About
Elhousine Elazzaoui is a Moroccan trail and mountain runner born on March 16, 1992, in Zagora, a desert gateway town at the edge of the Sahara in southern Morocco, who in 2024 became the first African to win the Golden Trail World Series and was named Trail Runner Magazine's Trail Runner of the Year. Raised in a traditionally nomadic Berber family, he grew up running through desert sand and mountain terrain. He turned professional in 2018 and relocated to Switzerland to access the altitude and mountain training required to compete at the highest level, while returning to Zagora each winter to help his family's tourism business. A certified Moroccan tourist guide for both desert and mountain, Elazzaoui's racing style — explosive on technical descents and lethal in a late-race sprint — reflects decades of natural movement through harsh terrain. In 2024 he won three GTWS regular-season events including a course record at the Marathon du Mont Blanc (3:30:10), swept both the prologue and the Final, and clinched the overall championship with a perfect 1,000-point score. He followed up in 2025 with victories at the prestigious Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon and the Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k in California. He now races under the NNormal brand, and his journey from Sahara nomad to two-time GTWS champion has been documented in a film titled The Nomad.
Notable Wins
- — Golden Trail World Series 2024 (overall champion
- — 1
- — 000 pts)
- — Golden Trail World Series Finals 2023
- — Marathon du Mont Blanc 2024 (course record 3:30:10)
- — Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon 2025
- — Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k 2025
- — Trail Runner of the Year 2024
Recent Coverage
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