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2026 Skyrunner World Series Final Preview · Let's Talk Trail Running

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk Try Running.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: This is your host, Robert Prosser, and today we've got another episode,
0:08
SPEAKER_00: a very exciting race coming up,
0:09
SPEAKER_00: the Skyrunner World Series Finals
0:13
SPEAKER_00: at the Marathon del Dement in Eslita, Spain.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: So, before we get to that, this is the show where we talk
0:20
SPEAKER_00: about upcoming trail races, both sub-ultra and ultra races, and anything in between.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: We try to get to as many races as possible that are covered on Fantasy Free Trail,
0:29
SPEAKER_00: which is Free Trail, The Trailhunting Media's Fantasy Trailhunting.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: So we record podcasts.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: We want to educate you guys more about the trail runners who are racing these races,
0:41
SPEAKER_00: what to expect from both the course and the athletes themselves,
0:45
SPEAKER_00: and to help create and build fandom in the sport of trail running,
0:49
SPEAKER_00: both sub-ultra running and ultra running,
0:51
SPEAKER_00: everything from vertical kilometers to 200-plus mile races.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, today is one of those previews that I'm excited
1:00
SPEAKER_00: about because the Skyrunning World Series is something that I,
1:02
SPEAKER_00: as somebody who's an American and trailrunning being
1:05
SPEAKER_00: a predominantly North American audience,
1:07
SPEAKER_00: I feel like skyrunning in general and especially
1:10
SPEAKER_00: the Skyrunning World Series is very overwhelming.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: Overlooked by North American trail audiences.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: So it's something that I was very excited to cover in creating this podcast.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: And so we will get to that in a little bit,
1:21
SPEAKER_00: just a little about housekeeping and what's been going on.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: I did record A preview episode for the Golden Trail World Series final.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, the audio file got lost and I just didn't have the energy
1:35
SPEAKER_00: to record another one.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: It's going to sound like, I don't know.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: I did have Elzeen winning Patrick in second.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: And I did not have Philemon as far down as he dropped.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: But I did think the sloppy course would play to Elezin's favor.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: I did have Joey somewhere in my top six or seven.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: And I did do well in that race.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: I think it got me up to 10 races in a row in the top 25% of picks.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: But then my last two races with Saigu and Javelina didn't go as well.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, I want to talk about the Golden Trail World Series.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: I know this is Sky Running World Series final,
2:04
SPEAKER_00: but just a couple of thoughts on the Golden Trail World Series that I talked
2:07
SPEAKER_00: about in my podcast and then wasn't able to distribute because of the audio file.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: So Golden Trail World Series, a couple of things about it.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but it just feels to me like
2:19
SPEAKER_00: the Golden Trail World series is getting kind of stale.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: It's the same cast of characters.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: The storytelling has gotten less compelling.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: And it just, to me personally,
2:26
SPEAKER_00: doesn't feel as exciting as it did the first three or four years,
2:30
SPEAKER_00: maybe 2019 to 2023.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: I really didn't start watching trail running until or following trail run closely,
2:36
SPEAKER_00: I'd say until 21 or 22 kind of coincident with my first Ultra in late Texas.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: I did go back and watch all of the 2018 or 2019 episodes
2:47
SPEAKER_00: of Golden Trail World Series when I was at military training in Texas.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: And so, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on this series,
2:55
SPEAKER_00: and I feel that storytelling has slowly become more and more like.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Less compelling, I And I think there's a couple of things that contribute to that.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: There is some parody and that on the men's side is basically just the big three.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: It used to be the big four with Remy, but it's basically just Elzeen, Patrick, and Philemon.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: None of them, all of them speak English, but they don't speak it, I would say,
3:19
SPEAKER_00: quite as, like, you know, Elazine knows, like, six languages,
3:22
SPEAKER_00: but English is definitely not his best.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: And then the Kenyan guys, they can speak,
3:26
SPEAKER_00: but they can't really tell a compelling story in the same way that some
3:29
SPEAKER_00: of the other characters in the series correspond.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: So I think that's part of it.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: I also think that those three have just been basically at the top
3:35
SPEAKER_00: and you can pretty much just roll the dice and pick one of them to win.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Elzin, that was his fourth final in a row. It was really, really impressive.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: We were surprised when he won in 2023,
3:44
SPEAKER_00: but he knows how to And he always shows up as a final fit and ready to roll.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: So it's pretty crazy that he won his third in a row,
3:52
SPEAKER_00: given how far back he was in points and how much had to go right.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: But he won just enough, got a two-point sprint segment or one of the segments,
3:59
SPEAKER_00: and basically beat Al Patrick by two points.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Patrick, I wasn't surprised that he did really good in the final.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: He's been dominant in all the Asia races that he's lined up to,
4:07
SPEAKER_00: hasn't lost one there, does get in sloppy conditions,
4:09
SPEAKER_00: and also races very well at the final.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: I was surprised that Philemon did as bad as he did,
4:13
SPEAKER_00: and it felt like he kind of really choked there.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Needless to say, yeah, I mean, so it was actually a pretty compelling,
4:20
SPEAKER_00: even though it's the same cast of characters,
4:22
SPEAKER_00: it was the most exciting final with regards to points on the line on the men's side.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: On the women's side, Madalena had a pretty clear lead,
4:28
SPEAKER_00: and it was pretty obvious that she would have to mess up pretty big to fumble
4:32
SPEAKER_00: that lead. She got second place.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: We had a really big surprise winner with, well, I'm blanking on her name,
4:38
SPEAKER_00: the Icelandic woman who won.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: Let me pull it up. I'm sorry, I'm blanking on it.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Who won the Muju Grand Trail Final?
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Here, let's see.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Andrea Kolben's daughter.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: And then another really impressive result for third place.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, the top five was, I would say,
4:58
SPEAKER_00: not what a lot of people would have expected on the women's side.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: Miriam Morales-Hernandez, Mexico runner, I think, from the National Series.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: Third place, Madalena Amaria from Romania.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: So two Romanians in the top four at the final.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: She has had good results, but has been kind of up and down.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't say she was a favorite.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Fifth place, Barbara Bukavan.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Sixth place, Teresa Booth.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: Seventh, Ruth Katanga.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Eighth, Caroline Kemetai.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Ninth, Beatrice Bianchi, and 10th, Marina Bay.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: So really surprising that the Kenyans, especially Ruth and Caroline, didn't do as well.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: But maybe not when you found out how rough and muddy the conditions were.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it wasn't really that close.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: And then...
