SkySnow, the skyrunning discipline of running at altitude on snow, will hold the second World Championships on March 8-9, 2024 in Tarvisio, North Eastern Italy.
The host venue will welcome athletes from across the world through official teams presented by the International Skyrunning Federation’s national members. The first highly successful SkySnow World Championships held in in 2022 in Sierra Nevada, Spain, saw 15 countries participate.
Twenty-one medals are at stake across the VERTICAL and CLASSIC disciplines, the Combined title, and the country ranking. In 2022, Italy, Sweden and Spain headed the medal count.
The events will kick off on Friday, March 8 with the VERTICAL discipline at the Monte Lussari Vertical – 3.6 km long and 974m of vertical climb, will take place in the dark, athletes illuminating the course with their headlamps.
Saturday, March 9 is the turn of the Monte Mangart Winter Trail for the CLASSIC discipline, 15 km long with 515m vertical climb. The Combined title is awarded to the top three men and women with the highest points based on the sum accrued in both races. The races are also open to outside athletes.
The spectacular location of the events, bordering on Austria and Slovenia in the Udine Province, lies in an amphitheatre surrounded by the Julian Alps, known for its cold climate – and a guarantee of snow.
The VERTICAL course summits at Monte Lussari, 1,788m crossing through a typical Alpine village to the applause of the locals, close to the cable car station and the recent finish of the Giro d’Italia cycling tour.
Saturday’s CLASSIC start and finish are on the shores of the Fusine Lakes, surrounded by pine forests and overlooked by snow-covered mountains where the highest point of the race reaches Monte Mangart, 1,390m, from where the race takes its name.
SkySnow embraces the traditional concept of skyrunning – running at high altitude – in this case, during the winter and exclusively on snow wearing micro crampons. Main sponsor of the events is Italian brand NORTEC, market leader and producer of ISF approved micro crampons, also sponsor of the 2022 World Championships in Spain. 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.
The relatively short distances and minimal vertical climb without great technical difficulty are a recipe for immediate popularity across a wide user target in many countries with winter snow. SkySnow launched in 2022 in Spain where snow running was already practiced and, since then, this fast-growing discipline has spread to Italy, Japan, Mongolia, Serbia and Bolivia.
The standing SkySnow World Champions are Italy’s Luca Del Pero and Virginia Perez Mesonero from Spain. With such a variety of nations taking part, the 2024 outcome is an open page where skyrunning champions and new talent will battle for the medals and titles at stake.
Race programme:
Friday, March 8, 2024
18:30 Vertical Monte Lussari (VERTICAL)
Saturday, March 9, 2024
14:00 Monte Mangart Winter Trail (CLASSIC)
