© Migu Run Skyrunner World Series/ David Gonthier

When it comes to versatility of racing, you’d be hard to find someone who can switch it up as successfully as Russian skyrunning and ultra trail athlete Katya Mityaeva, who has triumphed in both short but brutal vertical kilometer™ races and long, extremely mountainous ultras. She just came 4th at this year’s 170km UTMB and, although you’ll mostly find her on a mountain trail (sometimes with her successful skyrunning husband, Dimitri Mityaeva), she’s also got a mean road marathon time of 2:36!

I caught up with the successful skyrunner via email to talk skyrunning, training and UTMB.

© Hamish Frost

In January, Polar adventurer and endurance athlete, Jenny Davis, was 19 days into her gruelling mission to be the fastest solo and unsupported person to ski to the South Pole, when she developed peritonitis (infection of the inner lining of the stomach) and a bowl infection which required a medical evacuation, ending her expedition.

Thankfully, she recovered but that still meant coming to terms with the end of her project. The ultrarunner and mountaineer, who has finished a host of extreme ultramarathons (from the Arctic Ultra 250 and Iran Silk Road ultra to the Marathon des Sables and Cape Wrath Ultra) tells me about what she learned from the experience, why she doesn’t fear failure, and the upcoming challenges which are getting her excited now.

© Stefan Voitl / Red Bull

Freeride mountain biker Casey Brown has had her fair share of injuries – from smashed teeth to a lacerated liver – but that comes with pushing boundaries in a sport that can see you soar 50ft into the air on a bike.

The 28-year-old rider, who has also competed successfully in downhill mountain biking and the Enduro World Series, grew-up in remote New Zealand where the next town was an eight-hour hike away. Aged 11, Casey moved with her family to British Columbia where she later honed her MTB skills and would go on to be crowned Queen of Crankworx, the world-wide circuit where riders accumulate points in a variety of MTB disciplines, and Whip-off World Champion multiple times.

This weekend, Casey will take part in the qualifiers for Red Bull Rampage, an event considered the pinnacle of big mountain freeriding, where the world’s best freeride athletes launch themselves down 65-ft high cliffs in Utah following impossible lines and performing insane tricks (yep, it’s as high risk as it sounds). This year sees the first-ever qualifying event and Casey is making history as the first and only woman to be invited. Go, Casey. We’re rooting for you.

Swimmers are known for their relentless training schedules, so what does a typical day look like for medley swimmer, Commonwealth Games champion and Speedo athlete, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor? 23-year-old Siobhan-Marie shares a day in her life with me below.

The Olympic silver medallist, who was the first woman ever to successfully defend their Commonwealth Games 200m IM title during last year’s event in Australia, also reveals her Olympic hopes for Japan 2020. Go, Siobhan-Marie!

© Alexis Berg

Scottish-born Seana Forbes lives in Munich and travels across Europe and Asia for her job as press officer for the Migu Run Skyrunner World Series– the official circuit of skyrunning. When she’s not travelling to races and liaising with athletes, she’s a skyrunner herself and loves nothing better than charging up a mountain summit and back down again.

Here, Seana provides a great insight into a day in her life at work on the Migu Run race circuit, starting with a brief introduction to skyrunning, below.

© Romilly Locklyer

When GB triathlete and 2 x ITU world champion, Helen Jenkins, lined up for the London 2012 Olympic Games, she was a favourite for a podium. Yet, unbeknownst to most people, she’d been unable to train for weeks – or even walk the day before the race – due to excruciating knee pain derived from an on-going back issue. Incredibly, Helen raced her way to 5th place in London, which is astonishing given the pain she was in.

Since then the three-time Olympian has had spinal surgery and become a mum to Mali (almost 2) and, more recently, Max, who was born in May. Here, Helen talks about the emotional cost of being injured at the peak of your career, her goals for the future, and the challenges (and joys!) of balancing family and training.

© Susie Chan

The Marathon des Sables, Badwater 135, the Western States 100, Spartan Death Race – Amy Palmiero-Winters’ list of race finishes reads like an A-Z of some of the toughest endurance events on the planet – which would be impressive enough before you add the fact she’s a below-the-knee amputee into the mix.

After injuries from a motorcycle accident required her left leg to be amputated, Amy thought her running days were over – until she ran a half-marathon on a walking prosthetic and won her division. Since then, she hasn’t looked back. Amy holds the world record for fastest marathon by a female below-knee amputee (3:04:16 at the Chicago Marathon) has won a 24-hour ultra outright, completed multiple Spartan Death Races (setting a record for the longest barbed wire crawl at 7.5 miles) and was the first and only amputee to be named in an otherwise able-bodied USA National Team for the 2010 24-hour Running World Championships in France.

Throw in her 135-mile Badwater finish, 140-mile Marathon des Sables race and 100-mile Western States achievement and we’re only just scratching the surface of Amy’s lengthy list of endurance feats. Here, I’m thrilled that she shares an insight into her training and unbelievably resilient mindset.

© BikingMan/David Styv/Magali Paulin

When Danish endurance athlete Helle Bachofen von Echt signed up for her first ever ultra-distance bike race, she had no idea what her limits were. But it turns out the 40-year-old is well suited to grinding out relentless miles for 47 hours without sleep! Helle was the second woman to finish the non-stop, 1000km, BikingMan Oman event, despite being unable to shift gears for much of the race due to a Di2 failure. Eight weeks later she took the win at BikingMan Corsica, a 700km race with 13,000m of climbing.

From troll and dinosaur hallucinations to suffering horrendous saddle sores, Helle, who lives in Dubai and works as a spinning instructor, shared the highs and lows of her ultra experience with me.

In 2007, Maria Leijerstam reached the South Pole by bike, becoming the first person ever to cycle there. Since then, Maria has finished countless expedition adventure races, written a book about her South Pole cycle, run ultras, founded the Burn Series adventure race series and become a mum to two girls who are now two and four.

In two days, after five years out of the circuit, she’s lining up for her first expedition adventure race since having children: an epic 6-day, 700km race across Sweden to the fjords of Norway. I caught up with Maria on the phone a few weeks ago to chat about this, her training, and her incredible Antarctic cycle.

© Philipp Reiter

For American skyrunner Megan Kimmel, the mountains aren’t just home (she lives in Colorado) but a training ground and escape. Super-comfortable covering big climbs at altitude, Megan holds the course record for the Pikes Peak marathon (14,115ft of ascent!) and recently won the Broken Arrow Skyrace. A big name within skyrunning, the 39-year-old is currently ranked 3rd overall in the Migu Run Skyrunner World Series (the official circuit for skyrunning) with a win at China’s Yading skyrace, a second at Japan’s Mount Awa Skyrace and third at Transvulcania.

In between a seriously hectic schedule of transatlantic flights, travel and racing, Megan squeezed in time to answer my questions on her running background, mental strategies, training and season so far.