The third and final day of the 2024 Skyrunning World Championships in Soria, Spain, was the turn of the SKY discipline where Spain and Sweden took the gold. The silver medals went to Italy and Sweden, and the bronze were taken by Japan and Mexico.
Overall, Spain, Italy and Japan came out on top of the country rankings for the VERTICAL, SKYULTRA and SKY disciplines at this eighth edition of the Skyrunning World Championships.
With a record 41 countries from five continents participating, World Titles and 27 medals were at stake for Individuals and Official Teams, together with a Combined title (based on the VERTICAL and SKY) which went to: Alain Santamaría (ESP), Joseph DeMoor (USA) and Sébastien Poesy (FRA) and for the women: Louise Jernberg (SWE), Barbro Fjällstedt (SWE) and Corinna Ghirardi (ITA).
Today’s SKY discipline saw a battle to the end in the Desafío Urbión, 37 km with 2,540m vertical climb. The men’s race was a fight between Spaniard Alain Santamaría and Italian Lorenzo Beltrami who took turns in the lead. Santamaria came out on top, clinching the gold, to close in 3h33’11” just one minute ahead of Beltrami.
“I can’t believe it! I worked very hard for this result which was the main goal of my season, and finally I got it!” commented Santamaria. “I sacrificed a lot to get to this point and the medal is an incredible reward!”
Third man was Japan’s Ruy Ueda five minutes later. All three men closed under the previous race record of 3h40’24”.
The women’s race saw a strong performance from winner Louise Jernberg from Sweden, who lead the race from start to finish. Despite not having hills in Sweden for training, she closed with a gold medal and a new record in 4h25’36”.
“I loved the course. It was beautiful, runnable, with technical ups and downs and a great crowd supporting us,” she commented.
In second place for most of the race was Karina Carsolio from Mexico who was overtaken just eight kilometres before the finish by another Swede, Barbro Fjällstedt, who closed, without immediately realising her position, with a silver medal. Carsolio took the well-deserved bronze.
Overall, 123 runners from 33 countries participated in the Desafío Urbión, which celebrated ten years today, hosting the Skyrunning World Championships in the small town of Covaleda. With a population of just 1,600 it is situated at an altitude of 1,200m in the largest Scots pine forest in Europe. The spectacular course features seven glacial lakes with three peaks above 2,000m, summiting the Pico Urbiòn at 2,228m.
Marino Giacometti, ISF President, commented, “In closing the highly successful 2024 Skyrunning World Championships, I’d like to congratulate the 41 countries from far and near for participating and the athletes for their exceptional performances.
“I would also like to extend a huge thanks to the excellent organisation of the Desafío Urbión and to FEDME for the incredible results of their team and for sanctioning the events. A sincere thanks also goes to the volunteers and the local community who gave such a warm welcome and support to the runners. Last but not least, a salute to this special area which we have had the privilege to discover in these days.”
SKY results
Men
Gold – Alain Santamaría (ESP) 3h33’11”
Silver – Lorenzo Beltrami (ITA) 3h34’12”
Bronze – Ruy Ueda (JPN) 3h39’17”
Women
Gold – Louise Jernberg (SWE) 4h25’36”
Silver – Barbro Fjällstedt (SWE) 4h27’50”
Bronze – Karina Carsolio (MEX) 4h30’26”
Eight countries took medals
Spain, Italy, Sweden, USA, Japan, Switzerland, France, Mexico
Medal count
Race results
Event website
VERTICAL news
SKYULTRA news
