At the finish, Andrea Mayr is carrying the Austrian flag in her hands, holding it up as she crosses the finish line, before turning and falling to the ground. Exertion is mixed with exuberant joy - and relief: Austria’s most successful mountain runner sets with winning her eleventh gold medal another milestone in her career. In a nerve-wracking sprint to the finish, she increased her lead over runner-up, Kenyan Philaries Jeruto Kisang, to 37 seconds. The American Grayson Murphy secured third place.
“At the Elfer, I took home my 11th individual medal,” says Andrea Mayr - the mountain's name literally translates to Eleven. “And the medal is a Gold one, which is even more amazing,” she adds happily. In front of her home crowd, she was able to add another medal to her collection. During today’s first competition in Innsbruck-Stubai, the region demonstrated that it is the perfect venue for these World Championships. Against an impressive backdrop of steep rock faces, bright blue skies and sunshine, the athletes delivered a nail-biting race. Crowds of fans gathered along the route, and at the Elfer hut they not only enjoyed a perfect view of the finish sprint on the steep grass slope, but also had the best view of the Stubai glacier.
Mayr started the race further back in order to save energy, finishing the first steep climb in eighth or ninth place. After a short, flat passage, she played to her strengths and took the lead, a lead that she had already extended to 33 seconds once she reached the Autenalm. In the flat passage that followed, Mayr had to give up her lead to Kenyan Philaries Jeruto Kisang.
“I thought my lead would be larger, but then she ran past me,” says the 43-year-old physician. “I told myself: Okay, I’m second, that would also be a great result. But of course, I wanted to make it.” On the finishing straight, Mayr and her Kenyan rival delivered a final sprint that demanded them to give it their all. Andrea Mayr prevailed. With tears in her eyes, she thanked her mother, who came to the finish line despite her walking difficulties. She kept erupting with joy, waving to spectators and friends. Even before the race, she was considered a medal contender; now she won Gold for her country at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.
In the men’s category, Patrick Kipngeno defended his title with an outstanding lead of 1:33 minutes over his pursuer, Ugandan Levi Kiprotich. Josphat Kiprotich, a fellow Kenyan, came in third. Like the majority of the contestants, Kipgeno pointed out the difficulty and steepness of the course. Although the race was very tough for him, he said that he was “very happy”. The fastest Austrian, Manuel Innerhofer, who finished in 29th place, also emphasized the steepness of the route. “The race wasn't what I expected. It was too steep for me.” The track was extremely narrow and made it difficult to overtake others.