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Let's see, race results, women's results, men's results. Yeah.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: And then on the top 10, so in the top 10 of the men's side, let's see,
5:47
SPEAKER_00: we had five Kenyans go top 10, eight, nine, and 10 were Kenyan,
5:51
SPEAKER_00: and two and three were Kenyan.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Noticeably outside of that top 10 was Villamon in 11th place.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Joey Hadorn proving his skill over technical terrain, fourth overall.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: Elaine Santamario Blanco, fifth.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: And Taylor Stack, American, sixth.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: To go with Bogdan, Damian, Romanian, very good downhiller, seventh.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: So I would actually say a little bit more nationalities in the top ten.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, still a lot of Kenyans, but that four through seven,
6:15
SPEAKER_00: I was pretty impressed with seeing people outside of African nations racing
6:21
SPEAKER_00: that well.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, anyways, that's kind of a long story.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: I had more on it in my podcast and more thoughts, but I just want to include that.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: I feel like Golden Trail is kind of missing the mark.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: The storytelling is kind of decayed.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting because they're trying to package it in a product
6:36
SPEAKER_00: that they're going to pitch to the Olympics.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: And some of that includes like the flower courses and other stuff.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: And that's another conversation for another day.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: I think there's pros and cons to it.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: I do like the Golden Trail World Series.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: I do think they have some of those competitive races in the world.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: And I do think they have one of the best media products,
6:52
SPEAKER_00: but I do feel like the storytelling has really gone by the wayside.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: I would say the past two or three years,
6:56
SPEAKER_00: maybe since 2023 and it just really hasn't felt as compelling.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: I remember I used to look forward to every episode that released,
7:04
SPEAKER_00: watching every episode and seeing the stories that they told and the people included
7:08
SPEAKER_00: in how they chose to tell a story,
7:10
SPEAKER_00: but now it just feels like there's some parody where it's same characters not
7:14
SPEAKER_00: that interesting and the story is kind of forced in some ways.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: So that was the Golden Trail Final.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: On the other side of things, we got Saigu, the race in China,
7:23
SPEAKER_00: which Jim Walmsley decided to line up at,
7:25
SPEAKER_00: and a lot of Solomon athletes also decided to line up at.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: So we saw Tove win and crush the 50K course, I want to say like 30 plus minutes,
7:33
SPEAKER_00: and I think she was only 15 minutes back of the men's winner
7:37
SPEAKER_00: and maybe fifth overall, so pretty insane to see that.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: And then on the women's side...
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Or so that was the women's side. Sorry.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: And then with regards to the 100K, Jim got the win, probably a favorite.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Miguel got second. Bart got third.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: And then Guangfu Meng and Duo Ji.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of people got a lot of points because they probably picked in that example.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: I did not.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: I was 139th out of 419.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: So I got outside of the top 15 and I didn't pick Bart
8:06
SPEAKER_00: because I didn't think he was going to do that well.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: On the women's side of the race, we did see Fuzhou Shang win,
8:11
SPEAKER_00: who probably was a favorite that a lot of people picked.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Lingjichi got second.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: Jingyan Tong got third.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Rihon Yamaxi got fourth.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: And Fufin Zhao got fifth.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: So I'd say a lot of people picked Fuzhou.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: She did win.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: And then Jim did win by a pretty good margin.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: I think he finished in 11.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me. He finished sub 11, maybe 10 .49 or 10 .50 something.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: And then I think second place was 20 plus minutes behind him and Miguel Arsenio.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: So that was Saigu.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: And then on the Javelina side, it was a pretty exciting race.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: I didn't watch as much of it, as I would have liked to.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: It was a busy day at college football and I think they did a long run in the morning
8:51
SPEAKER_00: or no, sorry!
8:53
SPEAKER_00: I went to the Colorado High School Cross Country Championships and spectated
8:58
SPEAKER_00: that which happened here in my current hometown of Colorado Springs
9:02
SPEAKER_00: And so that was really exciting.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: I've never, ever been to a cross-country meet.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: And it was a blast.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: And Colorado is obviously super renowned for cross-country running.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: And so I got there. It was a perfect, moody, overcast, kind of damp day.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Nice and cool. All the excitement.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: I was getting second-hand.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: My heart rate was going up just watching them warm up,
9:21
SPEAKER_00: and then watching them all just kind of storm out.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: It was such a cool vibe, and the fact that they make the course to where there's
9:26
SPEAKER_00: a lot of pinch points, where the runners come back through and the spectators come
9:29
SPEAKER_00: to stay in the middle and cheer people on, I was really, really impressed.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: Probably the coolest thing that I saw with regards to the XC Championships.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: I was there for a couple hours.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: I saw boys 4A, boys 3A, girls 4 and 3A, I want to say as well.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: But on the boys' side for the 4A, a young man named Oliver Horton,
9:51
SPEAKER_00: who's committed to UNC Chapel Hill, he won.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: Broke his own course record.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Ran 1440 on this course, which is not a flat course.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: It's probably 200 to 300 feet of elevation gain.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: And on top of that, broke his own course record from last year.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: He was the first one to ever go sub 15 on the course last year.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: It was like witnessing greatness in person.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: He just looked so smooth, so calm, so composed.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: He looked like he knew he was going to win that race from the jump,
10:21
SPEAKER_00: seeing him at mile one, seeing him at the finish.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: It was just really, really, So that was really fun to watch.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: And on top of that too, I mean, we're racing at, we live,
10:31
SPEAKER_00: that course is probably at 61 or 6200 feet.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: So we're talking, you know, 1900 meters of elevation above sea level.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: So to be able to do that on that hilly of a course at that altitude, it was just chef's kiss.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: It was really, really impressive.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: After that, I kept track of Javelina.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Shoutout to my wife's very, very good friend, Kat Lopez.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: She was the DFL, the dead freaking last finisher at Javelina 100K.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: who paced her, my wife to her finish just in the nick of time honestly
11:03
SPEAKER_00: within five minutes of the cutoff which was really awesome to see.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: Aravipo put an amazing video out for finishing it's got to be such a cool feeling
11:11
SPEAKER_00: to be you know out there on the course in ultra races for people presumably
11:16
SPEAKER_00: if you listen this you probably race ultras but a lot of times
11:19
SPEAKER_00: the last finisher gets bigger applause than the first finisher um
11:23
SPEAKER_00: so it's just really, really awesome to see
11:25
SPEAKER_00: because everyone's out there cheering everyone on and making sure
11:28
SPEAKER_00: that they are feeling the love.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: Javelina, I got kind of wrecked at, it wasn't too bad, I guess, 224 out of 654.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: But my picks just weren't the best for it.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: I only got three points scores on the women's side.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: On the men's side, I did really good.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: I actually got one through five.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I got four of the top five, but I just got everyone out of order, so I didn't get any exactos.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and Golden Ticket's going to Rob Mulk and Noah Duso
11:58
SPEAKER_00: on the women's side going to Heather Jackson and Carla Molinaro.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: So very impressive, very un-Javelina-like conditions,
12:06
SPEAKER_00: and was exciting to see some new faces in the Golden Ticket winning.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: All new faces except for Heather Jackson.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Other things. What have I been doing?
