The relocation of the start to Silvaplana cut short the distance of the 54th Engadin Skimarathon by more than three kilometres. The heavy snowfall that set in one hour before the starting whistle still made for a very strenuous race. «The fresh snow made the race tougher, but at the same time easier, because it allowed a tactical race to develop,» said the winner, Magne Haga from Norway. «The Swiss did almost all the work,» he continued, alluding to the fact that the young Swiss athletes Fabrizio Albasini and Nicola Wigger, along with veteran Dario Cologna, had led the group of the first six for much of the race. Haga and his fellow countrymen Thomas Bucher-Johannessen and Filip Fjeld Andersen shadowed and had more steam left for the finish.
When Haga stepped up the pace three kilometres before the finish, Albasini and Wigger had to let him pull ahead. Switzerland's hopes of a place on the podium were now pinned on Dario Cologna. The four-time winner pushed ahead throughout the race's first half and did not shy away from taking the exhausting lead. The crowd favourite ran an intelligent race and could keep up with the Norwegian athletes for most of the way. The «Golan Heights» past Zuoz saw the Norwegian trio left with more leg power, and Cologna ended up in fourth place. Albasini finished in fifth place, and Wigger in sixth. «It's been my toughest Engadin Skimarathon,» Dario Cologna said at the finish. «I am surprised – and pleased – about fourth place.»
The fastest female racer tested positive for fluoro wax
Giuliana Werro from Zernez was able to repeat her victory from the previous year. She was the second racer to cross the finishing line, but the leading French athlete, Maelle Veyre, was disqualified for using fluoro wax on her skis. Federica Sanfilippo from Italy took second place behind Werro; Carla Wohler, another local athlete and Werro's former schoolmate, finished third by a large margin. Werro had expressed joy about her second place after she crossed the finishing line – and was overjoyed at finding out she had grabbed a second victory at the Engadin Skimarathon.
FIS's technical delegate, Janis Lindegger, expressed his surprise and disappointment at the supposed winner's disqualification for disregarding the ban on fluoro wax. Of the 50 pairs of skis that the FIS examined for fluoro wax, 12 tested positive, leading to disqualifications. France's Maelle Veyre was the only top-ten racer caught using fluoro wax.
The marathon of the big changes
In the two weeks leading up to the race, Maloja had seen close to two metres of fresh snow, making it impossible to prepare the cross-country tracks, first on Lake Sils and later on Lake Silvaplana. The starting infrastructure, wholly set up in Maloja, had to be dismantled and then set up again, first in Sils and then for the third and last time in Silvaplana. Still, the nearly 13,000 registered participants did not have to do without any of the amenities at the start.
«We owe all our gratitude to the more than 1,000 volunteers, the municipalities of the Engadine Valley, and all those labouring mostly behind the scenes to make this race possible,» CEO Menduri Kaspar said after the race, visibly pleased. «Once again, we achieved our main goal: to provide a unique experience for all the racers.»
Engadin Skimarathon media release: 10 March 2024. Christian Gartmann has been mandated with communications, crisis management and crisis communications for the Engadin Skimarathon since 2014.