The first day of the Trail and Mountain World Championships Innsbruck 2023 started with a bang for the On-Trail Team when Kenyan Patrick Kipngeno crowned himself the new men’s World Champion in the Vertical event. Compatriot Philaries Jeruto Kipsang claimed the women’s silver medal.
Kipngeno completed the 7.1 kilometers and 1020 meters of elevation as the fastest man and crossed the finish line in a time of 40:18, one and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Levi Kiprotich from Uganda. Fellow On and Run2gether athlete Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (KEN) claimed seventh place (42:54), and new On marathon and mountain runner Filimon Abraham from Germany finished ninth (43:08).
On the women’s side, Philaries Jeruto Kipsang only had to let one woman, Austria’s Andrea Meyer, pass to claim the silver medal in 48:51. Fellow On athlete Megan Mackenzie was 69th in the women’s ranking.
The first day of the Trail and Mountain World Championships Innsbruck 2023 started with a bang when Kenyan Patrick Kipngeno (Team Run2gether) crowned himself the new men’s World Champion in the Vertical event. Compatriot Philaries Jeruto Kipsang claimed the women’s silver medal.
Kipngeno completed the 7.1 kilometers and 1020 meters of elevation as the fastest man and crossed the finish line in a time of 40:18, one and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Levi Kiprotich from Uganda. On the women’s side, Philaries Jeruto Kipsang only had to let one woman, Austria’s Andrea Meyer, pass to claim the silver medal in 48:51. Fellow Team Run2gether athlete Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (KEN) claimed the seventh place (42:54) and all three athletes claimed gold medals with the Kenyan’s men’s and women’s teams in the team ranking.
New On athlete and marathon and mountain runner Filimon Abraham from Germany finished ninth (43:08), and Megan Mackenzie was 69th.
Marion Delespierre follows up with Long Trail gold, Kiriago, and Abraham win Classic Up/Down silver and bronze
Two days later, French trail runner Marion Delespierre claimed another two gold medals for the On-Trail team by winning the women’s Long Trail event. Delespierre needed 11:22:31 to complete the 86.9 kilometers and +6500m of elevation. She crossed the finish line six minutes and 43 seconds ahead of runner-up Katharina Harthmuth from Germany. Together with compatriots Manon Bohard Cailler and Audrey Tanguy, Delespierre also claimed the team gold, same as the French men’s team, which On’s Paul Mathou was a part of.
Kipngeno, Kisang, Kiriago, and Abraham were all back in action a day later with the classic up/down race. The event, whose course led through Innsbruck’s old town-turned-running trail and its famous landmark, the Golden Roof, featured two 7-kilometer loops with an elevation of 374 meters. In the men’s ranking, it was Kiriago and Abraham’s time to shine. The duo finished eight and thirteen seconds respectively after winner Leonard Chemutai and claimed a 2-3 finish. Patrick Kipngeno was fifth, and Philaries Jeruto Kipsang was seventh in the women’s ranking. In addition, the Kenyan athletes won men’s and women’s team gold medals again.
Header image: Marion Delespierre wins gold in Innsbruck. Credit: On/Colin Oliveiro
