Red Bull X-Alps participants, Christian “Chrigel” Maurer defends the title
The largest formation ever, as many as 35 athletes have been selected to face the Red Bull X-Alps 2023, the toughest adventure race in the world, which takes place every two years. They hail from 18 countries and include record-breaking adventurers, Olympic athletes, flying champions and exploratory climbers, all united by one desire: to participate in the Red Bull X-Alps. The big news this year is the presence of 5 women at the start, the largest number ever seen in this race.
The Swiss is back to defend his title of champion Christian “Chrigel” Maurer, who has won every edition of the race since 2009. Together with him, seven of the top ten athletes of 2021 will also be at the start, promising a close fight for the podium. Among them, the runner up of the last edition Patrick von Känel and the third runner Simon Oberrauner.
Red Bull X-Alps participants, Aaron Durogati at the start
The French lineup looks very strong and includes former World Cup champion Maxime Pinot, who finished second in 2019 and challenged Maurer for much of the 2021 race. number of athletes, five each. Austria and Italy both have four athletes, including veterans Paul Guschlbauer And Aaron Durogati, Germany three and the United States two athletes (both rookies). The youngest athlete is once again Thomas Friedrich, who will be 22 when the race starts: in 2021 his performance, on his debut, had amazed everyone.
The 2023 edition will also see the participation of the first Chinese athlete, Junming Songtwice national champion, and the presence of the highest number of athletes ever in the history of the competition, with five women participating.
Red Bull X-Alps there are also Lukas Hofer and Lenart Oblak
To get here all the athletes had to go through a rigorous selection process and were chosen by the competition committee to ensure a high level of competition: they must be able to fly in difficult conditions across the Alps and manage consecutive days of long Mountain hiking. Most of the athletes come from the world of adventure and paragliding, but some have unusual athletic training, including two former Olympic biathletes. Lukas Hofer it’s a biathlete who twice won the bronze medal while Lenart Oblak competed in the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.
The American rookie Cedar Wright is another athlete with an impressive track record: a professional mountaineer for 20 years, he opened routes on all continents and climbed several big walls in Yosemite, before discovering paragliding seven years ago.
The diversity of the line-up ensures that the Red Bull X-Alps will be an exciting race to follow. June 2023 is in the sights.
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