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WORLD MOUNTAIN AND TRAIL INNSBRUCK 2023. THE RETURN, 21 YEARS LATER.
WORLD MOUNTAIN AND TRAIL INNSBRUCK 2023. THE RETURN, 21 YEARS LATER. Our MOUNTAIN RUNNING section celebrates the return to the capital of the Austrian Alps for the 2023 World Mountain Trail Running Championships.
After the indices with the World Cup Thailand, both Innsbuck and Canfranc were the two strongest candidates, given their experience. Finally, Innsbruck’s history as the 2002 venue and the 4.7 million investment promised for athletes have tipped the scales.
WORLD MOUNTAIN AND TRAIL INNSBRUCK 2023.
THE RETURN, 21 YEARS LATER.
In the final voting, the 2023 Mountain and Trail Running World Championships have been awarded to Innsbruck and Stubai, ahead of the 2023 Canfranc Canfranc World bid.
The joint application of Innsbruck Tourism and the Stubai Tourism Association to host the World Mountain and Trail Races (WMTRC) in 2023 has been a logical success, for alpine location, history as a World Cup venue and investment for athletes.
It has therefore been chosen among the strong international competition, where Canfranc has been in second place among the four finalists.
SEBASTIAN COE, PRESIDENT OF WORLD ATHLETICS, STATEMENT
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “We are delighted that the 2023 edition of the Mountain and Trail World Championship will take place in the Austrian region of Innsbruck-Stubai.
This global running festival will bring together elite mountain and trail runners from around the world, competing among some of the most spectacular scenery Austria has to offer.
We are also pleased to work closely with the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), the International Ultrarunners Association (IAU) and the International Trail Running Association (ITRA) in delivering this event.
We all share the ambition to promote running at the elite and popular level, at all levels and in all forms. This is an exciting opportunity to showcase a different kind of challenge for mountain runners, who come together to celebrate their common passion for our sport.”
WA, IAU, ITRA and WMRA have jointly examined all bids for the WMTRC 2023 edition: “The quality of the offerings confirms the global growth and interest in outdoor running disciplines. Careful consideration of the different parameters made the task more difficult due to the high standards, but we are confident that awarding the 2023 WMTRC Championships to Innsbruck Stubai will lead to very successful championships in 2023.”
MOUNTAIN RUNNING WMRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
INNSBRUCK 2002
The WMRA Mountain Running World Championship started in 1985 from Italy. Quickly the Austrian Alps were nominated as a venue, hosting the 1990 and 1996 World Cups in Telfes. For 2022 Innsbruck arrived as the third World Cup venue for mountain races in this privileged region.
That was an especially brilliant world championship because of the high level of the runners in contention. The team world championships were the Italians achieving men’s and women’s doubles.
However, the individual golds went to New Zealander Jonathan Wyatt and Russia’s Svetlana Dendenko. A Jonathan Wyatt who, let’s not forget, more than being an Olympian twice and five-time world champion, in these years was in full swing.
The following year, in 2003 Wyatt set an incredible record in Sierre Zinal that was valid for 16 years. It wasn’t until Kilian Jornet’s own seventh win here in 2019 that he fell.
To illustrate the depth of the field that year, suffice it to say that Marco de Gasperi managed to enter the TOP10 by the hair (9th) and that a legend of Sierre Zinal as the Mexican pentampeon Ricardo Mejía, closed in Innsbruck 2002 the top20.
As you can see, an almost unbeatable precedent on the organizational and sporting excellence that 21 years ago already demonstrated the sports capital of the Austrian Alps.
WORLD MOUNTAIN AND TRAIL INNSBRUCK 2023
The Innsbruck-Stubai community will bring the WMTRC to Tyrol in early June 2023, after a very competitive bidding process overseen by the event’s partners, the International Association of Ultrarunners, the International Trail Running Association and the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), along with World Athletics.
The Tyrolean bid reached the final against rivals from Canada, Turkey and Spain’s Canfranc-Canfranc. The score left him in first place, adding facets such as being considered very professional, based on his proven experience in events for decades, such as the aforementioned WMRA World Cup 2002.
In addition, as happened in Spain, Innsbruck managed to combine the joint support of the federal government, the state of Tyrol, the city and tourism associations.
With them he was not only able to guarantee from the first moment the € 150,000 fee for the four organizational associations, but also shot the estimated budget of the event to about 4.7 million euros, with the entire main block destined for the athletes to enjoy the best possible conditions.
According to the organization, up to 1,400 athletes from more than 60 nations are expected to compete in the heart of the Alps, for four days. Male and female athletes will compete in four different events: WMRA uphill mountain races; classic WMRA mountain races, plus the short trail (42k) and long trail (80k) regulated by IAU.
In addition, there will be a youth world cup for male and female athletes who will compete in a single event: WMRA’s Classic mountain race.
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