When Élisa Morin moved from France to Montreal in January 2020, she didn’t count on her working profession to shift from the observe to the paths. Six years later, she is a two-time Canadian path working champion, a top-10 finisher at UTMB’s OCC occasion and now an expert path runner with Brooks Working.
Canadian Working sat down with Morin to debate her scenic route from the rubber oval to the worldwide path scene, plus her objectives for 2026, together with defending her title on the Quebec Mega Path 50K in July.
Morin’s breakthrough got here on the 2024 Canadian Mountain and Path Working Championships, the place she signed up for the traditional up-and-down and vertical ascent disciplines as a enjoyable strategy to cap off her observe season. “I bear in mind having no expectations, so my win got here as a shock,” Morin displays.
A yr later, she made historical past, turning into the primary girl to win back-to-back titles in each the vertical ascent and traditional up-and-down occasions. A month earlier, one other breakthrough got here at UTMB’s OCC occasion, the place she ran to a ninth-place end in opposition to a number of the world’s finest path runners.
“I bear in mind being the one one who completed within the prime 10 with no sponsor,” Morin laughs. “After that, I had a number of manufacturers attain out, however I finally selected to signal with Brooks.”
One of many deciding elements was Morin’s confidence within the model’s path merchandise. “It was one thing I actually believed in, and my shut pal Remi [Leroux] was already with the model. He spoke very extremely about how he was handled and about Brooks’ deal with creating efficiency path gear,” she says.
Final yr, Morin cemented her place on the worldwide path scene with a string of robust performances. In three months, she broke the 50K course file on the Quebec Mega Path at Mont-Sainte-Anne, adopted it along with her top-10 end on the OCC in France and rounded off her season with one other top-10 outcome on the 2025 World Mountain and Path Working Championships in Spain.
When requested what modified in 2025, Morin pointed at her choice to decide to path working absolutely. In earlier seasons, she had cut up her time between trails and roads, working the Valencia Marathon in 2024 and competing on the Canadian 10K Street Championships in Ottawa. She says she isn’t able to ditch the roads totally, believing they’re an necessary strategy to construct velocity.
“I’m actually excited to start out my 2026 season on the roads on the Trials of Miles 13.1 [in Valley Cottage, N.Y.] on March 21,” Morin says, on her skilled debut. “The plan is to start out on the roads after which shift to extra path racing later within the yr.”
The 29-year-old’s final purpose for 2026 is to qualify for the Golden Path World Collection (GTWS) Remaining in October. To take action, Morin might want to accumulate sufficient factors throughout the eight GTWS occasions to complete inside the highest 30.
Past reaching peaks and podiums, Morin says what issues most is the legacy she needs to depart behind. “I wish to present all runners that you just don’t must deal with ultra-trail distances to achieve success,” she says. “You’ll be able to deal with short-distance path and nonetheless be good at it.”