Today, the picturesque town of Maria Alm, Austria, hosted the 10th stage of the 2025 Merrell Skyrunner® World Series. The iconic Hochkönig Skyrace didn’t disappoint and the amazing route, and intense rivalry, left everyone speechless.
For the first time in years, skyrunners from around the world were treated to the original course after years of bad weather resulted in the B-course being implemented. Today’s 32km course, with 2,740m of elevation gain, once again, took athletes over the “Steinerne Meer” – a limestone plateau on the iconic Hochkönig Massif.
The world class event attracted top athletes who travelled to Austria from over thirty different countries ready to fight for points towards the overall MSWS ranking.
In the men’s race, with relentless grit and unwavering focus, Martin Nilsson of Sweden (team VJ Sports), the black horse of the day, conquered the Hochkönig Skyrace for the very first time. It was, however, no easy win for Nilsson who battled it out for the entire race with Italians Gianluca Ghiano (team Brooks), Daniel Antonioli (team Scarpa), and Alex Oberbacher (team La Sportiva), as well as Arnau Soldivella of Andorra (team FAM), and Luka Kovacic of Slovenia (team Dynafit / Red Bull). It wasn’t until the final two kilometers that Nilsson was able to catch up with the leading pack and pass them. This win marks a milestone in his skyrunning journey.
Nilsson comments: “This was unbelievable. I felt quite strong and as though I could put up a good fight starting the climb. When we reached the summit I didn’t feel too heavy and I still had something in me. I was stunned by the amazing views up there. It was truly amazing but the snow made it difficult to run – coming from Sweden I’m quite used to running on snow, luckily. In the descent, I lost a few places as I am not great at technical downhill running but when we got down to the forest trails, I was able to push again and just kept going. I was so surprised when I saw Daniel and Gianluca and that’s when I realised that I could match their tempo and make it first to the finish line”.
In the women’s race, Lucille Germain’s reign at the top continues. After an intense fight with Denisa Dragomir of Romania (team Merrell / Red Bull), Germain was able to secure her third straight win of the season. The French athlete was able to steal the number one position at kilometer 22 and fought to keep it until the very end. Germain crossed the finish line after 4:01:20, followed by Dragomir five minutes later and Daniela Oemus of Germany (team Niike Trail) closed the podium 19 minutes after Germain.
Germain comments: “I think I managed my pace well at the beginning of the race as I was in fourth position at first and then after I managed to push and ran together with Denisa in first and second position and she really pushed my limits until the summit. Then after I was behind Denisa and I stayed there for a while just focusing on my race. It wasn’t easy because Denisa is so strong and she was so fast on the downhill that i didn’t even see her. I passed her at kilomter 22 and I told myself, ok now you are first, you have to hold it until the finish line… and I did!”.
Full results from today’s race can be found here.
The season continues next weekend on the 7th of June in France with Gorges du Tarn Skyrace.
