(String: <span id="hs_cos_wrapper_post_body" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_rich_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="rich_text" ><p><span>Brazil's Menuci and Russia's Gosteva win the eighth edition of the toughest triathlon in the world, amid majestic landscapes and technical complexities<br><!--more--></span></p>
<p>Livigno, 07/09/2024 - There are many ways to try and summarise the sporting and human epic that encompasses the horizons of <span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">ICON, the toughest and most spectacular triathlon in the world</span>, but each of them, in the end, seems almost reductive, in the face of the beauty offered to spectators and athletes. A day-long adventure, to be experienced alone yet together, and capable of confronting men and women with <span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">their physical and mental limits,</span> in a tale of rare narrative power.<br> <br><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;">A feat that transcends the chronicle reserved for the winners alone and instead celebrates the ability to suffer of each of the participants, and especially the finishers, rewarding their ability to cope with the extreme. An experience that unites and helps put into perspective the absolute value of this race: one of the most eagerly awaited moments of the entire season.<br><br></span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">A record number of entrants (almost 300 athletes) for this eighth edition of the race, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;">which recorded an excellent average level, with many finishers, and some remarkable technical performances. </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">A challenge to human endurance lived in a dream setting, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;">since the first fraction, the swimming one, where the shores of Livigno's lake, at dawn, illuminated only by torches and fires, gave the start to a course, completed by 195 km by bike with 5000 metres of altitude difference and by the very hard final marathon, truly breathtaking.<br><br>Eight degrees in the atmosphere at the start, with 13 and a half degrees of water temperature immediately testing the resistance of the group, which moved in a more or less compact manner until the start of the cycling course, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">where Brazilian Thiaho Menuci, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;">a very experienced athlete of good international calibre, took off, digging a furrow between himself and the others, which he then managed to carry all the way to the finish line. He finished in </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">13 hours, 9 minutes and 23 seconds, ahead of the blue Team SPORTACTION duo of Matteo Andreini, second, and Giuseppe Bonsi, third.</span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;"><br><br></span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;">Among the women, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">Mariia Gosteva triumphed in 15 hours, 13 minutes and 25 seconds, ahead of Tabea Ruegge and Sandra Wolf. </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;">Athletes capable of taming an extremely demanding course. </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Also worthy of note is the good female participation, which this year reached almost 10% of the total athletes.<br></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;"><br>And it is precisely </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">the course in its technical hardness and its majestic landscape that is the real, great, protagonist of ICON, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">the flagship of the prestigious XTRI World Tour circuit, which brings together the most extreme and spectacular triathlons in the world.<br> <br>Circuit that will return to Livigno again in 2025, for its ninth edition. </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">A course that in anyone who has experienced or seen it up close will remain impressed for a long time, through iconic and timeless images, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align); font-weight: bold;">between the epicness of the dawn start, the extraordinary view offered by the extremely hard alpine passes and the hundreds of people present in the village to support the athletes along the running fraction.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 300;"><br>All made even more unforgettable by a finish worthy of its fame, with the last kilometres of prohibitive gradient, up to the gates of Carosello 3000, to be tackled with the support of the fans present. The perfect finale to a race without equal.<br></span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;"><br>There were many inspiring stories, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">with a mix of starters divided between professional athletes and amateurs who invested time and effort in the preparation of a race created specifically to test the limits of human endurance. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.7rem; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">Sporting and personal motivations, </span><span style="font-family: Livigno, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.7rem; letter-spacing: 0.015rem; background-color: transparent; color: var(--bs-body-color); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">in some cases also intertwined with social objectives and fundraising, because the bond that is created between all those who share an adventure of these proportions goes far beyond the technical and performance aspect.</span></p>{{ include_custom_fonts({"Livigno":["Regular","Medium","Light","Bold Italic","Bold","Black","Thin","Medium Italic"]}) }}</span>)
Brazil's Menuci and Russia's Gosteva win the eighth edition of the toughest triathlon in the world, amid majestic landscapes and technical complexities
Livigno, 07/09/2024 - There are many ways to try and summarise the sporting and human epic that encompasses the horizons of ICON, the toughest and most spectacular triathlon in the world, but each of them, in the end, seems almost reductive, in the face of the beauty offered to spectators and athletes. A day-long adventure, to be experienced alone yet together, and capable of confronting men and women with their physical and mental limits, in a tale of rare narrative power.
A feat that transcends the chronicle reserved for the winners alone and instead celebrates the ability to suffer of each of the participants, and especially the finishers, rewarding their ability to cope with the extreme. An experience that unites and helps put into perspective the absolute value of this race: one of the most eagerly awaited moments of the entire season.
A record number of entrants (almost 300 athletes) for this eighth edition of the race, which recorded an excellent average level, with many finishers, and some remarkable technical performances. A challenge to human endurance lived in a dream setting, since the first fraction, the swimming one, where the shores of Livigno's lake, at dawn, illuminated only by torches and fires, gave the start to a course, completed by 195 km by bike with 5000 metres of altitude difference and by the very hard final marathon, truly breathtaking.
Eight degrees in the atmosphere at the start, with 13 and a half degrees of water temperature immediately testing the resistance of the group, which moved in a more or less compact manner until the start of the cycling course, where Brazilian Thiaho Menuci, a very experienced athlete of good international calibre, took off, digging a furrow between himself and the others, which he then managed to carry all the way to the finish line. He finished in 13 hours, 9 minutes and 23 seconds, ahead of the blue Team SPORTACTION duo of Matteo Andreini, second, and Giuseppe Bonsi, third.
Among the women, Mariia Gosteva triumphed in 15 hours, 13 minutes and 25 seconds, ahead of Tabea Ruegge and Sandra Wolf. Athletes capable of taming an extremely demanding course. Also worthy of note is the good female participation, which this year reached almost 10% of the total athletes.
And it is precisely the course in its technical hardness and its majestic landscape that is the real, great, protagonist of ICON, the flagship of the prestigious XTRI World Tour circuit, which brings together the most extreme and spectacular triathlons in the world.
Circuit that will return to Livigno again in 2025, for its ninth edition. A course that in anyone who has experienced or seen it up close will remain impressed for a long time, through iconic and timeless images, between the epicness of the dawn start, the extraordinary view offered by the extremely hard alpine passes and the hundreds of people present in the village to support the athletes along the running fraction.
All made even more unforgettable by a finish worthy of its fame, with the last kilometres of prohibitive gradient, up to the gates of Carosello 3000, to be tackled with the support of the fans present. The perfect finale to a race without equal.
There were many inspiring stories, with a mix of starters divided between professional athletes and amateurs who invested time and effort in the preparation of a race created specifically to test the limits of human endurance. Sporting and personal motivations, in some cases also intertwined with social objectives and fundraising, because the bond that is created between all those who share an adventure of these proportions goes far beyond the technical and performance aspect.
