Marató dels Dements – Skymasters Final 2026 Results

The Serra d’Espadà mountains between Eslida and Aín near Valencia in Spain hosted the Marató dels Dements Skymasters Final for a final time, I am told. I had an invite, could’ve gone, didn’t. Feel like I missed out big time, but there’s only so much travel my family, and budget can handle. I picked going to TRE next month over Spain, I know, I’m an idiot, what can I say. At least Texas is now a deep blue state, so it will be enjoyable, but I digress.

For a summary of The Season Finale of the 2026 Skyrunner World Series is upon us. Here’s my preview article from a few days ago for folks who want to read up on what’s at stake.

Here are the results for the race:

Sara Alonso and Manuel Merillas (both Spain) win today and take this season’s overall Skyrunner Crowns.

Find more Skyrunning coverage on my dedicated page.

Once calculated here are the final rankings of the overall series and full results from today’s race can be found here. Below are your top podium finishers:

Marató dels Dements – 42KM, 3,800M vert

Women:

1. Sara Alonso – ESP – 5:30:38
2. Elena Karanfiloska – MKD – 5:40:17
3. Greta Garcia – ESP – 5:45:35
4. Alice Bausseron – FRA – 5:46:59
5. Eva Delafosse – FRA – 5:49:56
6. Patricia Pineda – ESP – 5:50:48
7. Oihana Zubillaga – ESP – 5:51:14
8. Ruut Joensuu – FIN – 5:59:35
9. Anna Darmograi – UKR – 6:00:21
10. Ainara Alcuaz – ESP – 6:07:16

Men:

1. Manuel Merillas – ESP – 4:20:33
2. Lucien Mermillon – FRA – 4:32:41
3. Marcos Villamuera – ESP – 4:38:26
4. Loic Robert – FRA – 4:43:09
5. Morgan Elliott – USA – 4:43:30
6. Daniel Izquierdo – ESP – 4:44:10
7. Frederic Tranchand – FRA – 4:44:50
8. Jose Manuel Quispe – PER – 4:51:59
9. Oier Zubeldia – ESP – 4:53:17
10. Shoma Otagiri – JPN – 4:53:36

---

For the Final Standings we know the king and queen, which are also the winners of the race. SWS wrote in the lead up the following:

For the women’s Series Champ:

Alonso is champion with a top-four finish, whatever her rivals do.

This one seemed pretty much in the bag, and what a season for Sara Alonso. She won every skyrace in the series she lined up. And beyond that, took 11th at Sierra Zinal, 3rd at OCC and further won two UTMB races: Kaçkar 20K and PDA 50k at Val d’Aran (the European Major).

For the men’s Series Champ:

Merillas (31 back) needs to win with Quispe third or lower, or finish second with Quispe fourth or lower, while staying ahead of Tranchand.

This was not SWS’s obvious guess, but Merillas beat both Quispe and Tranchand, and with the double points awarded for this Skymasters Final he edged ahead and took the overall Series win. Manuel Merillas’s season wasn’t as decisive as Alonso. But he also lined up to over a dozen races (according to UTMB Index listing) and won five of them. He also came in 3rd at Marathon du Mont Blanc 42 km and 4th at Monte Rosa WalserWaeg 50K.

Spaniards clearly rule their mountains, and are the top dogs of skyrunning. Congrats to both champions. I cannot wait to dig into the full series results a bit more and try to make sense of it all.

---

Now, after the champagne showers are over we’re already looking head to 2027. Word is that the new Series will be announced in just a few weeks.