12:18
SPEAKER_00: I've been doing 5K training recently, getting ready for that Thanksgiving turkey trot.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping to go, I don't know, like sub 1730.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: It's on a beach, so that makes it a little tougher. But we'll see.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: It's at sea level, so it kind of just depends on how humid.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: I did just race a local fall series race in Colorado Springs,
12:34
SPEAKER_00: which is put on by the Pikes Peak Roadrunners.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Pikes Peak Roadrunners.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: It's just this cool series they do every two weeks.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: They have a fall and a winter series.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: So that was just like a five-mile course on some local technical trails and raced
12:47
SPEAKER_00: about 30 seconds faster than my race last year.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: And then I've been unemployed.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, it's good and bad.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to have to dip into savings.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: But the good side is I get to run and kind of do whatever I want when I want,
12:58
SPEAKER_00: which has meant that I've been running a lot with my friend.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Hannah Allgood, who lives here in Colorado Springs.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: And that's been fun because she is not training for anything super specifically yet,
13:08
SPEAKER_00: which means that she can go do adventure runs and tootle around
13:11
SPEAKER_00: and run slow like I do.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: And we can go do some cool adventures together.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's been really fun to run with Hannah.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: And then anyways, let's get on.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: That's my preamble and my just kind of catch up to let you guys know what's going on.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're going to talk about the Skyrunning World Series Final and some
13:29
SPEAKER_00: of the things that make it unique and that I also like that they do
13:32
SPEAKER_00: and that can also be a little bit of a downside.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: So, the courses at the Skyrunning World Series Final, definitely some of the coolest courses.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: As we talk about Golden Trail World Series,
13:41
SPEAKER_00: kind of going away from the classics and kind of making truncated or,
13:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to say illogical courses, but sometimes taking courses, you know,
13:48
SPEAKER_00: and in the flower format, which...
13:50
SPEAKER_00: Isn't really the prettiest way to see a course.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: I think Skyrunning World Series does a very good job at picking very interesting races.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: And they also do a very good job at picking races all around the world to try
13:59
SPEAKER_00: to create as much equity in having international athletes being able to qualify
14:04
SPEAKER_00: for this final.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: So they did have 18 races on the Skyrunning World Series circuit this season.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: We saw four in South America.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: We saw, I want to say, at least four in Asia.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: And then we saw a lot in Europe.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: So those we have absent are...
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Africa and like Australia as well.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me double check, let's see Penang, Ueda,
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Yading and Kanabo yeah
14:30
SPEAKER_00: so they do a good job for South American four Asian
14:34
SPEAKER_00: and then the rest pretty much being in Europe. So They have good reach.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: There's pros and cons to this because it does kind of dilute the competition.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can cherry pick these races and just go race to South American or Asian series.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: But I also think there's a lot of, like I said,
14:51
SPEAKER_00: equity in that because it's basically giving access to athletes You know,
14:54
SPEAKER_00: maybe Asian or South American athletes, they don't have the sponsors,
14:56
SPEAKER_00: they don't have the resources,
14:58
SPEAKER_00: they don't necessarily have the support or the money to go race and live in Europe
15:02
SPEAKER_00: for four different races.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: So it really helps to have them be able to get their points in their home continent,
15:07
SPEAKER_00: hopefully close by or in an area that they understand and are more familiar with.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Course description for the Marathon del Dement Sky Race.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: It is located in Eslita, Spain.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: The course claims to have 42 kilometers and 3,800 meters of vert.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: On Strava, I showed it a little bit shorter on Manu Marias' file from his course win last year.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: I had it more like 38 or 39 kilometers, so about 24 miles,
15:36
SPEAKER_00: and about 10,300 feet of vert, whatever that translates to N.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: I did include Manu Marias' Strava file from 2025.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: He was the winner on the final last year.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: He raced in a time of 4 hours, 2 minutes, and 8 seconds.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: So that's going to be in the show notes.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: And then Anastasia Rubstova, last year,
15:54
SPEAKER_00: last two years Skyrunning World Series champion, she won the race in 4 hours,
15:58
SPEAKER_00: 55 minutes, and 25 seconds.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: And I also included that Strava file as well.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: So basically, the course itself, I need this to refresh.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: The course itself, like I said, is in the town of Isleta, Spain.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Show me the map.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Show me the map. All right, cool.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: So they basically go out and do about a 10K loop first,
16:23
SPEAKER_00: and then it brings them back towards town.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: And then they do a bigger kind of like lollipop for the rest of the race.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: So what, 16-ish miles? And there's a lot of up and down.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: So basically two big climbs on that first, climbs and descents on that first 10K loop.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: And then, let's see, one...
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Two, three big prominent climbs for the rest of the race.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: And the race ends on a very steep and presumably technical descent where they go
16:53
SPEAKER_00: about, I think it's 2,000 feet.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, nearly 2,000 feet lost, about 600 meters lost in maybe three kilometers or 1.8 miles.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: So over 1,000 feet per mile on those couple of miles.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: And that's notable because somebody like Manny Marios, who can descend very,
17:10
SPEAKER_00: very good, Is going to descend very, very well.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: And Manu did exactly that.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: In mile 23, he had 1,400 feet of descending.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And the great adjusted pace was 518 minutes per mile.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: So it's like a three minute per kilometer.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: So expect somebody who's really good on the downhill to make some late moves.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: And Manu is perfectly set up for that.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: All right.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: So with that being said, we're going to go into the men's Preview first.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: Both races, I think, have pretty decent favorites.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: I think the women's is pretty much leaning towards Sarah Alonso,
17:41
SPEAKER_00: running away with the series like she has done all year,
17:43
SPEAKER_00: but we'll get more to that in a second.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: But I think the men's is a little bit more up for debate,
17:46
SPEAKER_00: and the standings are a little bit less clear on who is the favorite.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: To win the overall series, more or less.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: So, storylines identified.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: First, let me read the points.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: First place, Jose Manuel Quispe, Peruvian athlete for Murrell.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: He's got 478 points.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Second place, Fred Tranchand, 463 points.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: 3rd place, Manu Marias, 447.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: 4th place, Alex Oberbacher, 377.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Tied for 4th place as well, Marcos Villamora, 377.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: And then rounding out 6 through 10, Nico Molina in 6th, Morgan Elliott in seventh.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Daniel Antonioli in eighth. Weston Hill in ninth and Lucien Murmion in 10th place.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: So right now, Jose Manuel Quispe comes in as the favorite based off points
18:33
SPEAKER_00: but narrowly behind him are Fred Tranchand and Manu Marias as well So,
18:40
SPEAKER_00: storylines for the Skyrunning World Series.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Does Fred continue his dominance over his 2026 trail season?
18:47
SPEAKER_00: And if he does win this, is he making a strong bid for Troy, Trailrunner of the Year?
18:51
SPEAKER_00: It feels in my mind like he is making a strong bid if he wins this final
18:56
SPEAKER_00: for Trailrunner of the Year.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: We've got some other early season favorites that come to mind and we're going to do
19:00
SPEAKER_00: a podcast on my thoughts for voting for trail run of the year.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: It was one of the most listened to podcasts last year where I'm going to go
19:05
SPEAKER_00: through exactly who and why I pick everyone.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's one of my favorite podcasts of the year because we really got to compare
19:11
SPEAKER_00: and get into the nitty gritty results and talk about what's more competitive zeroes
19:14
SPEAKER_00: in all our Western states, and why I think these races are comparable
19:17
SPEAKER_00: on this my head. But
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Basically Fred hasn't lost since spring.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: And even then, his only two losses this year were to Manner Maria's early season
19:34
SPEAKER_00: and then one to Remy Benet at Marathon of Mont Blanc.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: So other questions and storylines.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Does Manner Maria's find his early season success over Fred enough
19:43
SPEAKER_00: to take his second Skyrunning World Series in a row?
