The Rekord Šmarne gore delivered another blistering edition on the steep, root-strewn trail from Tacen to the summit, with Richard Omaya Atuya (KEN) winning the men’s title in 10:33 ahead of teammate Patrick Kipngeno (KEN). Slovenia’s Luka Kovačič led the home charge in third as the front of the field pressed deep into all-time territory.

A pure uphill blast: roughly 1.8 km with about +360 m of climb, climbing steep forest trails—most notably the “Čez korenine” line—before topping out on the summit. Pacing is everything; a handful of seconds can separate the entire top ten, and sub-11 minutes is the realm of the exceptional.

On this short, highly technical climb (approx. 1.8 km, +360 m, rocks and roots), the raw numbers underline just how extreme the front-end effort was:

• A 10:59 ascent (the previous reference mark) equates to roughly 1,966 vertical meters per hour.

• 10:33 projects to about 2,047 vertical meters per hour — a staggering rate given the footing and gradient.
  That’s “only” 360 meters of gain, not 2,000, but the instantaneous vertical speed sustained for ten-plus minutes is world-class on this terrain. The question now is obvious: will we see a sub-10 on Šmarna Gora in the near future? The margins suggest it’s no longer theoretical.

TOP 5 — MEN
Richard Omaya Atuya (KEN) — 10:33
Patrick Kipngeno (KEN) — 10:46
Luka Kovačič (SLO) — 11:04
Klemen Španring (SLO) — 11:12
Tiziano Moia (ITA) — 11:17

TOP 5 — WOMEN
Klara Velepec (SLO) — 14:30
Arianna Del Pino (ITA) — 14:58
Klementina Lemut (SLO) — 16:01
Maruša Cijan Brkič (SLO) — 16:12
Manca Mlekuž (SLO) — 16:29

Šmarna Gora’s time-trial format keeps the clock—and the record—front and center. With multiple athletes now clustered within striking distance, the sub-10 barrier has moved from speculation to a realistic target for the right athlete on the right day.