Red Bull X-Alps 2027: Chrigel wins Challenger but rookies triumph

Chrigel Maurer won the first ever Red Bull X-Alps Challenger event on Saturday 30 May, but it was the rookie pilots Aaron Mathis, 20, and Romy Sweda, 35, who came away with the biggest grins.

After a three-day event which culminated in an 82km one-day hike-and-fly race Mathis and Sweda each won a coveted wildcard entry into next year’s Red Bull X-Alps. “I’m speechless,” Aaron said afterwards.

Held in Mayrhofen in Zillertal, Austria, over 28-30 May the inaugural Red Bull X-Alps Challenger event saw around 80 hike-and-fly pilots take part.

Over three days pilots faced a tough challenge designed to test their mountain fitness and paragliding skills, including hiking more than 4,000m elevation gain and flying over 100km in the air.

Day 1 was a straight 1,400m mountain run – with the fastest to the top the winner. Day 2 saw pilots complete three laps of a hike-and-fly course – three times up and down a 440m hill. Day three saw the field cut and the remaining 42 pilots tackle an 82km cross country flying task after completing another 1,400m ascent, the same climb as Day 1.

While Aaron and Romy won in the end, the Italian biathlete and Olympic medallist Lukas Hofer proved he was king of the mountains, winning every hiking stage: he won Day 1 in an incredible 1hr 21m 51, a full 11 minutes ahead of eventual overall winner Chrigel Maurer.

Chrigel proved why he is an eight-time X-Alps champion and won the final day and the overall competition by completing the 82km task in 3h 56 02s. It was tight though – he was literally only 10 seconds ahead of X-Alps veteran Tobias Grossrubatscher who took second place. Rookie Aaron Mathis was third, crossing the goal line three minutes later for a final time of 3h 59m 49s.

Aaron was thrilled by his win. “I’m speechless,” he said afterwards. “I don’t know what to say. It’s incredible. The final day was tricky. There was a strong north wind and we had to thermal up quite high to get to every turnpoint. But it was really special to compete alongside athletes like Chrigel and Tobi.”

Romy Sweda meanwhile lost time when she made an almost critical rookie error and had to go back on herself when she failed to properly tag a turnpoint. The mistake cost her dearly and she ended up with a time of 6h 23m 07s and finished in 27^th place, the last pilot to finish. Sixteen pilots did not make goal in time.

Afterwards Romy said: “In the end it was really hard. I was hoping after the first climb I would not have to walk again but that’s part of the game, you fly you hike but I’m really happy with the win.”

Chrigel was happy with his win too and paid tribute to all the rookies in the race. “It’s always nice to have a battle with the others, it was good fun, with good organisation and good weather. It’s a good event and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Tobias Grossrubatscher said he was impressed by the rookies’ performance. “Aaron flew really well. He and the other ones are really strong, they’re all becoming really good athletes.” 

Event organiser Ulrich Grill said Red Bull X-Alps Challenger was the “perfect arena” to bring on the next generation of X-Alps athletes and pilots. “The goal was always to sniff out new talent and see who’s got what it takes to compete in the world’s toughest adventure race. We’ve been blown away by so many promising athletes.” 

This was the first edition of Red Bull X-Alps Challenger. Pilots from 23 countries including eight X-Alps veterans such as Davide Sassudelli, Tobias Grossrubatscher and Chrigel, eight-time winner, took part. Veterans were not allowed to qualify for the wildcard entry to the main race.

The three-day event also saw workshops and panel discussions led by Chrigel Maurer, Simon Oberrauner, and Celine Lorenz, as well as product presentations by event sponsors Tactical Foodpack, Dynamic Tape, and Naviter.

Overall top 3
Chrigel Maurer
Tobias Grossrubatscher
Aaron Mathis

Male rookies top 3
Aaron Mathis
Paul Romiée
François Montuori

Female rookies top 3
Romy Sweda
Joanna Di Grigoli
Elisabeth Kofler

redbullxalps.com and full results