It was a definitely a day of “Less cloud. More sky” for the final of the 2025 Youth Skyrunning World Championships where athletes from 30 countries across five continents competed for the 75 medals at stake in Italy’s Apennine mountains in Gran Sasso, L’Aquila, Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Spectacular cumulous cloud formations formed a dramatic backdrop to the mountainous arena of today’s SKY discipline, split into two separate distances according to age.
Overall, 239 athletes participated across the two events and thanks to their excellent performances, all teams scored points. Once again, Spain, followed by Italy and Norway, took the biggest share with twelve countries taking medals: Spain, Italy, Norway, USA, Japan, Sweden, France, United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.
The full Gran Sasso SkyRace® — 23 km long with 2,226m vertical climb topping out at 2,533m altitude was the challenge for the older C and U23 athletes, (ISF grade 2 technical difficulty). The course includes technical sections with fixed ropes ensuring a true skyrunning course for the young runners.
The younger age groups ran only the first section – 9 km long with a 850m vertical climb.
The youngest A and B male winners marked the two fastest times on the short course: Spaniards Biel Sagues (B) in 54’05” and Pol Mena (A) in 57’15”. The female first and third fastest times were by Ingeborg Synstnes (B) from Norway in 1h09’09” and Brooke Greenberg (A) from USA in 1h09’42”.
“I couldn’t have imagined going home with three gold medals!” commented Greenberg. “I’ve never done skyrunning before and this is a total surprise – I loved it so much. It’s amazing to be in such a beautiful place surrounded by so many runners from so many countries.”
The Youth C and U23 fastest times over the long course were set by Spaniards Fabian Venero (U23) in 2h26’03” and Lluis Puigvert (C) in 2h32’22”, third overall. Venero closed a mere 41” over Ïu Net, proving Spain’s prowess across all categories. Among the women, Spaniard Dalia Alonso (U23) stopped the clock before the three-hour mark, in 2h59’52”. Sweden’s Agnes Josefsson (C), set an impressive time of 3h05’48”, the fourth women’s time overall.
Spain’s Lluis Puigvert took home three gold medals over the weekend for the Youth C category, adding to the six he already collected in past editions. He beat Maximilian Meusburger from Austria, second, and UK’s Sam Bentham, third.
“I was sure that I was in good shape for Friday’s VERTICAL, but today I wasn’t sure,” said Puigvert. “I’m studying to become a doctor and so I don’t have much time to train. I’m good for shorter efforts, but when it comes to longer races, I struggle a little bit. Luckily not today!”
Proving her incredible form, Sweden’s Agnes Josefsson, clinched three gold medals – in the VERTICAL, SKY and COMBINED, closing today with an almost six-minute advantage over Gabriela Lasalle and another minute over Nuria Llanso, both from Spain.
Spain’s Fabian Venero took home the SKY title in the U23 category. Fellow countryman Ïu Net started off slowly but reduced the gap closing just 41” behind for the silver. Briton Tom Spencer nailed the bronze.
“I’m really happy to add another medal to the collection,” said Venero. “This time the battle was really tough with my teammate Ïu Net. He’s a very talented runner and has won a lot of medals. This is my first participation, and I think I proved that my training paid off. Talent is important, but training is more important. I trained hard for this result and I’m really proud!”
The 30 countries participating:
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA.
The ninth edition of the Youth Skyrunning Word Championships were held for the sixth time in Gran Sasso, a popular hub for young skyrunners since 2016.
Wada anti-doping tests were carried out and the events were overseen by ISF international referees.
SKY RESULTS
YOUTH A (15-16 years)
Men
Gold – Pol Mena (ESP) 57’15”
Silver – Ekain Fernandez (ESP) 58’10”
Bronze – Patrick Clark (AUS) 59’03”
Women
Gold – Brooke Greenberg (USA) 1h09’42”
Silver – Rina Ogake (JPN) 1h10’30”
Bronze – Anna Bruseth (NOR) 1h10’36”
YOUTH B (17-18 years)
Men
Gold – Biel Sagues (ESP) 54’05”
Silver – Oscar Cransac (FRA) 57’49”
Bronze – Christian Suini (ITA) 58’41”
Women
Gold – Ingeborg Synstnes (NOR) 1h09’10”
Silver – Luna Beck (FRA) 1h09’11”
Bronze – Sidney McIntosh (USA) 1h10’09”
YOUTH C (19-20)
Men
Gold – Lluis Puigvert (ESP) 2h32’22”
Silver – Maximilian Meusburger (AUT) 2h34’57”
Bronze – Sam Bentham (GBR) 2h38’32”
Women
Gold – Agnes Josefsson (SWE) 3h05’48”
Silver – Gabriela Lasalle (ESP) 3h11’58”
Bronze – Nuria Llanso (ESP) 3h22’36”
U23 (21-23)
Men
Gold – Fabian Venero (ESP) 2h26’03”
Silver – Ïu Net (ESP) 2h26’44”
Bronze – Tom Spencer (GBR) 2h32’25”
Women
Gold – Dalia Alonso (ESP) 2h59’54”
Silver – Claudia Corral (ESP) 3h00’43”
Bronze – Martina Pozzi (ITA) 3h02’38”
COMBINED RESULTS
YOUTH A
Men
Gold – Patrick Clark (AUS) 178 points
Silver – Ekain Fernandez (ESP) 176 points
Bronze – Pol Mena (ESP) 172 points
Women
Gold – Brooke Greenberg (USA) 200 points
Silver – Rina Ogake (JPN) 176 points
Bronze – Anna Bruseth (NOR) 156 points
YOUTH B
Men
Gold – Biel Sagues (ESP) 200 points
Silver – Filippo Piumarta (ITA) 160 points
Bronze – Christian Suini (ITA) 150 points
Women
Gold – Ingeborg Synstnes (NOR) 200 points
Silver – Luna Beck (FRA) 176 points
Bronze – Sidney McIntosh (USA) 146 points
YOUTH C
Men
Gold – Lluis Puigvert (ESP) 200 points
Silver – Maximiliam Meusburger (AUT) 176 points
Bronze – Sam Bentham (GBR) 146 points
Women
Gold – Agnes Josefsson (SWE) 200 points
Silver – Gabriela Lasalle (ESP) 176 points
Bronze – Nuria Llanso (ESP) 150 points
U23
Men
Gold – Fabian Venero (ESP) 188 points
Silver – Ïu Net (ESP) 188 points
Bronze – Tom Spencer (GBR) 150 points
Women
Gold – Dalia Alonso (ESP) 178 points
Silver – Martina Pozzi (ITA) 178 points
Bronze – Claudia Corral (ESP) 176 points
TEAM RANKING
Gold – Spain
Silver – Italy
Bronze – Norway
VERTICAL news
Full results
Medal count
Race website
More info
Course Certificate
Anti-doping guidelines
