Kaiserkrone Trail 2023: These are the winners

Updated 25.06.2023

On Saturday, 24 June 2023, the Kaiserkrone Trail took place in Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser. Around 500 runners from all over the world were at the start and competed for the best time at the "Green Event" in Scheffau. And the anticipation for the next edition is already high: the Skyrace on the Wilder Kaiser will be part of the World Series again in 2024!

In total, four different competitions were held as part of the Kaiserkrone Trail: the Skyrace (24.7 kilometres/2730 metres in altitude), the Marathon Trail (56 kilometres/3810 metres in altitude), the Speed Trail (20.4 kilometres/1430 metres in altitude) and the Easy Trail (8.6 kilometres/490 metres in altitude). In excellent conditions, around 500 runners from 22 countries were at the start.

The two "big" competitions, the Skyrace and the Marathon, were almost unsurpassable in terms of excitement - the fight for the first places was extremely close and sometimes only seconds decided the placement. In the men's Skyrace, for example, Josef Bodner from East Tyrol crossed the finish line only 20 seconds ahead of last year's winner Dominik Matt - after they had taken turns at the top again and again throughout the race. In the process, Matt even beat his winning time of 2022 by 5 minutes. Also finishing just under a minute behind the first two was third-placed Marcel Hoeche (D).

Dramatic mishap costs Skyrace fastest the victory

The women's race was also very exciting - right up to the finish line, because it was not clear until the evening who would take home the trophy for first place. And that was only due to a dramatic mishap that had nothing whatsoever to do with the running performance. If it had been up to that, it would have been Isabell Speer from Upper Austria who would have won the race: she was in the lead at the first summit (Sonneck), as can be seen on numerous videos and photos (download link at the end), and brought this lead to the finish line with confidence. There, however, she was not announced as "Isabell Speer" by the speaker, but with the name of her boyfriend - who, however, was still on the course far away from the finish.

And that's when it became clear what had happened: Her boyfriend and she had mixed up their start numbers when attaching the start number to the T-shirt before the race (they were both running the Skyrace). He had run with her bib number (71) and she with his (72) - which was only noticed when Isabell "won" (all the photos and videos also clearly show that she completed the entire race with the wrong number...). Because of this formal mistake and an appeal Isabell Speer was finally disqualified and Michaela Pilat (4:40:34,49) took home the trophy for first place. Jasmin Hafenmayer (D) and Annemarie Sturm-Begusch (AUT) came in second and third.

Marathon: Close decision on the podium

The men's marathon was also very exciting - but fortunately only because of the strong running performance of the three first-placed runners and not because of mixed-up start numbers. The victory was taken home by Markus Bergler (D), who was at the start of the Kaiserkrone Trail for the third year in a row and has continuously improved. In the first year it was still the "Easy Trail", the following year he started in the "Speed Trail" and this year for the first time in the marathon - which he won straight away. But it was not always clear, because up to the Gruttenhütte - approx. 47 km after the start - the first three always had each other in sight, which ignited one or the other "turbo" at the end. Felix Pförtner (D) finished a good minute behind in second place in the marathon. He had also competed in the speed trail two years ago, but got lost on that occasion and therefore still had a score to settle with the Kaiserkrone Trail.

And the third-placed runner in the marathon is no stranger to the Kaiserkrone Trail: Peter Hausberger from Wildschönau was already at the start of the Skyrace last year and came in an excellent fifth place. The fact that his first podium ever came in the 2023 marathon makes the "almost local" all the more happy. By the way, the women's marathon winner also had Skyrace experience - Miria Meinheit, who came second in last year's Skyrace, was the first woman to cross the finish line with a time of 07:50:12.89, beaming like no other. Sonja Kinna (D) and Camilla West (GB) were well behind in 2nd and 3rd place.

Speed Trail runner-up wins Easy Trail Interesting was also the result of the women's Easy Trail - Vanessa Schätzle (D) won the Easy Trail, who had already won second place in the Speed Trail a few hours earlier, behind Kirsten deBaey-Ruszin (D)! Taking home two trophies from two competitions on the same day is not an everyday occurrence. In the men's race Jan Kundörfer (D) took the victory in the Speed Trail and crossed the finish line as the very first finisher on this day with a time of 2:06:06,58.

The complete result lists can be viewed here:

https://my.raceresult.com/210179/results

Save the Date 2024 - Kaiserkrone again part of the Skyrunning World Series

And for all those who have acquired a taste for it this year, the date for the Kaiserkrone 2024 has already been set! The race will take place from 28 to 29 June 2024 in Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser. And it will be really exciting again, because as in 2021, the Kaiserkrone Trail Skyrace 2024 will again be part of the Skyrunning World Series and attract some of the best runners in the world to the Wilder Kaiser!

Comments on the race

Organiser Thomas Bosnjak is also very much looking forward to this, he sums up this year's edition with satisfaction: "It was simply sensational. The performances were super, the atmosphere was extremely good, the runners are happy and the entire organisation went off without a hitch - really great." Scheffau's tourism manager and thus host of the competition, Marcus Sappl, also agrees: "We have once again put on an incredible sporting event. I would like to thank everyone who made the Kaiserkrone Trail 2023 a 'running festival' at the Wilder Kaiser. From the course marking boss Andi Eisenmann to the mountain rescue service and all the helpers at the refreshment stations, from my team in Scheffau to the local caterers, all the supporting associations, the rescue service and so on. It is only through the cooperation of so many that this event is a success every year - I am already looking forward to the 2024 edition, where we will also be a fixed point in many calendars internationally as part of the World Series."

Kaiserkrone Trail as a Green Event

By the way, the event location Scheffau not only provided the perfect "running infrastructure" - it was also important to the organisers to make the running event as environmentally friendly as possible: once again, they succeeded in certifying the race as a "Green Event". And that means that all kinds of criteria had to be met, from advertising the public journey to dispensing with plastic cups at the refreshment stations and on the event grounds and using regional products.

Photos of the Kaiserkrone Trail for free, editorial use in connection with the Kaiserkrone Trail, provided the credit is mentioned, can be downloaded here: https://we.tl/t-jt7pvspnPp

CREDIT: Kaiserkrone Trail/Photographer (name is always in the file name)