Arianna Dentis during the Rollercoaster 21 (© Marco Gulberti for WMRA)
Italy’s Arianna Dentis and Sweden’s Martin Nilsson claimed the first WMRA Mountain Running World Cup victories of their careers at Rollercoaster 21, closing the long distance season with two decisive performances in the Beskid Mały mountains in Poland on Saturday (19).
Dentis controlled the women’s race from its opening stages and crossed the line in 1:55:03, almost four minutes ahead of USA’s Maya Rayle, while Nilsson produced an equally authoritative performance in the men’s race. After remaining close to the early pace, he moved clear over the second half of the course and won in 1:38:50, more than three minutes ahead of Great Britain’s Finlay Grant.
Beautiful weather opened up views across the meadows, forests and lakes of the Beskid Mały for race day. Rollercoaster 21 covered 21.6km with 1511m of ascent and from the start in Międzybrodzie Bialskie, the runners climbed more than 500 metres during the opening three kilometres towards Czupel.
A long and technically demanding descent then carried the race towards Czernichów. After crossing the Soła River, the course began climbing again, eventually reaching one of its defining sections on the way towards Mount Żar.
At the 7km checkpoint in the women’s race, Dentis already held a lead of more than one minute and 40 seconds over Rayle. From there, Dentis continued to extend her advantage across the repeated climbs and technical descents. By the finish in Porąbka, the margin had grown to 3:48.
The victory rewarded a season in which Dentis had already competed at the Broken Arrow Ascent and Broken Arrow Skyrace, Grossglockner Mountain Run, both races at Vauban Mountain Trail, Vertical Nasego and Trofeo Nasego. Poland was her eighth World Cup start of the year and the race in which all that work finally produced her first victory.
Rayle completed an impressive World Cup debut with second place in 1:58:52. Céline Aebi secured the final podium position in 2:02:04, surprising even herself with her strong performance.
Eden O’Dea finished fourth, closely followed by Natalie Beadle in fifth. Rena Schwartz placed sixth, ahead of Selina Burch and Sara Willhoit. There was also a home top-10 finish for Izabela Wysluch, who crossed the line ninth. Alicia Shay-Vargo completed the first 10.
The men’s race developed differently, but the final margin was just as convincing.
Maciej Lachowski was the quickest runner at the 7km checkpoint, passing through in 31:21. Nilsson was only 12 seconds behind, well positioned before the course entered its later sequence of climbs and descents.
From there, Nilsson took control. His strength across the full course allowed him to move clear of the leading group and build a winning margin of 3:07 by the finish.
After several strong World Cup performances during the season, including eighth place at Trofeo Nasego, Nilsson converted his consistency into his first World Cup victory.
The closest racing came behind him.
Grant made significant progress during the second half of the course. Sixth at the 7km checkpoint, his strength and confidence on the descents carried him through the field and into second place. He finished in 1:41:58.
Paul Knight remained close throughout and crossed the line just five seconds behind Grant, taking third in 1:42:02. Knight brought 28-minute 10,000m credentials to Poland and demonstrated that speed on the track could be transferred to a demanding mountain course of steep climbs and technical descents.
Luca Merli finished fourth, ahead of Pavol Orolin. Lachowski was the first Polish runner home in sixth. Oscar Subuh-Symons placed seventh, followed by Casey Campbell. Andrew Douglas and Karol Matyssek completed the men’s top 10.
Rollercoaster 21 was the 14th race of the World Cup season, which had already visited Portugal, China, Spain, the United States, Austria, France, Switzerland and Italy.
It was also the fifth and final long distance race of the year, following Transvulcania Half Marathon, Broken Arrow Skyrace, Sierre-Zinal and Trofeo Nasego.
The overall World Cup now moves to Défi des Couleurs in Canada on 10-11 October. The uphill final will take place on Saturday, followed by the up & down final on Sunday.
After the Rollercoaster 21, Dentis and Nilsson will arrive in Canada higher in the overall standings – both now in sixth place. More significantly, they will arrive as World Cup winners for the first time.
Héctor Rubio (WMRA) for World Athletics
