The skyrunning season will be decided on Saturday: a double world final on the mountains bordering the Lombardy and Trentino regions. The striking Alto Garda location and its highly technical trails will be called upon for the 9th time in 12 editions to crown the king and queen of the season. 599 athletes from 34 different nations are confirmed at the starting line: of these 125 will run the Vertical de la Mughéra, the only-up 1,160 m elevation gain condensed into just 3 very steep kilometers, while the remaining 474 will be participating in the 22.2 km (2,052 elevation gain) Limone Skyrunning Extreme race.
In addition to the first-place spot of the day, the ranking of the ISF (International Skyrunning Federation) VK OPEN Championship circuit is also up for grabs. The Skymaster race (for athletes on the World Cup circuit) will decide the winners of the Skyrunning World Series. Both races will have "Scarpa" as the main technical sponsor.
FOR VERTICALISTS:
Vertical specialists will raise the curtain at 9:30 a.m. on the most important Saturday of the season. Also on the starting line will be top athletes of the specialty who competed in 13 races held in 9 different countries this summer. The race, obviously open, will see champions and amateurs compete on the acrobatic ascent leading to the finish line on Cima Mughéra. The route is the same as always: a 1100 m elevation gain in less than 3 kilometers. From the starting line at just 60 meters above sea level, the course shoots up along a specially "cleaned" and marked trail to the finish line at 1,160 meters above sea level. The times to beat are 36'02" by Rémi Bonnet (2018) and 42'43" by Andrea Mayr (2021).
Browsing the starting list, all eyes will be on Fernanda Maciel from Brazil, Mojca Koligar from Slovenia, Yoann Sert from France, Andrea Elia from Lecco, Valentina Belotti from Brescia, Philip Reiter from Germany, Emanuele Manzi from Como, Marcello Ugazio from Piedmont, Manuel Da Col from Venice, Elena Nicolini from Trentino, Friulian Dimitra Theocharis and her compatriots Tiaziano Moia and Micheal Galassi.
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SKYMASTER WILL DECIDE THE WINNERS OF THE SKYRUNNING WORLD SERIES:
For the 9th time in 12 editions, Limone will once again be the final that decides the season. Starting at 11:00 a.m. from Lungolago Marconi, there will be two separate starts, the same route, and a single ranking from which the winners of the Cup circuit and the best overall time trials will emerge. That's right: it will be a challenge within a challenge. In addition to the first-place winner of the day, the spotlight will also be on the exceptional Skymaster event with a stellar starting list that includes medalists from the 2023 Continental, Youth and Master Championships as well as the first-place winners in the Skyrunner® National Series (the top 10 ranking men and women).
Only those who completed three races in the series over the summer, finishing in the top ten, plus the SkyMaster athletes can aspire to the 100,000 euros of the final prize money. Ranking in hand, only 50 points separate the top teams. Iris Pessey (Team Scott Running) and Clementine Geoffray (Team Evadict) from France lead the women's ranking with 280 points. Only 40 points behind is Karina Carsolio from Mexico (Team Black Diamond), and immediately after is American Hillary Gerardi with 230 points (Team Scarpa/Black Diamond). Canadian Emma Cook-Clarke (Team Arc'teryx), currently third, will not compete due to injury.
The men's race will definitely be a hard-fought battle. In first place is Antonio Martinez from Spain (Team Scarpa) with 280 points. Tied in second place with 240 points are Frederic Tranchand from France (Team Scott Running) and Manuel Merillas from Spain (Team Scarpa). Also watch out for William Boffelli from Bergamo (Team Crazy / Hoka) and Louison Coiffet from France (Team Merrell) who follows at a very short distance.
The winners of the day and the cup will therefore be decided on the tried and tested 22.22 km loop with an elevation gain of 2052 meters. Here, the times to beat will be 2h23'03" by Nadir Maguet and 2h55'23" by Denisa Dragomir. Maguet from the Aosta Valley and Martina Valmassoi from the Veneto region may be the outsiders of the day who scramble the cards on the table in the Skyrace rankings. Keep an eye on Johanna Astrom from Sweden, Meg Mackenzie from South Africa, Roberto Delorenzi from Switzerland, Silvan Cachard from France, Sara Alonso from Spain, Elisa Desco from Piedmont, Giuditta Turini from Aosta Valley, Marcela Vasinova from the Czech Republic, Martina Cumerlato from Veneto, Luca Del Pero from Brianza, Lorenzo Beltrami, Mattia Gianola, and Daniel Antonioli from Lecco, and Gianluca Ghiano from Piedmont.
