Italy’s Luca Del Pero and Poland’s Patrycja Stanek Win Skyrunning World Titles on La Gomera

Del Pero came from sixth to win the 29K SKY race and the combined title two days after taking bronze in the vertical. Stanek won by 36 seconds in her first senior world championship.

Published: Sep 24, 2026 7:25 pm

Jessy Carveth

Jessy Carveth

Jessy is our Senior News Editor, pro cyclist and former track and field athlete with a Bachelors degree in Kinesiology.

Here's My Full Profile

learn about our editorial process

Senior News Editor

Luca Del Pero took bronze on Friday in the vertical, the shortest and steepest race at the Skyrunning World Championships on La Gomera, in Spain’s Canary Islands. Two days later he had a pair of world titles, after winning Sunday’s SKY race and, with it, the combined title, which is decided on the vertical and SKY results together.

Del Pero, 28, ran 2:43:27 for the 29K course on Sunday, Sept. 20, finishing 43 seconds ahead of Spain’s Dimas Pereira. The women’s race went to Poland’s Patrycja Stanek, who won gold in her first senior world championship in 3:20:29, only 36 seconds clear of Norway’s Eva Simonsen.

Italy's Luca Del Pero and Poland's Patrycja Stanek Win Skyrunning World Titles on La Gomera 1 — Photo by Damiano Benedetto

At 29K with 1,900 meters (about 6,230 feet) of climbing, the SKY sat between Friday’s 4.9K vertical and Saturday’s 63K SKYULTRA, borrowing the closing kilometers of the ultra on its way from Hermigua to San Sebastián de La Gomera. Around 270 athletes from 36 countries raced across the three days of the championships, which the International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) holds every two years across the three core disciplines of skyrunning.

Stanek Holds Off Simonsen by 36 Seconds

Nobody got past Stanek all day, although Simonsen made her move on the final drop into town and was only 36 seconds back at the line. Bronze went to Italy’s Cecilia Basso in 3:25:09, a result that looked a long way off while she was running 13th, with Britain’s Carys Mai Hughes fourth and Spain’s Ana Granda fifth.

Italy's Luca Del Pero and Poland's Patrycja Stanek Win Skyrunning World Titles on La Gomera 2 — Photo by Damiano Benedetto

Sunday was Stanek’s first world championship as a senior, and it came a month after she placed third at Ultraks Extreme, a 16K with 1,400 meters of climbing on the Skyrunner World Series. She is still new enough to mountain racing that her first attempt came at youth level three years ago. “I started running in the mountains at the 2023 Youth World Championships and took third in the SKY,” she said, and she already has plans to return to Ultraks next summer: “Unfortunately, the weather was terrible, so I’d like to go back next year.”

Del Pero Picks Off the Leaders on the Last Climb

Spain’s Fabian Venero, the 2025 European and youth world champion in the SKY, was out front until well after halfway, with his teammate Pereira close by, while Del Pero sat a few places back. “I kept my position in sixth, seventh position and, one step after the other, overtook the others in the last 15 kilometres,” the Italian said.

He went past both Spaniards on the final climb and held on to the finish. Poland’s Dominik Tabor took bronze in 2:46:52, Venero finished fourth and Tabor’s teammate Łukasz Wąchała was fifth. “The race seems easy but it’s not, with four steep ascents and descents alternating with runnable stretches,” Del Pero said. “I knew it would be hot and I suffered a lot.”

Italy's Luca Del Pero and Poland's Patrycja Stanek Win Skyrunning World Titles on La Gomera 3 — Photo by Damiano Benedetto

The Italian had scouted the course, and he has the range for a route that mixes long climbs with fast, technical descents. He comes from Carate Brianza in Lombardy and switched to mountain running from cross-country and mountain biking in 2019. Four years later he took bronze in the short trail race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck, and this year he won the PDA race at Val d’Aran by UTMB before arriving on La Gomera. Tabor finished second to him in the combined, and the Netherlands’ Pablo Van Hoorn was third.

Spain Takes the Team Title at Home

The championships opened Friday with the vertical, 4.9K with 950 meters of climbing, where Spain’s Lluis Puigvert won in 36:37. Puigvert, 21, beat teammate José Antonio Bellido by 13 seconds, four months after winning the under-23 SKY title at the youth world championships in Croatia. Paola Stampanoni of Switzerland won the women’s race in 44:34, having finished second in the vertical at the 2024 World Championships and the 2025 European Championships.

Cristian Minoggio, the 42-year-old Italian who won CCC at the end of August, added a third world title in the SKYULTRA on Saturday. His 6:12:12 for the 63K and 4,100 meters of climbing put him 6:50 clear of Spain’s Julen Calvo and adds to the titles he won in 2022 and 2024. Norway’s Shangave Balendran won the women’s race in 7:27:16, a full 35 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of Spain’s Mireia Pons in second. Simonsen, runner-up to Stanek on Sunday, won the women’s combined title ahead of Italy’s Corinna Ghirardi and Belgium’s Joke Descheemaeker.

Italy's Luca Del Pero and Poland's Patrycja Stanek Win Skyrunning World Titles on La Gomera 4 — Photo by Damiano Benedetto

The team standings, scored from each nation’s top two men and top two women over the three days, went to the hosts. Spain finished with 918 points, 22 ahead of Italy, and Japan was third on 594 for its third straight bronze. It is the same top three as in 2024, when the championships were held in Soria, also in Spain.