Day 1 at Red Bull X-Alps Challenger
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Editorial Dept.
It was a day of triumph for the winter olympians on the first day of the inaugural Red Bull X-Alps Challenger – a 12km 1,400m mountain run in Mayrhofen. Lukas Hofer, the Italian biathlete, won in a time of 1h 21m 51s.
In second place overall was the Slovenian biathlete and Red Bull X-Alps 2025 competitor Lenart Oblak who crossed the line in 1h 23m 12s. He was followed a minute later by the up-and-coming French star, Lucas Bonin, the recent Bornes to Fly champion.
The third placed Rookie male (and fourth overall) was Patrick Prantl (ITA) in 1h 26m 16s. First female went to Romy Sweda, this Swiss hike-and-fly champion crossed the line 1h 41m 33s. Elisabeth Fuchsreiter (GER) followed next in 1h 53m 30s and Elisabeth Kofler (ITA) finished third in 1h 53m 55s.
“It was really fast,” said the day’s race director Markus Kröll, a Red Bull ultrarunner who grew up in the region. “The first five or six kilometers was push push push.”
“Winning is always something great when you’re a professional athlete,” Lukas Hofer said afterwards. “You want to push yourself and you always want to give your best. But you have also to save some energy for the next days, which I tried after the half way point.”
For Lukas, the dream is to get back into Red Bull X-Alps. He was accepted in 2023 but was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury before the start. “The most important thing is to have a lot of fun getting into this adventure,” he added. “Now I’m just following my dreams – I want to be on the Red Bull X-Alps 2027.”
Romy was pleased with her performance. “At the beginning I just felt really good but then at 150m I looked at the watch and thought, oh no, this is going to take a long time. After 800m I started to feel it a bit but the last part was good again and I tried to ease back a bit and enjoy the experience. The route was amazing.”
The day began with 77 athletes setting off on foot from the centre of the famous Austrian ski resort of Mayrhofen, carrying their paragliding equipment. The lineup consisted of eight Veterans of the main race, eight female athletes and 61 male athletes competing for the first time.
Red Bull X-Alps Challenger is a “knock-out” style event with only the top 60 athletes progressing to Day 2. That meant a disappointing day for 17 athletes who failed to make the cut, among them Bicho Carrera.
Athletes spent the afternoon resting up and refueling at the Dynamic Tape and Tactical Foodpack tents before tomorrow’s event – but they also had the chance to pick up some tips from eight time Red Bull X-Alps winner Chrigel Maurer. He was due to give a talk in the evening sharing some of his hard won wisdom. There was also a film premiere of Benedikt Dornauer’s Red Bull X-Alps documentary.
Day two is a speed hike and fly race where they have to complete three laps of a hike-and-fly course. It begins with a 400m ascent, they then fly down, pack up and repeat. The final day begins with a 1,400m ascent before athletes take to the air to complete a challenging 80km cross country task in the air.
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