The air gets thin at the Tyrolean mountain run summit

2023-04-26 05:00:00

A panoramic view of the world championship courses of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) was promised at yesterday’s press conference in the Hoadl house at 2340 meters above sea level in the Axamer Lizum. There was little to see, except for wafts of fog and lots and lots of (new) snow. Nevertheless, the prospects that the World Championships in Innsbruck and Stubai at the beginning of June will be a sporting highlight are the very best.

“We have 66 nations at the start. They will run on the most beautiful trails in the Alps and put Tyrol in the shop window,” says State Councilor for Sport Georg Dornauer, who also expects tourist impulses from the major event. But Tyrol and Austria not only want to be a good host at the mountain running summit with ten individual and ten team competitions, but also want to have a say in the awarding of medals in sporting terms.

One hope is Upper Austria’s long-distance runner Andrea Mayr, who won the silver medal in the vertical race (mountain running) at the World Championships in Thailand last year. The senior doctor for orthopedic surgery at the Salzkammergut Clinic does not want to be pushed into a favorite role in her “Operation Mountain Running World Championship”. The power density is high, the air in the world class is getting thinner and thinner. “My competitors standing next to me on the podium could be my daughters. I’m getting older all the time, my performance peak is already behind me,” says the 43-year-old, who has recently been able to train little. The Austrian mountain running championship next Sunday on the Hohe Salve will be a first location determination.

Austria’s ultra running figurehead Florian Grasel has already completed his form test. At the Istria 100 over 168 kilometers (6540 meters in altitude), the Lower Austrian took sixth place in early April. In Tyrol, he will complete the long trail run distance of 85 kilometers (5500 m ascent). “That’s almost a bit too short for me,” says Grasel, who, like Andrea Mayr, belongs to the “40 plus” generation. He’s getting older too.