19:46
SPEAKER_00: So he bested Fred and beat him out last year in the Skyrunning World Series final.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: Can you do it again?
19:50
SPEAKER_00: And then is this just a battle between those two or are there some other legitimate contenders?
19:55
SPEAKER_00: All right, so my favorites for this race, I'd say Fred and Manu are the two clear favorites.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: My predictions, I think Fred is going to continue his streak.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: I think Manu is going to settle for a podium.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: But I think somebody young and fast, like either Marcos Villamora, Alex Oberbacher,
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Lucien Mervion, sneaks between them in the top three.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I think that means Fred takes the overall Skyrunning World Series crown
20:18
SPEAKER_00: to add to his stack of accomplishments of 2026.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: He's been the European champ, the OCC champ.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: And possibly now the Skyrunning World Series gem.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: So getting into the field, first I'm going to start off with Jose Manuel Quispe.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: He's got the most points in the series.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: He is a lesser covered and lesser known athlete from Peru, sponsored by Morrell.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, currently top in the point standings.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: He's got four wins at all the South American races that took place in the series,
20:42
SPEAKER_00: which includes Cuatro Refugios in Argentina, the Andes Mountain Sky Race in Chile,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: The Ibarra Sky Race in Peru.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: And the Cordillera Blanca Sky Race in his home country of... Excuse me.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: Ibarra is in Ecuador, not in Peru.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: And then the...
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Cordillera Blanca Skyrace, which is in his home country of Peru.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: So despite those races drawing less of European crowd of athletes,
21:07
SPEAKER_00: they are partially why I do like and respect the Skyrunning World Series circuit
21:13
SPEAKER_00: because it gives amazing runners like Jose a chance to race closer to the home,
21:16
SPEAKER_00: still be competitive in the series, and to get recognized.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: In order to draw bigger sponsors and funding to get support to travel
21:23
SPEAKER_00: to other competitive races.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Jose is definitely the king of high-altitude races in this series.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Nobody races them better than him,
21:30
SPEAKER_00: and he has beat top athletes on the circuit in his home continent.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't think it was this year,
21:33
SPEAKER_00: but I believe it was last year he beat Mando Marias at one
21:36
SPEAKER_00: of the South American circuit races.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: And then his non-win races this year include he got second place at Beast
21:43
SPEAKER_00: of Big Creek behind Morgan Elliott.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: And then he did race the final last year and finished fourth place only
21:48
SPEAKER_00: behind Fred Manu in a very, very fit Luca Delpero,
21:52
SPEAKER_00: who was narrowly missed the top 10 trail one of the year.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: So Jose also raced the final in 2024 to a ninth place finish.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: So I expect Jose, he is going to,
22:04
SPEAKER_00: even though he wins these races that don't quite have the density,
22:07
SPEAKER_00: I do expect him to put up a good fight in this race.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: I do think he will for sure be in the top 10, very likely to be.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I quite see him fast enough to win here,
22:17
SPEAKER_00: but he will be looking to improve on that fourth place.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: He is a very competitive pick,
22:22
SPEAKER_00: and he will prove that he is one of the best on this circuit,
22:24
SPEAKER_00: regardless of where he races.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Manu Marias.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Anyone that listens to this podcast knows that I love me some Manu Marias.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite runners, Spaniard living in the Leon region of Spain.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: He's sponsored by New Balance,
22:37
SPEAKER_00: but was longtime sponsored by And he has been a Skyrunner racing
22:42
SPEAKER_00: the Skyrunning circuit for a very, very long time.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: I think he is a Skyrunning World Series champion,
22:48
SPEAKER_00: but before they were sponsored by Merrill in the mid-2010s and stuff like that.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Manu started off the season extremely strong with double wins over Fred Tranchand,
23:00
SPEAKER_00: and he's been racing since more or less March.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: He peaked kind of early in the season,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: had a bit of a rough patch in the middle of the season at Eurochamps,
23:07
SPEAKER_00: and then he's come back strong since then and appears to be getting into good shape
23:11
SPEAKER_00: for the final like he usually does.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, start off season two wins over Fred Tranchand at Acanteladas del Norte
23:19
SPEAKER_00: and Calamaro Sky Races.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: And then he followed that up with a fourth place finish at his beloved Zagama,
23:24
SPEAKER_00: which was a very, very good bounce back for him.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: Where he, at Zagama last year, he uncharacteristically finished outside the top 10,
23:33
SPEAKER_00: which he basically is a log for the top 10.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: And he's Zagama, excuse me.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Following Zagama, Manu raced at Eurochamps in both the uphill and the up-down races,
23:42
SPEAKER_00: but had rough days at both.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: 50th in the uphill, 27th in the up-down.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: But after that, he bounced back really strong with a third place at Marathon of Montblanc.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: He was only behind Fred and Remy Benet.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: So following that, he went on to run to an OK fourth place at Volzerreg 50-EK,
23:58
SPEAKER_00: which will get him into OCC next year. Maybe not.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not fourth.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: But I imagine he was trying to get a bid to OCC next year.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: And then he finally got a finish of sixth place at Trofeo Kima,
24:09
SPEAKER_00: which he DNF'd the last time Kima was run in 2024.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: I think he had to get airlifted, actually.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Manu did go on to race at Gorbiasusian, which we did preview on this podcast,
24:21
SPEAKER_00: and he was second only behind Elaine Santamario Blanco,
24:24
SPEAKER_00: who I think ran a course record there.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: And then Manu's most recent race was the fourth place at Soberscobio.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: Skyrace behind Fred, Jan, Toria, and Marcos, who all ran under the previous course record there.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: So one and two were European champions.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: And then...
