The Mountain and Trail Running World Championships 2023 was presented at the ITB in Berlin

Last updated on 08.03.2023

Exactly 90 days before the major sport event, the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships 2023 Innsbruck-Stubai were presented at the ITB in Berlin, the world’s leading tourism trade fair. Esther Fellhofer, ultratrail runner and also ambassador of the World Championships, was at the Tirol Tourist Board press breakfast together with World Championships organiser Alexander Pittl and was sharing her anticipation as a top runner with regard to the major event from 6 to 10 June 2023.

For the first time after a three-year forced break due to the pandemic, the representatives of global tourism met again at the ITB in Berlin. The Tirol Tourist Board, together with Innsbruck Tourism and the Stubai Tirol Tourist Board, is one of the three partners of the 2023 World Mountain Running and Trail Running Championships and will present Austria’s biggest sporting event of the year on the international stage.

The World Championships in Tirol

“Mountain sports are part of the DNA of our country. That’s why I am pleased that in June 2023 the elite of the mountain running and trail running scene will be our guests and impressive images from Tirol will be transported all over the world,” emphasises Economic Affairs and Tourism Provincial Councillor Mario Geber and adds: “The event is of great importance for the province, tourism and the economy: 66 nations, some with large delegations, will visit our alpine province in June.”

Karin Seiler, Managing Director of the Tirol Tourist Board, confirms this statement and explains why the Tirol – as the venue – was the perfect choice: “The Innsbruck-Stubai region was able to prevail over an international field of applicants to host the World Championships and, in addition to its many years of experience with major events, was convinced above all by its special topographical features. Athletes can expect a unique combination of event infrastructure and hotels in the alpine-urban Innsbruck, close to the mountains. The Stubai also scores with its top holiday hotels and spectacular natural landscape.”

Tirol as a mountain and trail running destination

Esther Fellhofer is an ultra-trail runner and if everything goes well, she will be competing for Austria at the World Championships in the longest distance, the Trail Long (85 kilometres). At this year’s Tirol Tourist Board press breakfast at the ITB on International Women’s Day, the Upper Austrian will provide insight into the sporting event in the heart of the Alps. “It is a special honour that the world’s best athletes come to Tirol and that such a World Cup takes place in our country. The fact that more than 1,500 runners from 66 nations will be competing, gives an idea of how important this event is for the individual nations and the mountain running and trail running scene, but also of how high the level of the individual competitions will be,” emphasises Fellhofer.

A major event with sustainability character

For World Cup organiser Alexander Pittl and his team, the topics of legacy and sustainability play a central role. Although trail running per se is one of the most sustainable sports, as only existing resources are used when running in nature, large events carry the risk of creating a lot of (plastic) waste. Pittl highlights one point among many: “We will completely dispense plastic cups at the refreshment stations. As usual in mountain running and trail running, the athletes will carry their own drinking bottles or cups, which will save several thousand disposable cups.”

For more information on the 2023 WMTRC, visit the official website, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.