The first title race at the 2nd World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck-Stubai has been concluded, and Gold goes to Patrick Kipngeno. The Kenyan runner won with a time of 40:38 minutes, 1:33 minutes ahead of Ugandan Levi Kiprotich and 1:46 minutes ahead of fellow Kenyan Josphat Kiprotich. Joseph Gray from the US, who came fifth, was the best non-African, and Manuel Innerhofer, who finished in 29th place (+5:19 minutes), best Austrian. Kenya also takes home Gold in the team ranking, ahead of Uganda and Switzerland, with Austria in 11th place.
The leaders set an extremely high pace right from the start of the 7.1-kilometer route with a climb of 1,020 meters. After the initial 800 meters on relatively flat tarmac, the athletes had to pass through a narrow gate onto an equally narrow path, and only the first 20 runners were able to pass this bottleneck without some waiting time. The leading trio managed to set itself apart from the rest of the field as early on as the bottleneck, and the two Kenyans and one Ugandan distanced themselves further on a short flat gravel section.
Defending champion Kipngeno, who recently moved to Austria, was able to further extend his lead on the way to the first split time at the Autenalm (km 3.9). Coming second, Josphat Kiprotich had to let Levi Kiprotich from Uganda pass him in this section. The final steep section from the Elferbahn cable car station to the finish line at the Elfer hut was a triumph for Kipngeno, who by this time had clearly distanced himself from his pursuers and was able to high five the fans along the route.
The distance between second and third was less pronounced, and Levi Kiprotich kept looking back to keep track of his pursuers but ultimately won silver with a 13-second lead on the third. American Joseph Gray finished as the best non-African in fifth place, right behind Eliud Cherop from Uganda. Spaniard Daniel Osanz, as the best European, finished in sixth place.
