Saturday the 31th edition with closed number and sold out.
The Sgambeda is the first long distance race of the season.
At the start also the Italian Pro Teams, there will be a lot of fun!
Yesterday’s champions, today’s cross-country skiers: Marianna Longa and Nikolaj Pankratov

Long-distance runners are in a hurry, skating fans even more so, because Saturday 4 December in Livigno officially opens the granfondo season with the 31st edition of the Sgambeda. It is a “classic” in Livigno, because in the “Piccolo Tibet” the snow always comes early. A snow-covered Livigno in view of the Christmas festivities is a good occasion for the first skiing of the amateurs, with the suggestion to spend the Sunday between shopping and some time on the slopes with friends and family. For this edition, the organisers from Livigno have set a limit of 500 participants, in compliance with the anti-Covid regulations. A number already reached, of course, and so on Saturday the usual multicoloured wave of cross-country skiers will start from the Centro Fondo. There are 30 km of skating races in a single loop starting and finishing at the Nordik Skill Center. 

Among the registered athletes we can also notice the athletes of the Italian Pro Teams who usually participate in the Visma Ski Classics long-distance championship. So we will find in the front row the strongest athletes of Robinson Trentino, Futura Alta Quota Trentino and Internorm Trentino and, despite the different technique, you can understand the different states of form. Bruno Debertolis, team manager of Robinson Trentino, has called the foreigners of the Pro Team with the exception of Gifstad and Russian Bagrashov, so we will see at the start Frida Erkers, Nicole Donzallaz, Patrick Fossum Kristoffersen and Chiara Caminada. Not from the Pro Team, but from Team Talent, is the world rollerski champion Matteo Tanel, who knows his stuff in skating. Also with him are Cappello, Klettenhammer, Schwingshackl and the women’s Piller and Gentile. Team Futura is counting on Stefano Mich, Manuel Amhof and Julian Brunner, as well as the up-and-coming Thea Schwingshackl. Team Internorm also has an eye on the best Italian in the Ski Classics last season, Mauro Brigadoi, together with Ferrari, Busin and Lorenzi.

Outside the teams there are other names that bring prestige to the Sgambeda, like Marianna Longa, the ex Italian champion who has enchanted many fans and there will be also her brother Mattia, perhaps more known with the mtb (Team Scott Italia) than with the cross-country skis. Scrolling down the long list of participants, one comes across Nikolaj Pankratov, silver and bronze world champion in the 2000s, and Diego Ruiz, the Spaniard who has also starred in the Marcialonga in the past.

The fact remains that the Sgambeda represents the event of the amateurs par excellence, appreciated for the hospitality of the locality and for all the surroundings that the event offers. And there will be, on Sunday 5, also the moment dedicated to the young people with the Minisgambeda (start at 11 am), whose registrations are possible until 2 pm tomorrow, Friday.On Saturday until 10 a.m. the bibs for the Sgambeda can be picked up, while the start will be at 11 a.m.

Info: www.lasgambeda.it