The 23-year-old American trail runner from Salt Lake City sits atop the standings of the seven-race Golden Trail World Series as the two-day final event gets underway on October 19 in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. In just her second year as a professional trail runner and her third year racing competitively, Laukli has been a nearly unbeatable force on some of the world's most iconic "sub-ultra" mountain races in the U.S. and Europe.Laukli won the 42K (26.2-mile) Mont Blanc Marathon on June 25 in Chamonix, France, then placed a close second in the 22K (13.6-mile) DoloMyths Race on July 15 in Canazei, Italy.
For years, the primary option for collegiate distance runners with experience in cross country and 5,000- and 10,000-meter racing on the track was to immerse in high-mileage training after graduation and try to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. The latest to do so is newly minted Brooks trail running team member Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, a recent Stanford graduate from Sunnyvale, California, who was a strong cross country runner for the Cardinal with a 13:39 personal best for 5,000 meters on the track. "And then as soon as I discovered that world of competitive trail running, I was like, 'This is absolutely what I wanna do when I finish up college."