GTWS Is “Raising Their Stakes”

Salomon’s Golden Trail World Series is announcing several “upgrades” to their upcoming season:

Today, the GTWS unveils a set of significant updates for the 2026 season, including increased prize money, clearer overall ranking mechanics, and a strengthened integrity program. 

On one side this is an exciting time. To see big brands continuing to up the ante for elites in our sport is welcome and needed. On the other side seeing them “still not having it figured out” is also a sign that there’s room for other players and creative people in our sport to define what ‘trail running on a professional level’ should or could mean. The earliest trail running can be in the Olympics would be 2032. Lots of time… or maybe not enough to fine tune what the sport of trail running will look like on camera.