Henri Aymonod (ITA) and Andrea Mayr (AUT) both picked up victories at the gruelling Vertical Nasego race in round seven of the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup.
The pair both have history of success on one of the steepest courses on the World Cup calendar – Aymonod came into the race as the reigning champion of the event, while Mayr is the women’s course record holder.
It has proved to be fruitful couple of weekends for the duo, with both coming out on top at Challenge Stellina last Sunday.
In the men’s event, Aymonod completed the testing 4.3km, 1000m ascent in 35:38, 0.22 quicker than second placed Andrea Rostan (ITA) and 0:34 ahead of Petro Mamu (ERI).
The victory has solidified his position as the WMRA World Ranked #1, as he added to third placed finishes in World Cup events Tatra Race Run and Montée du Nid d’Aigle earlier this year.
The podium finishes for Rostan and Mamu were their firsts of this season’s World Cup, with the pair finishing just a handful of seconds ahead of Zak Hanna (IRL).
Mamu, who has been ranked as high as #2 in the WMRA World Rankings over the past year, picked up a win at the Fletta TRAIL event last month, outside of the World Cup competition.
In the women’s race, the domineering Mayr finished in 38:51, 1:18 clear of Grayson Murphy (USA) and some 3:29 ahead of Joyce Njeru (KEN).
It was Mayr’s first World Cup success of the season, though she has picked up victories outside of the competition this year, at PizTri VERTIKAL and the Austrian National Championship, as well as a second at Fletta TRAIL.
She faced tough competition in the form of defending World Champion Murphy, who was recently crowned US National Mountain Running Champion and was racing in Europe for the first time.
Njeru meanwhile came into the race as the WMRA World Ranked #1, and her podium finish saw her add yet another medal to her World Cup collection following her triumphs at Krkonossky Half Marathon and Grossglockner Berglauf.
Men
- Henri Aymonod (ITA) 35:38
- Andrea Rostan (ITA) 36:00
- Petro Mamu (ERI) 36:12
- Zak Hanna (IRL) 36:18
- Tiziano Moia (ITA) 37:15
Women
- Andrea Mayr (AUT) 38:51
- Grayson Murphy (USA) 40:08
- Joyce Njeru (KEN) 42:19
- Erica Ghelfi (ITA) 42:41
- Susanna Saapunki (FIN) 43:26
A Nasego double header this weekend sees a second WMRA World Cup event in two days, with Trofeo Nasego in round eight taking place tomorrow. The action in northern Italy gets underway at 9:30am local time.