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Marcos is a very fit, young Spaniard.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: So let's see pulling back up my pics
24:51
SPEAKER_00: yeah okay And then,
24:58
SPEAKER_00: so with regards to Mando,
24:59
SPEAKER_00: I think he's fit.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: He has beat Fred on this course as recently as last year,
25:05
SPEAKER_00: and he does appear to be shaping up well for the battle.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: But I just think Fred kind of has the wind on his back.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: He's got the one in his sails and really just is on one this season.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: And I think that Fred will make moves on the climbs that even Manu can't make up
25:19
SPEAKER_00: on the final descent of the race.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: I think Manu's on this podium, but like I said, in my kind of early prediction,
25:25
SPEAKER_00: I think that there's probably We see Fred and Manu on this podium,
25:28
SPEAKER_00: but I think that maybe we see somebody between them,
25:30
SPEAKER_00: and I like Fred's momentum coming into this race.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, talk about Fred Tranchand, Flying Frenchie himself, Merrill athlete,
25:37
SPEAKER_00: last year's world champion.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: He got 10th in Trojan of the year voting.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: This year's European champion, OCC champion, and very possibly this year's Troy.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: I think he's going to go in the top five in Troy based off what I'm seeing so far.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: He is looking to close out Spectacular Season with a win
25:52
SPEAKER_00: at the Skyrunning World Series final and possibly even the overall series.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I believe he will clinch the overall series if he does that.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Fred has followed up his seemingly surprising world short trail gold last year
26:05
SPEAKER_00: with a statement season that shows that his gold was by no means an accident.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: He started off the year with two second-place finishes behind Manu,
26:14
SPEAKER_00: and then since then has been on a tear, basically won every race he's lined up at,
26:17
SPEAKER_00: with the sole exception being second place at Marathon of Mont Blanc,
26:21
SPEAKER_00: only narrowly behind a very fit Remy.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Fred's wins this season include Vontu 25K by UTMB.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: He won Skyraced in Mathazine for second or third time.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: He was the European champion at the Trail 52K. He won OCC.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: And then most recently, he won Sober Scobio Skyrace.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: He is hot, he's tough to beat,
26:40
SPEAKER_00: and he definitely has the most momentum and dominance this season
26:44
SPEAKER_00: of anyone lining up on the men's side.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Alex Oberbacher,
26:48
SPEAKER_00: young and speedy Schemo Italian runner for La Sportiva,
26:51
SPEAKER_00: who is definitely one of the best climbers in this field.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: He's up there with Fred and is hot coming into the final with a win
26:57
SPEAKER_00: at his most recent skyrunning race at Mount Kanabalupe.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Canabaloo Climathon.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Other results for Alex this year include a 2nd place at Skyraced in Mathesine,
27:06
SPEAKER_00: 7th at Lavarito 50K, win at Schnallstall Skyrace in a win
27:11
SPEAKER_00: at a Shorten Matterhorn Ultrax course to go with 11th place at Gorbia Susian.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Alex Oberrocker does have DNFs at Zagama and OCC this year, however,
27:22
SPEAKER_00: which has me a bit concerned with his being a longer race.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: OCC isn't as problematic because he raced it within five days of racing Matterhorn old tracks.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: So I think that was just kind of dumb and he probably shouldn't have lined up there.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: But the Zagama one does seem a bit suspect.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: He has great potential to end up on the podium somewhere,
27:38
SPEAKER_00: but also has a non-trivial potential to DNF the race.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Loic Robert.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: French runner who I believe is sponsored by a local run club in his hometown
27:47
SPEAKER_00: in France, but has been running mostly in Killian's normal kit,
27:52
SPEAKER_00: like the normal accompany race kit this year.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: He can be a bit up and down racer, but when he is on,
27:58
SPEAKER_00: he's capable of very good results and has beat many people in this field this year.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: However, he's never beat Fred or Manu in a race before.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Loic Robert's best races include 5th at Contalados Del Norte this year,
28:10
SPEAKER_00: 4th at French Short Trail Champs, 7th at Marathon of Mont Blanc,
28:13
SPEAKER_00: and 3rd at Corbia Susien.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Other results include 17th at Zagama, 12th at Colomaro,
28:19
SPEAKER_00: and most recently 11th at Sobris He is a bit up and down and did not race
28:24
SPEAKER_00: the final here last year, so it's a bit more of a wild card.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't see Loic Robear going top five,
28:29
SPEAKER_00: but I do think top ten is a strong likelihood,
28:32
SPEAKER_00: but it's also a non-trivial chance that he has a bad day out there too.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Marcos Villamora.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: Young, rising Spanish runner for Scarpa,
28:40
SPEAKER_00: who has made a big leap in his consistency and abilities,
28:43
SPEAKER_00: ended up on the podiums this year in his races.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: He finished essentially in the top five of everything he raced this year,
28:48
SPEAKER_00: with the exceptions of ETC and Gorgeous Dutarn.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Marcos' top fives include second place at Trans-Grand Canaria Half Marathon,
28:56
SPEAKER_00: fourth at the Laboreto 50K, and most recently,
28:58
SPEAKER_00: a podium finish at Sober Scobio in front of even Manu himself,
29:03
SPEAKER_00: and just behind two European champions this year, that being Fred, uh,
29:07
SPEAKER_00: Fred Tronchalland in the 52K and Jan Torreya in the up-down.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: So pretty impressive company, course record, you know,
29:14
SPEAKER_00: would be under the course record if not the two European champions in front of him.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: I believe Marcos was mainly competing in the U23 circuit last year.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: So this will be his first time racing the Skyrim World Series men's final,
29:25
SPEAKER_00: but he has made the transition quite impressively.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: All right, next athlete to discuss, another Scarpa athlete, Daniel Antonioli.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: He's a Schemo Italian skyrunning specialist who is still running extremely well
29:44
SPEAKER_00: at these short, fast races, even though he is into his 40s in age.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: Basically, he hasn't missed any of the Skyrunning World Series races he's lined up to this year.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: He's got three top fives and his lowest finish being a seventh place at Skyraced
29:56
SPEAKER_00: in Mathesine to start the season.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: Daniel's other results include third at Beast of Big Creek,
30:01
SPEAKER_00: fifth at Matterhorn Ultrax, and third at MAGA Sky Marathon.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Most recently, he just raced Zackup Sky Race in Italy, which I'm unfamiliar with,
30:10
SPEAKER_00: but in it, he finished just five minutes behind William Bofelli,
30:13
SPEAKER_00: who is somebody that I'm very familiar with,
30:15
SPEAKER_00: and that was in a three or so hour race,
30:17
SPEAKER_00: so that would indicate that he's fit and ready to rip,
30:19
SPEAKER_00: because William Bofelli is one of the best Skyrunners in the world.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Daniel is not likely to win or podium,
30:25
SPEAKER_00: but I think he's one of the safest picks for points in this field and is
30:28
SPEAKER_00: a very wise racer who doesn't miss when he lines up.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: Biggest hesitation or caveat to that statement is that he has raced the final each
30:35
SPEAKER_00: of the last two years at Marathon Del Dement,
30:37
SPEAKER_00: which it seemed like last year's course was shorter than the year before's.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't had a good race here yet.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: His highest finish was 17th, and I'm not sure what to attribute that to,
30:45
