DeGasperi, 30, a mountain ranger in Italy, took 11 minutes, 39 seconds to run up 2,046 steps of the 508-meter skyscraper.

“I am excited. I think I won the title for Paul Crake who cannot attend this year’s race because he was injured,” Degasperi said.

Crake, the Australian skyscraper climber and cyclists, was the winner of the 2006 Taipei 101 Run-up. He was paralyzed in a cycling accident in Nov. 2006. Thomas Dold of Germany came second like last year.

“I thought I was prepared and was in good shape, but still came in second. However, to play the second in a international race is still great,” said the 23-year-old Dold.

In the women’s category, Austrian skyscraper climber Andrea Mayr defended her 2006 title in 12:54 minutes, winning ahead of Australia’s Suzy Walshman and Melissa Moon of New Zealand.

“I did well today because I put pressure on myself. When I return home, I will rest up and prepare for the next season’s races,” she said.

The winner in the men’s and women’s division each won NT$200,000.

Eleven foreign skyscraper runners and thousands of Taiwanese took part in the Taipei 101 Run-up.

Opened on Jan. 1, 2004, the Taipei 101 surpassed Malaysia’s Petronas Twin Towers on three of the four criteria specified by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat: structural height (508) meters, rooftop height (448 meters) and habitable floor height (438 meters).

Sears Tower in Chicago still keeps the world record for pinnacle/antenna height. Sears Tower, with a 85-meter spire, stands at 527 meters. Taipei 101, with a 60-meter spire, is 508 meters.

However, the Taipei-101 will lose the “world’s tallest building” title in 2008 to Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) which will be 800-950 meters tall with 160-189 floors when it is finished between Dec. 30, 2008-June 30, 2009.

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