The VERTICAL discipline opened the weekend’s events at the 2025 Youth Skyrunning World Championships in Gran Sasso, Aquila, in Italy’s Apennine mountains.
Participants from 30 countries are present to compete for the 75 medals and world titles at stake.
Today’s race was a true Vertical Kilometer® – 1,000m vertical climb over a 3.5 km long course, pushing the young runners to the limits of their abilities, many at their first attempt in this discipline.
Aged from 15 to 23, participants are divided into four categories:
Youth A (15-16 years), Youth B (17-18 years), Youth C (19-20 years) and U23 (21-22-23 years).
Every 15 seconds a runner takes off. Unsure of the competition ahead, beside or behind, each athlete has to give it their best, pushing to the summit in this up-only discipline.
The best male performances were set by Spaniards: Lluis Puigvert (Youth C), Ïu Net (U23), and Biel Sagues (Youth B). Top man Puigvert, closed in 35’50”, an excellent time for a VK and a strong 1’6” ahead of Net, second overall.
The best performance in the youngest category was set by sixteen-year-old Australian Patrick Clark, placing 18th overall. “This is the first time I came to Europe and did such a race, so this medal is totally unexpected,” said Clark. “We don’t have many mountains in Australia, but I live near a mountainous area and train going up and down on the steepest parts. I’m so stoked!”
The female performances were equally jaw-dropping with Italy’s Martina Pozzi (U23) setting the benchmark, Sweden’s Agnes Josefsson (Youth C) taking third overall, American Brooke Greenberg (Youth A) sixth, and Norway’s Ingeborg Synstnes (Youth B) seventh, her seventh gold medal after two previous World Championships.
Josefsson commented, “It’s hard to take in that I’m world champion for the VERTICAL! I was already surprised with the silver medal at the European Championships as it was my first skyrunning race and at my second, I got a gold! Really incredible. It’s also so nice to run with athletes of my age and see so many people from all around the world,”
Eleven countries took medals in today’s opener: Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.
New stars shone today. Apart from Patrick Clark from Australia, Brooke Greenberg from USA also took the gold for her category. Japan’s Rina Ogake (15 years old) took another silver after her 2024 success when she was just 14. New talent on the podium includes Ekain Fernandez (ESP), Aron Lundqvist (SWE) and Anna Bruseth (NOR).
Saturday, August 2, represents a day of rest for the athletes between events.
Sunday, August 3 will see the SKY discipline take off with two variants according to age categories.
SKY – 23 km long with 2,226m vertical climb
SKY YOUTH A & B – 9 km long with 850m vertical climb
With 30 countries from five continents participating, as usual, it will be a case of hot competition, strong camaraderie, and “Less cloud. More sky”.
VERTICAL RESULTS
Youth A Men
GOLD – Patrick Clark (AUS) 41’48”
SILVER – Ekain Fernandez (ESP) 41’54”
BRONZE – Aron Lundqvist (SWE) 42’18”
Youth A Women
GOLD – Brooke Greenberg (USA) 49’11”
SILVER – Rina Ogake (JPN) 50’17”
BRONZE – Anna Bruseth (NOR) 52’42”
Youth B Men
GOLD – Biel Sagues (ESP) 37’30”
SILVER – Filippo Piumarta (ITA) 41’42”
BRONZE – Davide Gadin (ITA) 42’18”
Youth B Women
GOLD – Ingeborg Synstnes (NOR) 49’27”
SILVER – Luna Beck (FRA) 50’26”
BRONZE – Riko Obata (JPN) 50’43”
Youth C Men
GOLD – Lluis Puigvert (ESP) 35’50”
SILVER – Maximilian Meusburger (AUT) 38’22”
BRONZE – Fiorillo Camesi (SUI) 38’44”
Youth C Women
GOLD – Agnes Josefsson (SWE) 46’43”
SILVER – Gabriela Lasalle (ESP) 47’11”
BRONZE – Karen Kobayashi (JPN) 52’08”
U23 Men
GOLD – Ïu Net (ESP) 36’56”
SILVER – Fabian Venero (ESP) 38’01”
BRONZE – Lukas Ehrle (GER) 38’38”
U23 Women
GOLD – Martina Pozzi (ITA) 45’19”
SILVER – Claudia Corral (ESP) 45’31”
BRONZE – Dalia Alonso (ESP) 49’11”
Full results
Medal count
Race website
More info
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