Friday, March 31 in Arabba at 6 p.m. will start the 29th edition of the Sellaronda Skimarathon 2023
As for entries, on the starting line of this 29th edition will be the best international performers of the discipline. Newly-crowned World Champion Matteo Eydallin will race alongside fellow Italian Davide Magnini. Eydallin-Magnini will wear bib number 2, since bib number 1 is reserved for record holder William Boffelli. Boffelli will be teaming up with Alex Oberbacher. Confirmation also came in the last few hours from the teams formed by Michele Boscacci and Federico Nicolini and Nadir Maguet and Gian Luca Vanzetta. Among the international teams of note are Jakob Hermann and Martin Anthamatten, Christian Hoffmann and Daniel Ganahl, Nils Oberauer and Julian Tritsher, Matheo Jacquemod and Gedeon Pochat, and Luka Kovacic and Philip Götsch.
In the women's race, even before the start there is a record to report: there will be 35 women's teams at the start. Among them Alba De Silvestro and Elena Nicolini will have to defend themselves from attacks by the Austrian team of Sarah Dreier and Johanna Hiemer.
For the 29th edition on the pages of the website www.sellaronda.it will return the live streaming, certainly from the names present at the start, those who will not be able to live on the field the progress of the race will be able to see on their electronic devices the snows of the Sellaronda warm up under the skis of the best ski mountaineers in the world.
"On the course we have a bit of novelty," said Oswald Santin coordinator of the Organizing Committee, "due to the fact that as some years we are quite far ahead in the season. The first ascent up to the Pordoi Pass follows the traditional route, but in the subsequent descent, as was the case a few years ago, the competitors will not descend to Canazei, but will make the skin change at Lupo Bianco. From here the ascent to the Sella Pass is unchanged. In Val Gardena the course had no major changes, in the descent from Dantercepies in Val Badia to Corvara the athletes will have to run with skis on for about five minutes. After the Corvara set-up change, they will climb the Boè slope to an altitude of 2050 meters where a short descent with mandatory skins change has been included, after reapplying the skins to the skis they will face the final climb to Bec de Roces and then "fly" to the finish line in Arabba." "I estimate," concluded Santin, "that after these changes the length of the route will drop to 38 kilometers while the positive elevation gain will be 2,500 meters.