The 2026 Hong Kong 100 trail race will kick off next Thursday. The 50 km category will take place on January 23, and from the announced elite entries there is plenty to look forward to.

On the men's side, Japan's Rui Ueda is the biggest favorite. His main rivals include Sweden's Anton Gustafsson, Britain's Luke Grenfell-Shaw, Portugal's Tiago Vieira, Japan's Mitsuteru Ogasawara, and Chinese runners Zhang Sheng (HK100 officially lists his ITRA performance score as 858, but it's actually over 900), Tian Peng, Shi Aiai and Shi Guo.

Marathon PB 2:11, Yang Chunlong will run in this category — can he beat opponents with ITRA scores over 900?

This year the HK100 50 km course has changed: total distance 50.01 km, cumulative ascent 2,078 m, cumulative descent 2,089 m, and faster finishing times are expected.

On the women's side, Hungarian runner Eszter Csillag and CCC and OCC double champion Toni McCann lead the elite lineup.

The field includes Japanese runner Yuri Yoshizumi and Chinese prospects Lei Yan, Zhang Ting, Yang Yan and Luo Qiong. In addition, China's most popular marathoner Huang Xuemei is also taking part — how will she perform against the trail-running elites?