Patrick Kipngeno celebrates his Vertical Nasego win (© Marco Gulberti and Giacomo Meneghello / Corsa in Montagna)
On a breathtaking weekend of Gold Label racing in the northern region of Italy, it was Andrea Mayr and Patrick Kipngeno who completed a Vertical Nasego and Trofeo Nasego double as part of the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup.
Vertical Nasego
The first day of action on Saturday (3) saw impeccable performances from Austria's Mayr and Kenya's Kipngeno on the 4.3km course that features 1000m of ascent.
Mayr was a leading figure from the start, where she was joined by Romania's Monica Madalina Florea and followed by Kenya's Joyce Muthoni Njeru. It was close until the final 600m, when the Austrian gained an advantage of more than a minute over her rivals.
After 38 minutes and 48 seconds, Mayr raised her hands at the finish and was the first through the Vertical Nasego arch of victory. Florea arrived two minutes later and behind them Italy's Valentina Belotti came through to pip Njeru for third place.
Mayr added the performance to her first- and second-place finishes in the previous two editions, just nine seconds off the race record she set in 2019. Her victory ended Njeru's World Cup win streak this season.
The men's race featured a head-to-head between Kipngeno and Ireland's Zak Hanna. During the last climb, Kipngeno pushed harder and eventually broke a race record that had seemed unbeatable since it was recorded in 2019, running 33:47 to improve on the previous best of 35:17.
Hanna was second, 35 seconds back, while Kenya's Philemon Kiriago was third in 35:01 and Italy's Henri Aymonod – winner of the past two editions – was fourth in 35:15.
Trofeo Nasego
After the Vertical Nasego, both Trofeo Nasego races on Sunday (4) saw intense battles on the testing 21.5km course. The lead changed constantly in both categories.
Andrea Mayr wins the Trofeo Nasego (© Marco Gulberti / Corsa in Montagna)
During the 21st edition of the event, Mayr and Kipngeno added their names to the event's impressive roll call to complete their doubles, Mayr beating Njeru and Kipngeno winning ahead of Kiriago, who was never far back. Lauren Gregory and Petro Mamu claimed the third-place finishes.
Sunday's women's race started with some of the top leading runners divided into two groups. In the first section, Lucy Wambui ran close to her compatriot Njeru and Florea, followed by a group including Mayr, Camilla Magliano and Gregory. During the fourth kilometre, Romania's Florea was ahead of Njeru.
The lead changed with the arrival of the 14th kilometre, when Mayr moved ahead despite stumbling on a rock. Njeru reached that point more than a minute behind the Austrian, while Florea was close behind and still fighting for a place on the podium. At the high point the result seemed confirmed, but there was a surprise by the time the runners crossed the finish line. Florea dropped back, with USA's Gregory coming through to claim third place.
Mayr ultimately confirmed her dominance of Nasego 2022 with a time of 1:47:32, followed by Njeru, Gregory, Florea and then Wambui, who was unable to regain her Nasego title from 2019.
In the men's race, the Trofeo Nasego was certainly an event of steeply rising and falling emotions on this uphill and downhill course. Andreu Blanes from Spain took an early lead, leaving the entire field in his dust. Later he was caught by the Kenyan duo of Kipngeno and Kiriago, who challenged Blanes to a foot-to-foot duel. In the end the Spanish athlete could not keep up his strong pace and so had to leave thoughts of the podium behind.
Kipngeno and Kiriago dominated along with Eritrean Mamu at the mid-point of the race. The results seemed clearer at the highest point, when Kipngeno and Kiriago were leading with a gap of more than a minute over Mamu. Further on, during the last downhill section, the result was confirmed when once again Kipngeno descended strongly and arrived in first place along with another record time of 1:30:46, following his Vertical Nasego record from the day before. Kiriago was the second runner over the finish line, 54 seconds back, while the next to arrive was Mamu.
Despite his strong performance, Mamu couldn’t retain his title from last year, while in contrast it was a great weekend to add to an amazing season for the Kenyan runners that have dominated many European races this year. Kipngeno holds first place in the Valsir World Cup with a good lead, but there is still room for others to challenge during the remaining races. He also has left his name in the history books of Nasego, with two race records broken in one weekend.
Maria Avila (WMRA) for World Athletics
