Yuri Yoshizumi & De Lorenzi won the circuit.
The Moroccan of Team Salomon Elhousine Elazzaoui left the competition behind in the dust and won the Mughéra Vertical in 38'26" (final of the brand new ISF VK Open Championship). Taking second place was Andrea Rostan at 38'41", while Omi Ryunosuke from Japan, at 38'57", took third. Rémi Bonnet's 2018 record (36'02”) still stands. Yuri Yoshizumi & De Lorenzi won the circuit.
Meanwhile, the record for the women's race was pulverized. World champion Andrea Mayr, in the lead from the first to the last meter, achieved a stratospheric time of 42'43" (the previous record belonged to Judith Wyder from Switzerland 43'47). Joining Mayr on the podium were the Slovenian Mojca Koligar at 47'37" and the Norwegian Karoline Kyte at 48'00”.
On the first day of the two-day event in Limone, one hundred skyrunners took part in the adrenaline-fueled only up race that started out from the Marconi lakefront in the center of Limone sul Garda and took them in an ascent of just over 3km to an altitude of over 1090 m, with lots of fixed ropes and steep stretches overlooking the lake.
Ready, set, go! In the first part of the ascent it was Italian Andrea Rostan from Piedmont who set the pace and took the lead. Up until halfway into the race, he was followed by the Moroccan Elhousine Elazzaoui, Omi Ryunosuke from Japan, and the Slovenian Luka Kovacic.
In the women's race, only one woman was in the lead. World champion Andrea Mayr immediately imposed the law of survival of the fittest, and even competed against the men. The probability that the race record could be at risk was in the air. Following Mayr, with ever wider gaps, were Slovenian Mojca Koligar, the Norwegian Karoline Kyte, and the Italian specialty champion Fabiola Conti.
At 200 meters from the summit, there was no change in the lead of the race. Andrea Rostan was still ahead of Elhousine Elazzaoui; he was followed by the Czech Martin Zhor at 5” and at 15" by the Slovenian Kovacic. The female gap became even more important. Mayr raced towards the record, followed at 3'30" by Mojca Koligar and the Norwegian Karoline Kyte.
Just missing the podium, the Slovenian Kovacic in 4th place and the Trentino Alberto Vender in 5th place both ran an incredible race. In the women's top five, Fabiola Conti in 4th place and Yuri Yoshizumi in 5th place deserve mention.
With rankings in hand, the Japanese Yuri Yoshizumi with 302 points won the VK circuit in the women’s category over Andrea Mayr (300) and Charlotte Cotton (288). In the men's category, Roberto de Lorenzi from Switzerland (258) won, beating Benoit Gandoldi (252) and Nikola Kalistrin (200).
