Tatra SkyMarathon 2024: Race CANCELLED due to thunderstorms

This was originally a preview of the race which was unfortunately cancelled on Saturday due to widespread thunderstorms.

With a mixed forecast, the start times were initially brought forward by an hour, with the women setting off at 8.40am local time.

But the men never got under way 20 minutes later as planned as conditions had deteriorated.

The call was then made to stop the women at a mountain hut 11km into the 28km race, before they reached the exposed section of the course.

They were then shuttled back to the start and as the thunder and lightning became worse, both races were then cancelled.

Organisers investigated whether it is possible to reschedule for Sunday but decided not, with the statement below explaining why.

“A hard decision but definitely the right one,” said David Hellard on commentary duties.

GTWS statement in full

Late on Saturday afternoon, organisers posted the following on Instagram:

“Due to the weather forecast, the race was brought forward to start one hour earlier than originally planned, but unfortunately this wasn’t enough… Shortly after the women’s race set off, unexpected thunderstorms appeared over the race’s course route.

“Light rain rapidly turned into heavy thunderstorms, and the Tatra Sky Marathon race director took the decision to stop the women’s race at the 11-kilometre mark, and to not start the men’s race.

“The weather forecast gave no indication of improvement in the hours to follow, so the final decision to cancel the race entirely was taken. The 6th stage of the Golden Trail World Series will therefore not award any points for the overall ranking.”

Route, start times and how to watch live

Just a week after an epic Sierre-Zinal, race number six in the Golden Trail World Series is scheduled to take place this weekend in Poland.

It’s the first ever visit to Poland for the GTWS – and there are some big changes to the Tatra SkyMarathon as a result.

The race has traditionally been over 40km but it’s down to 28km this year and will feature 1,750 metres of climbing with some technical descents.

The race takes place within the Tatra National Park and the commune of Kościelisko.

The women will start at 0940 local time (which is CET and an hour ahead of UK), with the men 20 minutes later.

The livestream is embedded below so you don’t have to leave this page and live tracking is also available here.

Who is racing?

As you’d expect with a GTWS race, there are stacked fields.

In the women’s race many eyes will be on Joyline Chepngeno after her astonishing debut win at Sierre-Zinal last week.

We’ve been catching up with her remarkable story – click here to find out more.

Romania’s Madalina Florea was third last week, more than 10 minutes behind, and last year’s GTWS Grand Final winner will be aiming to provide more of a threat seven days on.

Malen Osa and Miao Yao are two other big contenders and it will be fascinating to see how Chepngeno backs up last week’s heroics.

For the men, lots revolves around GTWS leader Elhousine Elazzaoui who is a major doubt after twisting his ankle.

There will be huge local support for Bart Przedwojewski while Josphat Kiprotich and Roberto Delorenzi both showed up well at Sierre-Zinal in fourth and fifth respectively.

Course records

With the radical distance change there are no course record times to beat – instead the winning times will set the benchmark for future editions.