The full line-up of pilots for the 2023 Red Bull X-Alps has been revealed, and once again seven-time winner Chrigel Maurer is back to defend his title.
He will face a chasing pack of veterans including Maxime Pinot (FRA1), Simon Oberrauner (AUT1), Paul Guschlbauer (AUT2), Aaron Durogati (ITA2) and Patrick von Känel as well as host of new names.
Those include young Swiss pilot Sepp Inniger, acro master turned adventure athlete Tim Alongi (FRA4), hike-and-fly pro Tanguy Renaud-Goud (FRA5) and North America’s finest James Elliott (CAN), Logan Walters (USA1) and Cedar Wright (USA2).
The pilot list includes 35 pilots from 18 countries, made up of 18 veterans and 17 rookies.
Five women are taking part – the most ever in an edition of the Red Bull X-Alps. They include last year’s competitors Yael Margelisch (SUI3) Laurie Genovese (FRA3), and 2019 athlete Kinga Masztalerz (NZL). New this year are Elisabeth Egger (AUT4), a former supporter to Aaron Durogati and Celine Lorenz (GER3).
Both France and Switzerland have five pilots in the race while Austria and Italy both have four. Germany has three and the USA two.
The youngest pilot is Thomas Friedrich (AUT3) who will be 22 when the race starts. He was forced to withdraw in 2021 due to injury.
2023 will also see the race’s first athlete from China taking part, Junming Song.
The full list includes:
Richard Binstead (AUS) – Rookie
Simon Oberrauner (AUT1) – Veteran
Paul Guschlbauer (AUT2) – Veteran
Thomas Friedrich (AUT3) – Veteran
Elisabeth Egger (AUT4) – Rookie
Tom de Dorlodot (BEL) – Veteran
James Elliott (CAN) – Rookie
Junming Song (CHN) – Rookie
Ondrej Prochazka (CZE) – Rookie
Jordi Vilalta (ESP) – Rookie
Maxime Pinot (FRA1) – Veteran
Damien Lacaze (FRA2) – Veteran
Laurie Genovese (FRA3) – Veteran
Tim Alongi (FRA4) – Rookie
Tanguy Renaud-Goud (FRA5) – Rookie
Markus Anders (GER1) – Veteran
Maximilian Loidl (GER2) – Rookie
Celine Lorenz (GER3) – Rookie
Pal Takats (HUN) – Veteran
Tobias Grossrubatscher (ITA1) – Veteran
Aaron Durogati (ITA2) – Veteran
Nicola Donini (ITA3) – Veteran
Lukas Hofer (ITA4) – Rookie
Emoto Yuji (JPN) – Rookie
Kinga Masztalerz (NZL) – Veteran
Michal Gierlach (POL) – Veteran
Toma Coconea (ROU) – Veteran
Lenart Oblak (SLO) – Rookie
Christian Maurer (SUI1) – Champion
Patrick von Känel (SUI2) – Veteran
Yael Margelisch (SUI3) – Veteran
Sepp Inniger (SUI4) – Rookie
Reto Reiser (SUI5) – Rookie
Logan Walters (USA1) – Rookie
Cedar Wright (USA2) – Rookie
The route will be announced on 15 March 2023 and the race will start on 18 June 2023.