SPEAKER_00: and I think the year before is 25th.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: But with that being said, Daniel is a very consistent racer.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: I very much expect to see him in the points somewhere, so somewhere in the top 10.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: And despite him not doing good at the final, I do feel like he is a safe pick for points.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Nico Molina, Spaniard.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: He's trail runner for Scott.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Frequent racer on the Skyrunning World Series circuit,
31:06
SPEAKER_00: and he's lined up at a range of races this year.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: He's got two wins in the series at Penang Sky Race in Malaysia and Ueda Sky Race in Japan.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: Other results for Nico include sixth at Calamaro Sky Race, fourth at Matterhorn,
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Ultrax, and 13th at Gorbia Susien.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: He did line up at the same course last year for the finals and ran
31:23
SPEAKER_00: to eighth place finish about 15 minutes back at Manu for the win.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: Next runner, Lucien Mermillon,
31:29
SPEAKER_00: young French runner for the skiing brand
31:32
SPEAKER_00: who has recently started making trail shoes, Rossignol.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Lucien has had quite a long and consistent season this year,
31:40
SPEAKER_00: finishing in the top five in just about all the races he's lined up to,
31:43
SPEAKER_00: with the exception of a seventh place at MCC and a tenth at Gorbiasuzian.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: Lucien's best results include a fourth at Skyrace de Mathesine,
31:51
SPEAKER_00: fifth at Gorgesdutarn, and second at the MAGA Sky Marathon.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Lucien did line up at the final last year and ran to a seventh place finish,
31:59
SPEAKER_00: and he has leveled up this year, so I do expect him to contend for the top five.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Last two runners to talk about, first one being Morgan Elliott,
32:08
SPEAKER_00: really the only American runner on either side and the only American
32:11
SPEAKER_00: that we see focusing pretty much solely on the Skyrunning World Series,
32:14
SPEAKER_00: which is unfortunate, despite having plenty of other American runners,
32:19
SPEAKER_00: women especially, who I feel like could do really well here.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jane Moss comes off the top of the head.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: I think she got second at Calamaro, the only Skyrace she did this year.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: Anna Gibson, Jen Lichter even, I think would do great in the Skyrunning World Series.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: But anyways, back to Morgan.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: His best result this year was the win at Vista Big Creek in Washington,
32:36
SPEAKER_00: and other races included as 22nd at Sober Scobio, 21st at Broken Arrow 23K,
32:42
SPEAKER_00: 3rd at Quattro Refugios, and 17th at Penang Sky Race.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: He raced the final to a 16th place finish last year,
32:49
SPEAKER_00: and he's 7th overall in the point standings right now.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Last runner to discuss is UK's very own up-and-coming runner, Tom Spencer.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: He races for Innovate, and I believe he's still young enough to race
33:04
SPEAKER_00: the U23 circuit this year, but he has stepped up to a lot of the full-distance races
33:07
SPEAKER_00: on the Skyrunning World Series.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: So a young and aspiring star up with his fellow countrymen, Finlay Grant.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: He's got some very impressive results with all of his races on the circuit ending
33:18
SPEAKER_00: in top 10s, even some podium results.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: Started off the season with a podium in third place at Colomaro,
33:24
SPEAKER_00: very impressively only behind Manu and Fred in that race.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: Tom Spencer followed that up with a 10th place at the very speedy
33:31
SPEAKER_00: and technical SkyRaced in Mathesine.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Rolled that into another podium with a second place at Gorges Dutarn.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: Raced a very strong 35th place since here as an all in 2 hours and 44 minutes,
33:41
SPEAKER_00: which is a very elite time.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: I'd say anything to sub 245 on the men's side is very, very good.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: And then Tom followed it up with 8th place at Shorten, Matterhorn, Ultracks, 16th at ETCU.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: Which was a race that was only four days later.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: And then most recently, he raced the Sobroscobio to a second place in a, excuse me,
34:00
SPEAKER_00: the shortened course at Sobroscobio.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's the U23 one to a second place finish in a sprint finish with his friend
34:05
SPEAKER_00: and countryman, Finlay Grant.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: This race is a bit long for Tom, but he did do fairly well at Colomarro,
34:12
SPEAKER_00: which is almost three hours, and Sierra Zanon, which is two hours and 44 minutes.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious to see what he can pull off.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: I do think he could find himself in the mix there.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: All right, now we're going to the favorite part where I make my picks.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: All the usual caveats, check the field right before the entries close
34:29
SPEAKER_00: to make sure nobody dropped from the race.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Basically, I'm going to pick people that I think have very consistent races,
34:34
SPEAKER_00: but also are not likely to DNF because DNF gets no points.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: And then this is for fun.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm also going to give you some picks that I might sub
34:42
SPEAKER_00: in or that I would consider subbing in because I am very likely to change these
34:46
SPEAKER_00: and move them around a little bit and fiddle.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: So on the men's side, I'm going to go fifth place, Lucien Mermillon, Rossignol,
34:52
SPEAKER_00: French athlete, young up-and-comer,
34:54
SPEAKER_00: had some really good consistency and leveled up this year.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Fourth place, I'm going to go Jose Manuel Quispe.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of on par.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: He got fourth last year, so I could be kind of just tracking with his results last year.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: But I do think that he's going to be in the top 10 somewhere and will race well at the final.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: He also does better at longer races, and this is a little bit of a longer race.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Third place, I'm going to go my beloved Manu Marias.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: Like I said in the preview, I think that I see Fred keeping the momentum going,
35:20
SPEAKER_00: although Manu does have a knack for winning these finals, so keep that in mind.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of like the Elozine. He's won the last two Skyrunning World Series finals,
35:27
SPEAKER_00: and he has a way to really kind of peak his fitness at the right time.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: So Manu, I got third right now.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: Second place, I'm going to go Marcus Villamora.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: Young, up-and-coming Spaniard,
35:36
SPEAKER_00: really kind of racing to form with some really impressive results recently.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: I do think that it is very possible.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I think that he or Lucien or Alex could maybe split Fred and Manu.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: And then with that being said, I'm going to go top pick. You guys see this coming.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Fred Tranchand.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: So first place, Fred.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: Second place, Marcos.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: Third place, Manu.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Fourth, Jose Manuel. Quispe.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: And fifth, Lucien Mermillon.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: People that I would consider substituting in.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: I think Alex Oberbacher is a very strong pick for the top five.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: I just think there's a non-trivial chance he DNFs or doesn't manage his nutrition well.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: I think that Loic Robert, if he's on, he's in there.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: I think Daniel Antonioli is a very Safe pick, and he will get points.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: He might not end up in that top five,
36:21
SPEAKER_00: but he's going to definitely be in the top ten.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: So that's who I'd look out for. Women's side.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Storylines on the women's side, I think...
