The 2025 skyrunning season will launch with the first ever SkySnow European Championships. After the success of two world championships of this fast-growing discipline, the event will return to Tarvisio, Friuli, Italy on March 14-15, 2025.
Site of the 2024 SkySnow World Championships, the Tarvisio Winter Trail will again host this iconic event welcoming 16 teams from across Europe.
SkySnow – running on snow at altitude with micro-crampons – was introduced as a natural extension of skyrunning during the winter season. This year, Continental Championships have been included, in Europe and also Asia-Pacific where they will take place in Japan on April 5-6.
ISF National Teams from across Europe will battle for the 21 medals at stake in the VERTICAL and CLASSIC disciplines, for the Combined title and the country ranking. Sweden, Italy and Germany came out on top at the 2024 SkySnow World Championships.
The men’s 2024 SkySnow Vertical World Champion, Tadei Pivk, a local runner, also boasts an impressive skyrunning curriculum. “To say I’m ready is a big word. The last race I did was in August and I’m running here because it’s my home. I don’t know how many hundreds of times I’ve climbed up Lussari, maybe even thousands…!” he commented. “I’ll race like everyone else, put on my bib and give it my best. I hope that all the participants will take home happy memories from these amazing races and places.”
Strong competition will come from fellow countryman Luca Del Pero, 2022 SkySnow World Champion, bronze and silver medallist in the 2024 Championships. Spain’s Diego Diaz took the silver in last year’s VERTICAL.
“I hope it will be an exciting and successful event for the Spanish team. I think we have a very complete team in both disciplines. Improving on last year’s results will be difficult, but I’ve trained for it and I’m going out to compete, especially in the VERTICAL. In the CLASSIC I hope to manage the kilometres better and be more competitive,” stated Diaz.
Also from Spain, last year’s silver medallist in the VERTICAL, Silvia Lara, added, “I’m looking forward to returning to Tarvisio as last year after the VERTICAL I must have caught some gastrointestinal virus and couldn’t compete in the CLASSIC. I’m looking forward to doing my best and enjoy the experience with the team!”
The events launch with an opening flag ceremony on Thursday, March 13 while the action kicks off with the VERTICAL on Friday, March 14.
The Vertical Monte Lussari course features a gruelling 974m vertical climb up a 3.6 km ski run where some stretches feature a lung-busting 40% incline. The race starts at dusk, where athletes’ headlamps illuminate the steep ascent and wear micro-crampons to grip the snow on their way through a magical Alpine village to finish at the 1,790m summit and the applause of fans and locals.
Saturday March 15 is the turn of the CLASSIC discipline with the Monte Mangart Winter Trail, 15 km long with 515m vertical climb, a spectacular figure-of-eight touching on the turquoise Fusine lakes surrounded by pine forests and overlooked by snow-covered mountains reaching 1,390m altitude.
The stunning location of the courses lies in an amphitheatre surrounded by the Julian Alps in the Udine Province on the border between Austria and Slovenia representing a natural meeting point for different nationalities.
The 16 countries represented are: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
Among the top medallists from past SkySnow World Championships are:
- Tadei Pivk (ITA) – 2024 VERTICAL World Champion
- Luca Del Pero (ITA) – 2022 VERTICAL, CLASSIC and Combined World Champion
- Diego Diaz (ESP) – 2024 VERTICAL silver medal
- Lorenzo Rota Martir (ITA) – 2022 Combined silver medal
- Vitalii Chernov (AIN) – 2022 VERTICAL silver medal
- Silvia Lara (ESP) – 2022 VERTICAL silver medal
- Joana Soares (POR) – 2022 CLASSIC silver medal
- Corinna Ghirardi (ITA) – 2024 VERTICAL, Classic and Combined bronze medal
- Timotej Becan (SLO) – 2024 CLASSIC bronze medal
Other names in the top 150 ISF Ranking positions include:
Benedetta Broggi (ITA) 35; Celia Balcells (ESP) 82; Charlotte Cotton (BEL) 92; Cristina Trujillo (ESP) 94; Daniel Thedy (ITA) 107; Elena Rtoska (MKD) 116; Sofia Beizel (AIN) 148.
Maurizio Ragonese, Organising Committee President, stated, “We are very pleased to host the European Championships in Tarvisio after a memorable edition of the World Championships in March 2024.
“The numbers continue to support our decision: more than 500 athletes overall representing 25 nations will arrive from all corners of Europe including those competing in the SkySnow European Championships and those on the Open list.
“Some top-level athletes will be on the start line which will make the two races very exciting. The format of this event is now well-established and the experience of US Mario Tosi, with the support of Promoturismo FVG and the Municipality of Tarvisio, guarantees top level organisation.
“By pairing the final of the NORTEC SkySnow Running Cup with the SkySnow European Championships we can boast numbers worthy of a big event in terms of quality and visibility. This is advantageous not only for SkySnow which continues to grow year after year, but also for the brands that support the event, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the city of Tarvisio that host it,” he concluded.
Main sponsor of the events is Italian brand NORTEC, market leader and producer of micro crampons, also sponsor of the 2022 and 2024 SkySnow World Championships.
Technical sponsors are SCARPA, Crazy Idea and Weissenfels. The events are supported by institutional partners: the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, PromoTurismoFVG, the Tarvisio Council and BIM Drava, and in collaboration with FISky, the Italian Skyrunning Federation. The events are organised by the Mario Tosi Sports Association.
