At only 23 years of age, Frenchman Benjamin Roubiol wins the supreme discipline at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, the Trail Long, over a royal 86.9 kilometers and 6,500 vertical meters in ascent. Italian Andreas Reiterer was the second to cross the finish line, followed by Peter Frano from Slovakia in third place. With a deficit of 52:48 Minuten, Alexander Hutter finishes in 20th place as the best Austrian.
Immediately after the start, a trio of Japanese runners took the lead, with Yamato Yoshino being the first to reach the so-called Naturschauplatz Hühnerspiel. However, once the field returned to Neustift after the initial 17 kilometers of the course, he had fallen back as far as 14 minutes and eventually had to give up.
Italian Andreas Reiterer was in the lead for more than 45 kilometers, at times running solo and leaving a changing field of pursuers up to six minutes behind. But after having passed three peaks as well as the flat approach to Kranebitten, the climb up to the Nordkette caused him trouble, which allowed Benjamin Roubiol to come closer and closer and finally pass Reiterer just before the Aspach hut. On about seven kilometers, the Italian athlete lost eight minutes but he managed to cross the finish line in second place, 1:23 minutes ahead of Peter Frano from Slovakia. German runner Hannes Namberger, who was one of the hot contenders, especially after Jim Walmsley from the USA had to cancel, didn’t live up to the expectations and came in 14th place with a deficit of 40:19 minutes.
Austrian Alexander Hutter on the other hand stood out with his strong performance; he could keep among the top 15 for a very long time, but in the end had to pay tribute to the high temperatures and the tough climbs, finally finishing the race in 20th place.
