Red Bull X-Alps 2025: Aaron Durogati wins in neck-and-neck final

Aaron Durogati won the Red Bull X-Alps 2025 after a sensational final day which saw four of the X-Alps top guns battle it out for podium places and the top spot.

Aaron, Chrigel Maurer, Lars Meerstetter and Simon Oberrauner all raced together through the northern Alps on Sunday 22 June on what was a five-star XC paragliding day.

After seven days of hiking and flying more than 1,000km around the Alps, the final leg to Zell am See became a “sprint to the finish” as the four pilots – all friends and competitors – vied for a place on the podium.

Aaron, 38, beat the three chasing pilots including eight-time X-Alps champion Chrigel Maurer, 42, by about 20 minutes, landing at the final turnpoint above the Austrian town of Zell am See shortly before 7.30pm local time. It is the first time a non-Swiss pilot has won the competition, and the seventh time Aaron has competed in the X-Alps.

After Aaron landed, Lars, 29, and Simon, 30, arrived in second and third place, separated by just 300m as they crossed into the finish cylinder. Switzerland’s Chrigel Maurer was denied a podium place and finished in fourth as he trailed two kilometres behind on the final glide.

The good flying day came after a day of storms in the Alps, which had seen pilots across the course line grounded and hiking.

But with good weather forecast Sunday was full of expectation. Three of the leading four all started in the same spot, on top of a peak at 2,700m above the Swiss village of Scuol in the Inn Valley, a famous paragliding race track.

Aaron, Simon and Chrigel launched together. Lars, who had been leading the race for a day, was on a different launch a few kilometres away.

By 10am all four were in the air, using the morning thermals to make headway. Some 75km and three hours later they all arrived at the 14th turnpoint of the race, in Lermoos, next to Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze.

Chrigel was first to sign in at Lermoos. Aaron told the crowd “See you in Zell am See!” They all then hiked up behind the turnpoint to launch from the Grubigstein. Aaron was first to take off and quickly tagged the Zugspitze turnpoint by air.

He then stayed north while the three other pilots took a more southerly line through higher terrain.

As Aaron skipped low along the valleys, helped along by a tailwind, Chrigel, Simon and Lars flew at 3,300m+ through the high peaks.

The lines between solo flyer Aaron and the gaggle of three merged in late afternoon, with Aaron just a few kilometres ahead. By 7pm local time Aaron was at 3,500m with 18km to go.

Behind him, reigning champion Chrigel Maurer and rookie – and Chrigel’s protégée – Lars Meerstetter were flying together at 3,200m with 25km to go. Simon Oberrauner was 1.5km behind.

The scene was set for a thrilling finish – which was delivered in the final hour.

“He’s got it!” declared race reporter Gavin McClurg who was watching as Aaron came into view. “He has pulled it off.”

Aaron landed at the final turnpoint – TP16 Schmittenhöhe – just after 7.30pm – stopping the clock on the 1,283km race after seven days and eight-and-a-half hours.

After losing height with wingovers and top landing in a stiff north wind Aaron made his way to the sign-in board to formalise his win.

On landing he said: “I won! Yeah, it’s unbelievable. And I think with quite a style!”

Signing in and clearly emotional he said: “So, here we are! This flight was so crazy. And my glide to here was so insane. At one point I was calling to Johanna and I thought if I base jump I would also arrive.”

Behind him, Lars, Simon and Chrigel came in second, third and fourth.

On landing Chrigel was quiet and clearly contemplating his first X-Alps loss in nine editions. Of his decision to fly through the high mountains he told race reporter Gavin McClurg: “I checked the forecast and I thought it would be better thermals, and easier with airspace. I tried!”

Behind Chrigel the rest of the pilots have until Friday to complete the course line and make goal. The mid-pack pilots are more than 100km behind but will all be keen to make the raft and secure their place in the top 10. A poor weather forecast for Monday however, means there will be a lot of hiking still to come.

Despite being an ultimately exciting and successful edition of the Red Bull X-Alps the competition was marred by a storm over safety early on when some pilots flew in marginal conditions after a storm hit the course line in the Dolomites.

Online spectators were also disappointed with the live tracking experience on smartphones on the official Red Bull X-Alps website. Many pilots deserted it for unofficial tracking set up on Puretrack, Burnair, Relief Maps and XContest.

The race continues until 27 June, with 20 pilots still out on course.