The final of the inaugural U23 Trofeo Esteban Olivero took place today in the town of Aín, Spain, as part of the 2024 SkyMasters event, hosted by Marato Dels Dements.
The 22.5-kilometer course with 2,007 meters of elevation gain was a race with spectacular beauty that runs largely along the route of the second part of the Marató with climbs to Espadán, the Cerro Gordo and the peak of Penyablanca.
As the final race of the U23 Trofeo Esteban Olivero, athletes who had qualified throughout the season were competing for final points towards the brand-new youth ranking, dedicated to Esteban Olivero, a young skyrunning athlete, who tragically lost his life last December in a skiing accident.
Catalans, Jan Torella (Salomon / FEEC) and Laia Montoya (La Sportiva / FEEC), were the fastest under 23 athletes of the day. Montoya took the lead from the start and finished with a time 3:03:36, seven-minutes ahead of Carrodilla Cabestre (La Sportiva). The final outcome of today’s race resulted in a tie-break, which meant it came down to the best position in the final race. Montoya was, therefore, crowned the 2024 U23 Trofeo Esteban Olivero Overall Champion. Third place of the race went to Karina Andersen of the USA.
Laia Montoya commented on her win: “I really enjoyed this race. It was very technical, which isn’t best for me, but I knew that I had to work with my strength and push hard on the climbs to get ahead and then use the descent as a recovery. I am happy that I was able to win this race and get ahead of the rest of the girls.”
In the men’s race, Torella managed to catch Lorenzo Rota of Italy (Scarpa) on the final climb to Pic Batalla and make a large gap on the final descent. The Catalan athlete crossed the finish line after 2:26:25, three minutes ahead of Rota in second and Ïu Net of Spain (La Sportiva / FEEC) closed the men’s podium, one minute behind.
Torella, the new champion commented: “This has been one of the best races I have ever done. The course was incredible with lots of ascents and descents, varied terrain, and technical sections and the landscape here is beautiful. It was a great race between the top three of us. At the final climbed I was able to pull ahead and take the lead and keep it in the final climb. Today I get to share the podium with my friend and team mate Iu and this is the best thing about today.”
Seana Forbes, SWS athlete manager and Head of Operations commented: “We have wanted to introduce a youth ranking to the SWS for so long and this year it has finally become real. The ranking has been a great success and it’s been amazing working with these young athletes this season and watching them learn and get inspired from the pro’s who have years worth of experience. We plan to continue the U23 ranking and develop it further next year in the hope that more young athletes will get involved, because it really is a great sport and a very welcoming community.
Congratulations to Laia and Jan for an incredible season, to the organisers of Dels Dements for a superb event and thank you to the family of Esteban Olivero for allowing us to dedicate this season to him. We felt his presence with us for the entire season, from the very first race.”
The €6,500 prize money was shared amongst the top 3 males and females of the overall ranking.
Full results of the race: https://www.mychip.es/m/66606a9728d6147a07455847
Overall ranking top 5:
Women:
- Laia Montoya – ESP – Team La Sportiva / FEEC
- Carrodilla Cabestre – ESP – Team La Sportiva
- Karina Andersen – USA
- Alba Mendilagoitia – ESP – Team Club Deportivo Benalmadena
- Nikola Matkova – SVK
Men:
- Jan Torrella – ESP – Team Salomon / FEEC
- Lorenzo Beltrami – ITA – Team Scarpa
- Ïu Net – ESP – Team La Sportiva / FEEC
- Lucien Mermillon – FRA – Team Odlo X-Alps
- Marcos Villamuera – ESP – Scarpa
