The Valsir Mountain Running World Cup 2023 season comes to an end. The last race consumed in Spain, the insular part of the country, the Canaries, more precisely, in the extended weekend of October 13–15. Therefore, the race at the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup 2023 final had three separate stages, as follows:
- Sky A4Uphill – with the start at local 18:00 PM, vertical race on October 13th
- Sky TPT35 Long – 8:00 AM begins on Saturday, October 14th
- Sky A21 Classic – 08:30 AM start, with a loop of 10 kilometers on Sunday, October 15th
- 2023 World Cup rankings
Each race has its own specification and, of course, a different winner, and so Europe, the US, and Kenya topped the rankings again, with each dominating a specific race.
Read more: USA’s Christian Allen wins Sky TPT38 Long: Mountain Running World Cup final
The vertical opener was claimed 100% by Great Britain, in the sense that both winners, men and women, were from the UK. Scout Adkin and Joe Steward secured their no. 1 by very slim margins.
Adkin beat Saapunki of Finland by 13 seconds, while Steward had an even harder mission to overpass favorite Kipngeno. The Kenyan came, this time less than 10 seconds behind the Brit. For a better overview of how the race finished, here is the top ranking:
Men results:
- Joe Steward (UK) – 17:42,53
- Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) – 17:53,60
- Christian Allen (USA) – 18:00,91
- Henri Aymonod (Italy) – 18:18,72
- Philemon Kiriago (Kenya) – 18:33,56
Women results:
- Scout Adkin (UK) – 21:17,20
- Susanna Saapunki (Finland) – 21:30,04
- Joyce Njeru (Kenya) – 22:12,63
- Philaries Kisang (Kenya) – 22:58,93
- Sara Willhoit (UK) – 23:13:09
Moving to Saturday, the winners come from the USA and Spain, respectively, in the longest run of the event. Christian Allen got a very comfortable win, more than six minutes in front of his compatriot, Wacker, but the ladies’ race was tighter.
Laktab won against Magliano from Italy in around one and a half minutes advantage. This time, no Kenyans attended the race, so there was no top finish for them. Who made it to first place in the rankings, though?
Men results:
- Christian Allen (USA) – 2:29:29
- Andrew Wacker (USA) – 2:35:52
- Ondrej Fejfar (Czech Republic) – 2:36:50
- Manuel Bayo (Spain) – 2:43:03
- Harry Holmes (UK) – 2:49:57
Women results:
- Ikram Laktab (Spain) – 2:57:26
- Camilla Magliano (Italy) – 2:59:01
- Sara Willhoit (UK) – 3:17:14
- Kerstin Engelmann-Pilger (Germany) – 3:35:30
- Silvia Coma (Spain) – 3:41:54
The final show of the weekend and of the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup 2023 was held on Sunday, as mentioned. After one day of pause, the Kenyans claimed both first positions.
In the women’s race, Nijeru and Kisang finished one minute apart, but more than two minutes ahead of Adkin of the UK.
Kiriago and Kipngeno finished even better in the men’s race, as they were quite close, 29 seconds apart, but two and a half minutes in front of American Meirow.
Men results:
- Philemon Kiriago (Kenya) – 1:13:54
- Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) – 1:14:23
- Liam Meirow (USA) – 1:16:58
- Joe Steward (UK) – 1:17:26
- Henri Aymonod (Italy) – 1:18:32
Women results:
- Joyce Njeru (Kenya) – 1:29:33
- Philaries Kisang (Kenya) – 1:30:40
- Scout Adkin (UK) – 1:32:52
- Lucy Murigi (Kenya) – 1:39:34
- Charlotte Cotton (Belgium) – 1:41:16
The results from the last race day of the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup season, for Gold Label events only, are not for sure by accident because, if we take a look at the general World Mountain Running Ranking, we see Njeru and Kisang clearly leading the ladies standings, in front of Mayr of Austria, while the guy’s rankings are dominated even better by Kipngeno and Kiriago, in this order, but Patrick has more than 600 points, well ahead of his compatriot.
In third, Remi Bonnet, from Switzerland, has almost half the points of Philemon and less than half of Kipngeno’s!
The conclusion is that Kenya is growing more and more in all running stages of the world.
