2026 Sierre Zinal Race Preview

We're gonna go into the in-depth picks.

I don't have quite as many notes on all the results, but I'm just gonna kind of go off the dome about what I think about each of the runners, and I've kind of divided them more heavily into categories.

So you're still gonna get the in-depth preview and really what I think.

And then last but not least, I'm gonna give you some picks, uh, and also picks that I would consider swapping in or subbing in for my, my, uh, my top 10 as well.

So, uh, let's see.

Uh, articles or links that I've d- discussed in this podcast.

Uh, we're gonna talk about two different Doug Meyer articles.

Doug Meyer is the founder of Run the Alps, a really awesome organization that does kind of like hut-to-hut hike, uh, running, uh, trips in the Italian Dolomites and, uh, like around Mont Blanc and in different areas in Europe.

I think he's originally from New Hampshire.

He's written some really great books on UTMB and also on trail running in Switzerland and France.

Uh, the Switzerland one I'm using for my honeymoon here in a little bit.

But anyways, I got two of his articles linked.

One for a Trail Runner magazine article, or Trail Runner mag article that he did, I believe in 2015, uh, about Sierre-Zinal and the history of it, c- uh, called "The Heart Before the Watch," uh, which is something that the founder of Sierre-Zinal would say, and we'll talk about that.

Another article I have linked is Doug Meyer, uh, his article for the 50th anniversary in 2023, where he interviews a bunch of previous champs.

And then I also have another Run the Alps article with previous champion Chuck Schmid, the first-ever American to win it in 1977.

And then the last two things I have linked are the Freetrail, uh, Instagram page, the graphic on Sierre-Zinal that we're gonna talk about a good bit today.

And then we also have, uh, two different previews from iRunFar, both the men's and the women's preview for Sierre-Zinal, which I'll mention in a little bit.

But also, I would say a lot of things I'm saying, if you like, if you like to do a written version of a, a preview, go check out their stuff.

They put out awesome things, and so does Aid Station Fireball.

Uh, Liam Tryon, whom sure will be putting out something.

And then if not, then keep on listening.

We'll talk about it.

So first things first, we're gonna talk about the history of Sierre-Zinal.

It's a race connecting the Swiss city of Sierre to the mountain village of Zinal in the, in Nivier Valley.

The race, uh, also known as the race of five 4,000 peaks, 'cause there's five 4,000-meter peaks that you can see from it.