Anastacia Rubtsova and Rongchao Gu of China triumphed at the Inthanon Skyrace 2024, the 16th stage of the 2024 Merrell Skyrunner® World Series, held in Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Although recent floods in Thailand threatened the event in the weeks leading up to it, Inthanon Skyrace was a great success with skyrunners from all over the world toeing the line of the 31-kilometer route with 2,500 meters of vertical gain, iChang Mai this morning.
Anastacia Rubtsova Dominates the Women’s Field
In the women’s category, Anastacia Rubtsova delivered a remarkable performance, taking him the women’s title and placing fourth overall with a time of 3h40’06”. This is Rubtsova’s fourth win of the season and, therefore, secures her place at the top of the overall ranking.
Rubtsova comments: “The location and the course was spectacular. For me to win 4 races this season is already a victory! I made it to the finals! I’m so happy! I don’t know how the situation will develop further, but I will do everything in my power to do my best.”
Second place went to Marcela Vasinova of the Czech Republic who finished 27 minutes behind Rubstova, followed by Aberash Mulata Amana of Ethiopia in third.
Rongchao Gu Takes the Men’s Title
In the men’s category, Rongchao Gu put on an equally impressive performance, outpacing a highly competitive field of international athletes. The Chinese runner, new to skyrunning, crossed the finish line in first place, with a time of 3h23’09”, after leading from the start. Second place went to Iurii Shtankov, finishing just 30 seconds behind and Raul Criado of Spain (team Cimalp) closed the men’s podium.
Full results can be found here: https://www.timingconnect.com/event/SKY2024/SKY30/participant
The next race of the Merrell Skyrunner® World Series will be the 2Peaks Skyrace in South Korea on the 26th of October, followed the next day by Sobrescobio Skyrace in Spain on the 27th of October – another international weekend of skyrunning!
Photo credits: Antton Guarest / @_guaresti_