36:28
SPEAKER_00: So first we're going to read the point standings on the woman's side
36:32
SPEAKER_00: so I got it pulled up.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: First place, Sara Alonzo, 500 points, Perfect Sheet.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Second place, Amanda Nielsen, 431 points.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: Third place, Svetlana Nurmokhematova.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Nermuk Hamatova, 428 points.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: Fourth place, Natalie Beadle, 405.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Fifth, Ayla De La Foss, 382.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: And then sixth, Patricia Pineda.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: Seventh, Rosalia Zagara.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: Eighth, Callie McChrystal, Rest in Peace.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: And ninth, Eve Panone.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: And tenth, Alice Bosseron.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: So that's the women's standings storylines coming into this.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: So we have the lack of last year's series winner, Anastasia Robstova.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: She won the Skyrunning World Series the last two years in a row,
37:23
SPEAKER_00: and that was due to announcing a pregnancy early in the season.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully she gave birth to a beautiful child and is recovering and getting pregnant.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Back to training whenever she wants to.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: Other storylines, Sarah Alonzo, almost a 70-point lead on second place, Amanda Nielsen.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: The impressive range of nationalities are represented in the top 10-point standing.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: So on the women's side, eight different nationalities on the women's side compared
37:47
SPEAKER_00: to seven in the men's field.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: We've got Spain, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, France, Peru, Canada.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, on the women's side.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: And then on the men's side, we got seven different nationalities.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: So I thought it was impressive.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: There is a lack of U.S. women represented in the series.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: And additionally, surprising, no Italian women in the top 10 point standings.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: Especially for a nation like Italy that loves
38:13
SPEAKER_00: and pretty much invented skyrunning more or less,
38:15
SPEAKER_00: it seems like their top females for Italy really prefer to focus
38:18
SPEAKER_00: on World Mountain Running Association, so that's WMRA events,
38:22
SPEAKER_00: or even local skyraces that are meaningful to them.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Whereas on the men's side, there's two Italians in the top 10,
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Daniel Antonioli in eighth and Alex Oberbacher in fourth.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: For favorites for this race, I put Sara, Sara, Sara.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: So Sara Lonza is a favorite, hands down.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: Anyone that tells you definitely is wrong.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: Predictions, Sara wins.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Probably another course record for Sara.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: Probably by 10 plus minutes.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: Those are some of my predictions.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: I do think we see at least three,
38:48
SPEAKER_00: but probably not But possibly even four Spanish women in the top ten.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: I do think we see somebody from Eastern Europe in the top five between Svetlana,
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Ana Darmograi, or Alina Karinfiloska.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: All right, first one to talk about.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Favorite point leader.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: On a tear this year, Basque Bullet herself,
39:07
SPEAKER_00: one of the most ferocious and spirited racers in trail running,
39:11
SPEAKER_00: the ASICS-sponsored Sara Alonzo,
39:14
SPEAKER_00: who has been on a continued tear this season after last year's awesome season
39:17
SPEAKER_00: where she finished third in the final.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: She's bounced seamlessly between UTMB, Golden Trail World Series,
39:27
SPEAKER_00: and Skyrunning World Series races, showing her versatility.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: This year, she has definitely shifted her focus and has raced enough
39:33
SPEAKER_00: at the Skyrunning World Series to be the leading overall standings coming
39:36
SPEAKER_00: into the final and is going to be a favorite to win it.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: She's got a perfect 500 points and four wins and four course records at all
39:44
SPEAKER_00: the races she has lined up to.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: So that's a pretty clean sweep.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Calamaro, Contellados Del Norte, Gorbia Susien, and Sober Scobio Sky Race.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: Four wins, four course records.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't get much better.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, all those races take place in her home country of España.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: She is Spanish and so does this final.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: So regardless of location, I think she would be the favorite, however,
40:04
SPEAKER_00: in this field, but especially on this course as well.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, she runs extremely well in Spain,
40:11
SPEAKER_00: very comfortable running on technical or fast courses.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: She's got like a 111 half marathon PR and basically just is a gutsy, gutsy racer.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: Other results for Sarah this year include third at her beloved Zagama.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Win at UTMB Valderan, the PDA 55-kilometer course,
40:28
SPEAKER_00: which was the European UTMB major for the continent.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: She also had 11th at Sears and All in three hours and three minutes,
40:34
SPEAKER_00: which would have gotten her eighth place in last year's race.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: And she was third at OCC, where she led much of the race, brought it out super hot.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: And then until the epic Naomi Lang and Lauren Gregory finished and was just a minute
40:48
SPEAKER_00: behind even those females.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: So very, very tight spread.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: And then on top of that, Sarah also has a win at the UTMB CACCAR 20K out in Turkey.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: Hands down, she's a favorite.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: I expect a likely course record and a win by a good margin.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: All right, so the rest of this field...
41:03
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, in order of how Future has been ranked, Greta Garcia Moran,
41:09
SPEAKER_00: Spanish Skyrunner for A6, currently outside the top 10 in the overall standings,
41:12
SPEAKER_00: but she is setting with the second highest ranking, like I mentioned.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: Greta has a big range of strong results in a range of very competitive fields this year.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: So she started off her season with 6th at Consolatos Del Norte Skyrace,
41:25
SPEAKER_00: followed it up with 14th at Skyrace to Mathesine and 13th at Zagama.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: Then she followed that up with 6th place at Gorgeous Dutarn.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Win at Picos de Europa, 46K.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: And she had a very impressive OCC debut with an eighth place finish.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: And that was her first ever UTMB final.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: She did race ETC last year, but that's like her first UTMB major, I would say.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: And then she went on to win Julie Knapp's 50K by UTMB.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: And most recently, a strong second place showing at Sober Scobio,
41:52
SPEAKER_00: only behind Sara Alonzo's course record.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: And she was in front of Patricia Panetta.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: Greta Garcia didn't race the final here last year, so TBD on how she handles it,
42:01
SPEAKER_00: but she is a very consistent high-level racer,
42:03
SPEAKER_00: and I think she's good for somewhere between 3rd and 8th in this field.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Amanda Nielsen, Swedish runner for Hoka.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: She's dipped her toes into deep international competition
42:15
SPEAKER_00: for the first full season this year after racing at Worlds Short Trail,
42:19
SPEAKER_00: where she got 28th place last year.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: She currently sits second in the overall points totals for the women in the series.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: And she started off her season with a fourth place at Contalados Del Norte
42:29
SPEAKER_00: behind Sarah Alonso and Patricia Pineda.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: And then she does have two wins in the series at Ueda Sky Race in Japan
42:35
SPEAKER_00: and Ibarra Sky Race in Ecuador.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: So she's really gotten around the world this year.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: It's a travel and sky running world series. We don't usually see that.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: Usually you kind of see people go and do two or three in Asia or two and three
42:45
SPEAKER_00: in South America, but she's gone the whole spectrum.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: She also got a second place in the Cordillera Blanca Sky Race,
42:51
SPEAKER_00: so she did do a second race in South America and Peru.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: Her other girl result was a 13th place at Euro Champs in the 52-kilometer trail race.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: Amanda is second overall in points,
43:02
SPEAKER_00: and I am encouraged by her good showing at Contalados del Norte to start the season,
43:06
SPEAKER_00: but I do think it's tough to tell where she's going to fall in this field,
43:10
SPEAKER_00: as most of the races she won her podium at were I think Top 10 is likely,
43:15
SPEAKER_00: but I think I would be surprised to see her on the podium,
43:17
SPEAKER_00: so I'm going to say she goes somewhere in that 4-9 range.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Ava De La Fosse, French runner for the Clube de Sport de Maribel Club in Italy.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: She is on the Colibri Academy team, according to her UTMB bio.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Apologies to all French speakers out there.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: She is very good at finishing runner-up this year,
43:37
SPEAKER_00: as she showed with three second-place finishes out
43:39
SPEAKER_00: of her four Skyrading World Series races.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: Those silvers included Skyracing Mathazine to start the season,
43:46
SPEAKER_00: where she was just behind Malin Osa.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: She got second at Gorgeous Dutarn shortly after that,
43:50
SPEAKER_00: where she was only behind Patricia Pineda, but in front of Alice Bossaron,
43:55
SPEAKER_00: who is racing the final.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: And she also did well at one of the longer races on the circuit at MAGA Sky Marathon
44:01
SPEAKER_00: in Italy, where she finished just behind Natalie Beadle,
44:04
SPEAKER_00: who is also lining up in this field.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Her fourth result, a Skyrunning World Series race, was sixth place at Gorbia Susien,
44:11
SPEAKER_00: most recently behind Natalie Beadle, Sarah Alonso, and Alice Bosseron.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: The more I look at her results, the more impressed I am,
44:19
SPEAKER_00: and I do think there's a very strong chance to find her in the top five,
44:22
SPEAKER_00: but there is a small DNF potential as well.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: She has two DNFs in the past two years,
44:27
SPEAKER_00: which is pretty good because she does race a lot,
44:29
SPEAKER_00: but it's just non-trivial compared to some of these other athletes.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: So that is Ava De La Foss.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: Patricia Panena, Spanish Skyrunner for La Sportiva,
44:38
SPEAKER_00: has the head-to-head edge over Greta Garcia, 6-2.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: She also has the head-to-head over Alice Balseron, 5-3.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: But she does trail Ava De La Foss, 2-1.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: They've traded back and forth in all three races this season.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: So start off with Ava, then Patricia, and then most recently Ava.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: Patricia is a consistent racer on the circuit in races that draw deep fields,
45:01
SPEAKER_00: aka mostly European races.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: She did start off the season with a 2nd at a Contalados Del Norte,
45:07
SPEAKER_00: only behind Sarah's course record.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: She got 5th at Calamaro Sky Race and 10th at Sky Race to Mathazine.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: She followed those up with a win at Gorgias Du Tarn, 2nd at Lavarito 50K,
45:17
SPEAKER_00: narrowly behind Mayalan Osa, 7th at Gorbia Susien,
45:20
SPEAKER_00: and most recently 3rd at Sober Scobio, only behind Sarah and Greta Garcia.
