Winker and Kuen win Dolomitenlauf 2025 Skating Day
The opening day of the 55th Dolomitenlauf was blessed with perfect, fast track conditions and glorious sunshine. In the skating races, local hero Eva Schmidhofer brought home a victory, while Andreas Fuetsch narrowly missed the podium.
The weekend of the 55th Dolomitenlauf began under bright sunshine and ideal track conditions at the Biathlon Center Osttirol in Obertilliach. Today’s Dolomitenlauf skating events over 21 and 42 kilometers attracted not only numerous top stars from the Worldloppet scene but also notable athletes, including Australian Paralympian Matthew Brumby and six-year-old Xaver Meiswinkel, the youngest participant. Meanwhile, 80-year-old Jan Vadlejch was the “oldie” among runners from 34 nations. Former cycling star Paco Wrolich also joined the Dolomitenlauf. “I’m not here for fun—today was just the warm-up, and tomorrow I aim to qualify for the Vasaloppet in Sweden at the classic Dolomitenlauf,” the determined Carinthian athlete said.
German and Italian Triumph at Dolomitenlauf 2025 Skating
The 42 km long-distance race was dominated by two skiers: Christian Winker from Germany and Italy’s Paolo Fanton. The duo broke away during the second lap, finishing with a six-minute lead over Germany’s Matthias Vogler, who claimed third.
“Last weekend, I finished second twice in races at Ramsau, losing narrowly in sprints. Paolo was incredibly strong on the climbs today and attacked several times. That makes it even sweeter to finally win a sprint finish,” said winner Christian Winker from the Terrex Team.
The best Austrian was Andreas Fuetsch from Osttirol, finishing fourth. “The track conditions were top-notch, and I’m overjoyed with this fourth place—it’s an incredible success for me,” cheered the Virgen native. Markus Ebner, another Osttiroler, finished fifth.
In the women’s 42 km race, South Tyrol’s Julia Kuen secured victory, finishing 11 seconds ahead of Germany’s Sigrid Mutscheller. Third place went to Margaret Lane from the United States.
Winners at Dolomitenlauf 2025 Skating
Men
- Christian Winker (GER) – 01:42:37.6
- Paolo Fanton (ITA) – 01:42:43.2
- Matthias Vogler (GER) – 01:48:55.7
- Andreas Feutsch (AUT) – 01:49:28.4
- Markus Ebner (AUT) – 01:50:17.0
Ladies
- Julia Kuen (ITA) – 01:51:30.5
- Sigrid Mutscheller (GER) – 01:51:41.1
- Margaret Lane (USA) – 01:56:43.1
- Sara Hutter (ITA) – 01:59:15.0
- Danielle Winslow (USA) – 02:10:50.9
Looking Ahead to Tomorrow
The 55th Dolomitenlauf continues tomorrow with the classic technique race, starting at 10:00 a.m. at the Biathlon Center in Obertilliach. The Easyrace over 5 kilometers will begin just five minutes later. On-site registration remains open until just before the start. Once again, sunny skies are on forecast.
