Maite Maiora

About

Maite Maiora Elizondo (born 20 June 1980) is a Basque trail runner and skyrunner from Mendaro, Guipúzcoa who has spent more than two decades as one of Spain's most decorated mountain racing athletes — all while working as a police officer. Raised in the Basque highlands among climbers, skiers, and alpinists, she took up trail running after watching the Zegama-Aizkorri mountain marathon from the roadside, a decision that launched a career spanning skyrunning, ultradistance racing, and national and world championship competition. She won gold at the 2016 Skyrunning World Championships in the SkyMarathon discipline — and silver in the Vertical Kilometer — then claimed the overall 2017 Skyrunner World Series title along with a course record at Zegama-Aizkorri and a win at Ultra Pirineu. She added the Ultra category world title at the 2021 ISF Skyrunning World Championships and won the Val d'Aran by UTMB in 2022. At UTMB 2024 she finished 12th overall in 26:50:35 and was awarded the senior women's gold medal in the W45 age category. A Vibram-sponsored athlete and long-standing fixture of the World Trail Majors circuit, Maiora is proof that skyrunning speed and ultradistance endurance are far from mutually exclusive.

Notable Wins

• — Trail World Championships 2015 bronze
• — Skyrunning World Championships SkyMarathon 2016 gold
• — Skyrunner World Series 2017
• — Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon 2017 CR
• — Ultra Pirineu 2017
• — ISF Skyrunning World Championships Ultra 2021
• — Val d'Aran by UTMB 2022

Race History