When the finish times of the winners are 12:15:57 and 15:08:03 hours, you know that it’s a tough race. And that’s definitely the case with the ICON Livigno Xtreme Triathlon, which takes athletes over the Stelvio and up to 3000 meters above sea level during the marathon. The race was just won by Swiss’ Nina Zoller and Italy’s Matteo Fontana.
What makes Livigno so extreme is the cold water that athletes swim in, but even more so the 195K bike course that has approximately 5000 meters of elevation gain. The uphill marathon takes athletes from Trepalle at Livigno to Carosello at 3000 meters above sea level.
After the swim part, Fontana still dealt with race favorite Giulio Molinari (ITA), who was leading by a few minutes, as he continued to do throughout part of the bike course. However, Molinari ended up having to withdraw from the race due to a mechanical issue. From there on, Fontana took over strong and continued to do so until he reached the finish line. Swimming 57:02, cycling 6:47 hours, and running 4:23 hours, Fontana ended up celebrating his victory, clocking a total time of 12:15 hours.
Germany’s Mathias Knossalla finished the race with a silver medal, noting a time of 14:05:19 hours, while Italy’s Lorenzo Facelli completed the podium in 14:29:03 hours.
Zoller didn’t have the best start to her day, as she had to close quite a gap after the swim part. During the bike and run leg, she was a big mover in the field, though. Zoller ended up swimming 1:15 hour, biking 8:41 hours and running 4:59 hours. At the moment of writing, Michela Menegon (ITA) was in second place and Giorgia Zanetta (ITA) was in third.
