Dmitry Mityaev became the first Russian athlete to climb to podium of in the most prestigious trail running series in the world, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc-UTMB®, taking third place at of the TDS® race - 120 km D + 7250, which stands for "Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie”.
The race this year had incredible competition: the Americans Hayden Hawks and Dylan Bowman, Ludovic Pommeret of France, Tofol Castaner, Zaid Ait Malek and Pablo Villa Gonzalez of Spain, and Marcin Świerc of Poland.
Русскоязычная версия.
From the very beginning of the race, Dmitry ran together with the group of leaders. At the aid station at Bourg-Saint-Maurice (51,1 km), Hayden Hawks, who was the main favorite of the race, had to quit the race due to an aggravated hamstring injury. Beyond this aid station, the TDS® distance was modified by race organizers due to unfavorable weather conditions, and in place of a large climb and technical descent, contained a 20 km stretch of paved highway.
At this point, Dylan Bowman and Pablo Villa Gonzalez broke away and went ahead. At the aid station Cormet de Roselend (70.4 km), Dmitry was in 5th place, losing about 8 minutes to the leaders. On the technical section from Cormet de Roselend to Les Contamines (99.9 km) Dmitry caught up to the leaders and arrived at the aid station first. Unable to withstand the psychological pressure, the Spaniard Pablo Villa Gonzalez quit the race there, and the Frenchman Ludovic Pommeret scratched even earlier in Cret Bettex (61.9 km).
In the final 20 kilometers of the course, Dmitry was pursued by Marcin Świerc and Dylan Bowman. Approaching the last peak at Col de Tricot (107 km), Dmitry had an advantage of 2 minutes, but, unfortunately, his injured knee did not allow him to maintain the necessary pace on the final flat section.
Marcin Świerc and Dylan Bowman caught him with 2 km left to the finish line, and Dmitry finished in 3rd, 41 seconds behind second place Dylan Bowman and 1 minute 43 seconds behind winner Marcin Świer, who finished in a blitzing 13 hours and 24 minutes. The fourth place finisher, Tofol Castaner of Spain, was more than a half hour behind them!
Marcin Świerc (POL) - 13:24:00;
Dylan Bowman (USA) - 13:25:02:
Dmitry Mityaev (RUS) - 13:25:43;
Tofol Castaner (ESP) - 13:58:25;
Diego Pazos (SUI) - 14:39:18.
Interview with Dmitry Mityaev - trail-run.ru/ar...