Sweden: Siltanews – News Desk
The stormy wet weather didn’t deter the determination and strength of the athletes from the 29 countries participating in the Sky running European Championships in Corteno-Aprica, Italy, July 3-5, 2025. Unlike Wimbledon today, the races were not cancelled and with full course safety procedures in place, the SKY and SKYULTRA disciplines took off.
Italy, Spain and Sweden came out on top in the country ranking. Twenty-seven medals and European tiles were at stake across the three disciplines which kicked off on Thursday with the VERTICAL.
Today’s SKY and SKYULTRA took off in Corteno, site of this iconic and historic SkyMarathon celebrating 30 years. The SKY discipline was held on the Half Marathon course – 23 km long with a 1,864m vertical climb reaching the Salina Pass at 2,433m before descending to the finish in Santicolo.
Sweden’s Martin Nilsson sped off from the gun but was caught before the end of the climb by Spaniard Fabian Venero. Just 40 seconds separated them from the summit. “This is my first medal in an international championship, so I’m really happy. The race was so hard for me because Martin [Nilsson] was really pushing on the uphill. On the downhill I managed to pass him, he caught me again, but on the last kilometre I sprinted to the win.” Venero crossed the finish line first in 2h03’5” just three seconds ahead of Nilsson, securing two gold medals – for the SKY and the COMBINED.
“I wanted to gain some advantage from the start before the steep uphill, to be in front and control the race, but when Fabian passed me I couldn’t keep up. I knew the course was a very straightforward up and down, so I aimed to catch him on the downhill and on the final stretch I almost did. I’ll need to become a better sprinter!” Nilsson declared with a smile. Thanks to his performance on Thursday he took home two silver medals, for the SKY and the COMBINED, also putting Sweden on the podium for the country ranking.
The bronze medal went to Frenchman Lucien Mermillon who finished a tight third just one minute off the winning time.