It’s fourth time round for the Matterhorn Ultraks 46K in Zermatt, Switzerland on Saturday, August 20. The magic mountain that gives its name to the race is not the only star of the show however. The sixth leg of the Skyrunner® World Series, the event attracts a deeply stacked field from around the world.
Last year’s winners Martin Anthamatten and Elisa Desco will head the line-up together with no less than 14 athletes in the Sky Series top 20 rankings.
With ranking leader Tadei Pivk absent due to injury, the men’s field is wide open. Pivk came second in the first Series’ race in Yading, China which was won by Bhim Gurung from Nepal. Gurung will be racing here and no doubt his high altitude training will play in his favour.
The top five ranking slots after Pivk are filled by Andorrans Oscar and Marc Casal Mir and Spaniards Pablo Villa and Hassan Ait Chaou. Add Frenchman Adrien Michaud ranked 11th.
The women’s field is charged with talent, led by American Megan Kimmel, current ranking leader. She will be strongly challenged by Italy’s Elisa Desco, 2015 race winner, ranked 4th and chasing points. Joining them are top ranked runners, Ragna Debats from the Netherlands, Spaniards Aiziber Ibarbia, Oihana Kortazar and Marta Molist and Celia Chiron from France.
The 48 km course, designed with the help of top runners including Martin Anthamatten, race ambassador, takes on a tough 3,600m of vertical climb. The famous Gornergrat observation station marks the highest point of the race at 3,100m altitude, overlooking the Grenz Glacier and Monte Rosa, Europe’s second highest summit. The entire course is overshadowed by the iconic Matterhorn peak. Lifts, trains and helicopters take spectators and supporters to the most spectacular view points to follow the race – an experience not to be missed.
The records to beat? Kilian Jornet’s 2013 time of 4h43’05” and Stevie Kremer’s 2014 record of 5h18’43”.
More than 600 runners will be toeing the line in Zermatt Saturday. Some 2,300 participants from 52 countries will participate overall in the weekend’s four events.
The “VZS” Vertical Zermatt Sunnegga will kick off the week-end on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday, the “classic” races will start at 7:30 am with the Skyrunner® World Series Official Race, the “46K”, followed by the “30K” and “16K”.
Alpina Watches, sponsor of the Matterhorn Ultraks 46K and Official Watch of the 2016 Skyrunner® World Series, will award the winners of the Alpina Sky Prize with an Alpina Horological Smartwatch. The award is based on the fastest man and woman on the “Alpina Triangle” segment, from Sunnegga to Riffelalp via the Gornergrat.
Follow the top 15 athletes on our live tracking during the race.
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Current Sky rankings
