2026 XCM World Championships: schedule, course and favourites to claim the rainbow jersey in the Dolomites

The 2026 XC Marathon World Championship will take place this Saturday, September 12 in San Martino di Castrozza, in the Italian Dolomites. The elite men's and women's titles will be decided over a common course of 95 kilometers and 4,000 meters of positive elevation, starting and finishing in Fiera di Primiero, with David Valero arriving as the top favorite alongside reigning champion Keegan Swenson.

The 2026 XCM World Championship arrives in the Dolomites

The XCM World Championship once again features one of those courses where distance is only part of the difficulty. The planned 95 kilometers accumulate 4,000 meters of ascent and concentrate much of their toughness in a succession of long climbs through the Dolomites. The official profile also shows a particularly rugged layout during its first two-thirds, before returning towards Fiera di Primiero.

The race will use the course of the Mythos Primiero Dolomiti, and both men and women will compete on exactly the same route. The start and finish will be set in the Parco Vallombrosa of Fiera di Primiero.

A year ago, the 2025 XCM World Championship ended with a double victory for the United States. Keegan Swenson and Kate Courtney were crowned world champions in Valais, in an edition where David Valero and Natalia Fischer both finished in fourth place.

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Swenson will be in Italy to defend the rainbow jersey and is once again among the main contenders. The same cannot be said for the women's category. Courtney is not listed among the participants following the radical change her career has taken in recent months.

The American, world XCO champion in 2018 and XCM champion in 2025, signed this summer with FDJ United-SUEZ until 2028 after being crowned United States road champion. Her new focus is on this discipline, and she is now preparing for the road World Championship, meaning there will necessarily be a new XCM world champion on Saturday.

Dates and times of the 2026 XCM World Championship

The entire elite competition will be resolved on Saturday, September 12. The men's race will start at 09:00, and the women will start just half an hour later. The organization estimates about four and a half hours of racing for the men and just over five hours for the women. 

• Saturday, September 12, 09:00: Men's Elite start
• Saturday, September 12, 09:30: Women's Elite start
• 13:30: Estimated arrival of the male winner
• 14:45: Estimated arrival of the female winner
• 15:00: Medal ceremony
• 17:30: Finish line closure

Favorites for the 2026 XCM World Championship

The men's list brings together very different profiles. Pure marathon specialists will share the race with riders coming from XCO and bikers used to competing in gravel, which broadens the range of candidates in a course where the 4,000 meters of elevation will weigh heavily.

Keegan Swenson starts with the symbolic number of defending champion after his 2025 victory, but repeating the title will not be easy. Among his main rivals is David Valero, who has oriented his season towards the marathon and arrives at one of his major goals of the year.

The Granadino has specifically prepared for this race, and his results justify his status among the favorites. Valero is the current XCM European champion, the current leader of the XCM World Cup, and twelve months ago he was just shy of the world podium.

In fact, Spain will go to Italy with four riders. Alongside Valero will be Alberto Barroso and Luis Francisco Pérez, while Natalia Fischer will be the only Spanish representative in the women's race. Fischer also arrives with options after finishing fourth in the 2025 World Championship and doing so this season as the European runner-up. Here we review the complete call-up of the Spanish Team for the 2026 XCM World Championship.

Among the top specialists, special attention should be paid to the German Andreas Seewald, a rider who was already world champion in the discipline and tends to perform particularly well in one-day events, and the Colombian Héctor Leonardo Páez, who also knows what it is to win a World Championship, finished third last year, and is especially dangerous when altitude and elevation make the race tougher. Matthew Beers and Casey South also fit well in a course of these characteristics.

They are joined by several well-known names from XCO such as Jordan Sarrou, Andri Frischknecht, Joel Roth, or Sebastian Fini. Sarrou is probably the most notable name in this group and will face the XCM World Championship after a discreet season in his usual discipline.

Italy will also have a particularly large representation playing at home. Among their main options will be Samuele Porro, second in last year's World Championship, as well as Diego Rosa, Gioele De Cosmo, Jakob Dorigoni, and Fabian Rabensteiner.

The women's race is much more open in the absence of Kate Courtney, although there are three names that initially stand out. Anna Weinbeer, second in the 2025 World Championship, arrives as one of the major references in races with significant elevation; Mona Mitterwallner already knows what it is to win the XCM rainbow jersey, and Savilia Blunk brings one of the most powerful profiles coming from XCO.

Indeed, Mitterwallner will be one of the major references. The Austrian was third last year after having won the three previous world titles, so she arrives in Italy with the opportunity to reclaim a rainbow jersey she knows very well.

The host country, Italy, will also have significant options in the women's race with Claudia Peretti, Giorgia Marchet, Debora Piana, Giada Specia, and Sandra Mairhofer, while Natalia Fischer reappears on her own merits among the medal candidates.

The toughness of the course may ultimately be the great judge. The official layout includes seven notable ascents, and some present average gradients close to or exceeding 10%, so effort management will be decisive long before the final kilometers.