The first leg of the 2011 European Skyrunning Championships held in Switzerland today had some surprises in store: the men’s winner Robert Krupicka from the Czech Republic and the women’s winner, Oihana Kortazar, fresh from her victoryu in the World Series Zegama race in Spain.

The winning national teams, based on the results of three men and one woman, were Spain, Italy and new entry Russia.

Nearly 500 athletes from twelve European nations competed over the International SkyRace® course:  30 km long with a 1,850m vertical climb. Weeks of rain and heavy storms left their mark with more snow than usual around the 2,627m Campaneda Pass making for an extremely demanding technical descent where seasoned skyrunners artfully out-manouvred their rivals.

Krupicka, who won the race over a reduced course three years ago, was determined to make the day his. At the pass he had a five minute advantage over Spaniard Luis Hernando and Italian Mikhail Mamleev closing in 2h39’59”, the third best time ever, but far from Marco De Gasperi’s 2h32’03” record. Hernando and Mamleev finished second and third respectively.

Twentyseven year-old Kortazar is an athlete we’re going to be seeing a lot more of. After her strong win less than two weeks ago in Zegama, she led the course from start to finish closing in 3h18’46”. 2010 world champion Emanuela Brizio suffered the ascent, but her downhill talent and experience stood her in good stead to overtake four competitors to finish second.

Third was Spain’s Nuria Dominquez who overtook France’s Corinne Favre in the last three kilometres. Russia’s Zhanna Vokueva showed great promise on the ascent, jostling between second and third position but losing out to the more experienced skyrunners on the descent.

A long skyrunning season attends the European Skyrunning Championship final in Spain on November 5 where the combined individual and team points at the Puig Campana Vertical Kilometer® will be determined.

Race results

Men
ROBERT KRUPICKA
LUIS HERNANDO
MIKHAIL MAMLEEV

Women
OIHANA KORTAZAR
EMANUELA BRIZIO
NURIA DOMINGUEZ

National team results
SPAIN 326
ITALY 298
RUSSIA 158

Full ranking