Marcello Ugazio, the Italian FISKY champion, left everyone behind in the Vertical de la Mughéra. Italy’s Camilla Magliano won the women’s category of the race. About eighty skyrunners were on the starting line of the first of two races taking place in the striking location of Alto Garda. While the strong Piedmont athletes did not break records, their success was impressive in one of the most technical and prestigious “only up” challenges of the Alps. The VK OPEN Championship by ISF final, the last of 10 races that ranged from China to Brazil, crowned Nicolas Lasen Pingel from Chile and Mojca Koligar from Slovenia as the winners.
The extremely technical race with a 1,100-meter elevation gain in less than 3 kilometers was the setting for a hard-fought battle between Italy’s Ugazio and Luka Kovacic from Slovenia right from the start. The two went head-to-head until the very end, when Ugazio was able to step up the pace and win in 37’50”. Kovacic took second place (38’00”). The promising athlete Andrea Rostan from Piedmont took third (39’24”). Rounding out the top five were Armin Larch (39’45”) and Manuel da Col (40’17”).
In the women’s category, Camila Magliano came out on top in the last race of the world championship, stopping the chronometer at 47’23”. Mojca Koligar from Slovenia (48’29”) and Dimitra Theocharis from Friuli (52’26”) took second and third place. Charlotte Cotton came in fourth at 53’04” and Martina De Silvestro was fifth with 53’44”.
The times to beat in this spectacular race remain Rémi Bonnet’s 36’02” (2018) and Andrea Mayr’s 42’43” (2021).
