King of the trails: Daniel Jung and his records

Up to 20 hours without a break, throughout the day and through the night: extreme athlete Daniel Jung has repeatedly set people's ears in recent months with records on high-altitude routes.

First things first: It all started in the spring, in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Jung, who has been concentrating on ultra-trail runs (extreme and long mountain runs) for several years, was “doomed to stay at home”. Difficult for someone who loves nature and the mountains. The thoroughbred athlete who grew up in Latsch kept fit in his apartment in Naturns. “Not a permanent situation,” he laughs today. After all, mountain tours and the like were soon allowed again.

However, traveling and competing were out of the question. Jung, who in recent years has regularly competed in World Tour races and World Series competitions, so to speak, at World Cups for extreme mountain runners, was missing the challenges. But: The now 37-year-old knows how to motivate himself.

“That’s where the idea of challenges came from,” he remembers. The aim was to secure the records on various high-altitude trails popular in the trail scene. “First and foremost for myself,” as he emphasizes. He had already conquered one or two records on such paths before, including on the Berliner Höhenweg in the Zillertal. In 2017 he covered the 91 kilometers and 7000 meters in altitude in 18:11 hours. He also set a record on the Pfunderer Höhenweg: in 2018 he needed 73,2:5400 hours to cover the distance of 12 kilometers and 46 meters in altitude. Record hunt begins with a small “false start” His record hunt this year actually started with a false start. “That wasn’t my day,” Jung looks back today. In May he ran the Vinschger Höhenweg with Haflinger Andreas Reiterer. However, Jung had to give up after 70 kilometers due to stomach problems. Reiterer set a record of 105:4000 hours after 11 kilometers and 31 meters in altitude. “I thought to myself that the Vinschger Höhenweg had to remain in Vinschger hands and tried again,” said Jung. A few weeks later he completed the 105 kilometers and more than 4000 meters of altitude in 11:00.36 hours. Further projects should follow.

Daniel Jung on the Vinschger Höhenweg.

A new record was reported on the Stubaier Höhenweg in July. The high-altitude trail there is considered popular and prestigious in the trail scene. The record was set here by two Austrians, Christian Stern and Alexander Hutter. The local heroes completed the 2 kilometers and 78 meters of altitude in July in 5800:13 hours. But the record only lasted a short time: a few days to be precise. “I’ve wanted to tackle this project for a long time, now was the right time,” says Jung. He set the record in the Stubaital in 49:12 hours.

“Of course I wanted to get this record back. The plans were immediately geared towards this.” Daniel Jung In the meantime, however, the Eisacktalers Alexander Rabensteiner and Ivan Favretto had broken his record on the Pfunderer Höhenweg - with a time of 12:44 hours, they were just 2 minutes faster than Jung in 2018. “Of course I wanted to get this record back. The plans were immediately geared towards this,” says Jung. On the high trail, which starts at the train station in Vipiteno and leads to St. Georgen near Bruneck, he managed this confidently in 11:19 hours.

Because Jung was also challenged for another record, he went back to Austria in August, more precisely to the Zillertal. Haflinger Peter Kienzl beat Jung's fabulous time of 17:50 hours. Here too, the Vinschger struck back impressively with 15:30 hours. “A beautiful and emotional moment,” he remembers.

Extreme running is his passion: Daniel Jung at AlpFrontTrail. © Wisthaler

Not a “challenge” of records, but a historically valuable project, Jung tackled the AlpFrontTrail in September. Together with other athletes, including Hannes Perkmann from Sarn, another South Tyrolean, we walked along the former front line of the First World War under the motto “Running against forgetting”. 100 years after the annexation of South Tyrol, the participants ran in 7 daily stages from Grado over 840 kilometers and around 58.000 meters in altitude to the Stelvio Pass. Still a lot to go The extreme athlete wants to recharge his batteries over the Christmas period. Of course, there is always training. And anyway, there are regular leisurely mountain tours with your partner and family. There are also currently some ski tours with friends and acquaintances on the program.

“Now I’ll take it a little easier,” says Jung. No further record hunts are planned for the time being. If the coronavirus crisis permits, the 37-year-old wants to compete in international competitions again next year. “The motivation is huge, I want to start again in World Tour races and compete with the world elite,” he emphasizes. This is one of his biggest challenges. “I’m still missing one win,” said Jung. In 2017, in his first World Tour race, a kind of World Cup for these ultra-trail specialists, he achieved second place in Hong Kong, his best result to date. He only discovered the extreme sport of running around five years ago. And was soon able to celebrate success. In 2 he won the South Tyrol Ultra Skyrace with a course record. Jung needed 2016:121 hours to complete the 7554 kilometers and 17 meters of altitude along the horseshoe tour in the Sarntal Alps. The record remains untouched to this day.

He sometimes has to run through the night to set his records.

Before his career as an extreme mountain runner, Jung was successful in mountain biking. In the amateur sector he was one of the strongest cyclists and was able to win, among other things, the prestigious stage race for teams of two, the Bike-Transalp, with his colleague Kirstin Aamodt from Norway in 2011.

When the motivation for MTB sport was no longer fully there, he finally put the bike in the basement - and devoted himself to the trails. “A good decision,” says the king of the trails today.

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King of the trails: Daniel Jung and his records

This man is extreme: Vinschger trail runner Daniel Jung rushed from record to record in the “Corona year” of 2020. He has long been a role model for many local amateur athletes.

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