Mountain Running
What is Red Bull 400?
Red Bull 400 is the world’s toughest 400-metre race.
Ahmet Arslan
© Flo Hagena/Red Bull Content Pool
With just a bunch of mountain and staircase runners the idea of a reverse usage of a ski jump facility for extreme athletes was born in Austria in 2011.
The principle is simple: the participants start at the bottom of a ski jump and have to scramble their way up as fast as their calves and thigh muscles will allow.
Sounds easy – feels very, very hard.
The most grueling 400 metres of your life with an incline of up to 37 degrees will put both endurance and speed to the test.
After 23 editions over the past six years, the event is hosted in 14 venues all across Europe, Asia and North America in 2017, including the first official Red Bull 400 World Championships in Titisee-Neustadt, Germany.
Ambitious athletes from all over the world come to join Red Bull 400, the steepest race there is, and can participate in two main categories: full-distance solo for men and women and a co-ed relay (4x100 for men and mixed gender). Variations are possible (e.g. ‘fire fighters’) and differ from venue to venue.