century of waiting dating back to the infamous cross-country competition at the 1924 Paris Games.