45:25
SPEAKER_00: I think that Patricia Panena is about as safe or smart as a pick as you can get here.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: She's good at long distances.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: She's a super consistent high finisher.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: She races at a high level and she doesn't DNF.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: Put her in your top five somewhere and you can go and sleep well tonight.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Svetlana Nurmikhmatova,
45:44
SPEAKER_00: Russian athlete but unaffiliated under UTMB due to the international goings-ons.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: She currently sits third in the overall point standings narrowly
45:52
SPEAKER_00: behind Amanda Nielsen and has two wins at Skyrunning World Series events coming
45:56
SPEAKER_00: at Yading Sky Race in China and Penang Sky Race in Malaysia.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: Svetlana also has a fifth place at Ueda Sky Race in Japan and a second
46:05
SPEAKER_00: at Mount Kanabulu Climathon most recently.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: It'll be interesting to see her race.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: She has some similarities to the winner
46:12
SPEAKER_00: of the previous two Skyrim World Series finals and championships,
46:15
SPEAKER_00: Anastasia Rubstova, in that she mainly is limited to running Asia races due
46:19
SPEAKER_00: to her location or proximity to them,
46:21
SPEAKER_00: but she hasn't been quite as dominant or unbeatable as Anastasia,
46:24
SPEAKER_00: so I don't really know where to slaughter in here.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: I do think she's got a strong chance at the top ten,
46:29
SPEAKER_00: but I don't know that I see her in that top five range.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Alice Bosseron,
46:34
SPEAKER_00: French runner for New Balance with four Skyrunning World Series races
46:38
SPEAKER_00: under her belt this year, none finishing lower than sixth place,
46:41
SPEAKER_00: and she is currently 10th overall in the point standings.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: Alice's races include sixth at Skyrace to Mathesine, third at Gorgeous-Dutarn,
46:49
SPEAKER_00: 4th at Matterhorn Ultrax, and 5th at Gorbie Suzan to go with also 7th place
46:53
SPEAKER_00: at Marathon of Mont Blanc, the half marathon distance, and 33rd at Sierras and all.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: Alice did race last year's final where she finished 13th place,
47:02
SPEAKER_00: but she has done better at the Skyrunning World Series races she's lined up
47:05
SPEAKER_00: to this year, and she's raced more consistently.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: I think she's a strong pick for points and probably ends up somewhere in that 4
47:12
SPEAKER_00: through 10 range.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: All right, next athlete, Natalie Beadle,
47:19
SPEAKER_00: a UK runner for Arcteryx who recently started off the season slow
47:23
SPEAKER_00: and then has picked up momentum.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: Actually, let me see.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: I want to see Natalie and I'm going to check a head-to-head because I want
47:32
SPEAKER_00: to see who's got the head-to-head between Natalie Beadle and Alice Bocerone.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: All right. Alice has it five to three, but Natalie has one.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: Natalie won the most recent one. Okay.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: I thought I checked that, but I just want to double check. All right.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: So next athlete, Natalie Beatle,
47:50
SPEAKER_00: UK runner who picked up an Arc'teryx sponsorship during the year.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: And she started off the season slow, and then she's kind of picked up momentum as she's gone on.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure I've seen her Instagram,
48:01
SPEAKER_00: and I think she was living on a boat the first half of the year,
48:03
SPEAKER_00: so that would probably make it kind of hard to do run training.
48:06
SPEAKER_00: But she's really kind of built her fitness as the year has gone
48:09
SPEAKER_00: on and currently sits in fourth place in the overall point standing.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: So she's kind of within striking distance at making the podium in the final standings.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: Her early season races, like I said, weren't her best,
48:18
SPEAKER_00: but she picked up a lot of momentum ever since her second place at the Beast
48:21
SPEAKER_00: of Big Creek, the Sky Race in the U.S.,
48:23
SPEAKER_00: She went on to finish fifth at Matterhorn Ultrax,
48:26
SPEAKER_00: and then she won at MAGA Sky Marathon and third at Gorbia Susien.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: This course being closer to a marathon does favor her,
48:32
SPEAKER_00: as she's done well at both MAGA Sky Marathon,
48:35
SPEAKER_00: which took her five hours and 27 minutes to get the win,
48:38
SPEAKER_00: and she was third at Gorbia Susien in three hours and 36 minutes,
48:41
SPEAKER_00: which are two of the longer races, I would say, on the circuit.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: At least MAGA for sure is.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: Natalie does have experience on the course here where she finished 10th in the final.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I have her in my picks, but we're going to see.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be surprised to see her go top 10.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like she's built fitness as the year has gone on and does good at these longer races.
48:59
SPEAKER_00: So I think she's a strong contender for being one of your top five picks.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Anna Darmograi,
49:05
SPEAKER_00: Ukrainian runner who I was unfamiliar with until doing research for this final.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: That's part of why I like this podcast is to get to learn about new runners.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: She does have a Kailas Fuga sponsorship and she has a fourth place at Gorgeous Duton
49:16
SPEAKER_00: to her name this year to go with the 18th place at Sky Race in Mathazine and 11th
49:20
SPEAKER_00: at Trophy of Kima.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: So TBD, not sure where to slot her, but some good results.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Elena Karen Filoska,
49:29
SPEAKER_00: North Macedonian runner who has been a regular
49:31
SPEAKER_00: in the Manning Skyrunning World Series races this year on the circuit.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: Best results include fourth at Calamaro, second at Penang Sky Race,
49:38
SPEAKER_00: fifth at Maga Sky Race, and eighth at Gorbia Susanne to go with an eighth
49:41
SPEAKER_00: at Trophy Akima this year.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Elena did race the final to sixth place finish here last year,
49:47
SPEAKER_00: and I do believe she is a top ten as a safe bet for her.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: Top five less likely, but definitely not out of the realm of possibility.
49:58
SPEAKER_00: And my wife just got home and Barkley's excited.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: So he's barking in the background.