HCM CITY — Vietnamese runner Nguyễn Khoa won the men’s HCMC SKYRUN at the Bitexco Financial Tower in HCM City on Sunday.

Khoa, along with local and international runners, took to the stairs and conquered the skyscraper by running up 1,002 steps to the finish line at the Skydeck on the 49^th floor.

Khoa set the overall fastest time up HCM City’s tallest building in 6 minutes and 9.1secs.

Deichmann Floria of Germany and Descoustures Dimitri of France were the runners-up with times of 07:05.4 and 07:18.2, respectively.

In the male senior’s event, Shoji Massamichi of Japan won with a time of 08:16.9. Vietnamese Trần Thái Nguyên and Stirling Duncan of Ireland finished second and third, respectively.

In the male open, Hứa Long triumphed with a time of 07:18.9, followed by Sessemann Robert of the United Kingdom and Đỗ Ngân Sơn of Việt Nam.

In the female division, Vietnamese Nguyễn Thị Tính climbed to victory in the masters’ division, finishing in 10:26.2 seconds, beating Nguyễn Liễu of Việt Nam and Towne Andrea of the US.

Meanwhile, Nguyễn Tiểu Phương of Việt Nam took the title in the senior category with a time of 09:24.6. Morrison Alyssa of the US and Roessner Almut of German came second and third.

Vietnamese runners won the top three places in the female open with Lê Yến Linh on top.

Stair climbing, first known as “vertical races” in the 1970s, is now a global sport with stair climbing clubs hailing from the US, Canada, Europe and Asia as well as professional athletes who train year-round to be the first to reach the top of the world’s tallest buildings. Although still a relatively new sport, stair climbing has quickly caught on with fitness enthusiasts attracted not only by the physical demands of this grueling sport but also by the novelty of competing in unique urban settings – the world’s tallest structures, some of the tallest of which are located here in Asia. — VNS