This Saturday, the 12th of April, Chile hosted the highest altitude race of the 2025 Merrell Skyrunner® World Series calendar – the Andes Mountain Skyrace. The cold and the altitude affected many but Damien Humbert and Blanca Llumiquinga rose above the rest to take home the titles.
Temperatures were below freezing at the start line of the 35-kilometer race with 3,500 m+ at 06:00 am. The race began in Ferrellones Ski Center, outside of Santiago with the route taking the athletes to Cerro El Plomo, standing at 5,424 meters above sea level.
In the women’s race, it was a battle early on between Blanca Llumiquinga of Ecuador (team Adidas Terrex) and Rosalia Zegarra of Peru. Anastacia Rubtsova followed in third but it was clear the cold and altitude were taking their toll on the 2024 overall champion. In the end, Llumiquinga, Ecuador’s best skyrunner, was able to keep her lead and finish triumphant with a time of 06:07:17, finally beating the previously undefeated Rubtsova who finished in second place, two minutes behind. Zegarra closed the women’s podium after 06:36:28.
In the men’s race just seconds separated the top athletes, Fred Tranchand of France (team Merrell), and Peruvians Jose Manuel Quispe (team Merrell / CIVA) and Joel Pumacayo, as they reached the summit, however, Damien Humbert of France (team New Balance) slowly started making his way to the front in the 4km downhill. With 100 meters to go before the finish line, Humbert passed Quispe after five hours of racing and won the fourth race of the series by seconds with a time of 05:11:06. Third place went to Pumacayo with a time of 05:12:40.
Humbert comments: “I ended up running this race because I was in Chile attempting a record on the highest volcanic summit in the world, so I decided I really wanted to take part in this Skyrunner World Series race. It was a great start to my season, it went well but there were a lot of challenges during the race. I took a big fall after 45 minutes and I didn’t know if I could continue but I kept going and felt like I just wanted to try and finish in the top 10. On the summit it was so cold and I experienced some issues with my eye and also dizziness. After a while I felt a bit better, I changed my clothes and I could push to win.”
Full results can be found here.
The series returns to Europe next week with the Skyrace de Matheysins on the 20th of April in St Honore.
