At 82 years old, Giovanni Potenza doesn’t stop: he climbs the Piedmont skyscraper 5 times (beating his previous record)

The chronological age turns into a simple detail in the face of an unshakeable determination and an out of the ordinary sporting passion. On the occasion of the third edition of the Vertical Grattacielo Regione Piemonte, the eighty-two year old Giovanni Potenza signed a monumental performance in Turin. The athlete, originally from Montemesola in the province of Taranto but who moved to the Piedmontese capital at 15, faced the stairs of the symbolic building of the Region 5 consecutive times. His final tally speaks of 205 floors and 5,500 steps climbed on the run with 209 meters of positive difference in altitude at each ascent, stopping the clock at a time of 53 minutes and 20 seconds.

Not content with having completed a titanic effort on 1,100 ramp steps for each climb up to the 41st floor, the athlete even improved the chronometric performance achieved in the previous 2025 edition by 40 seconds. A proof that confirms the extraordinary sporting longevity of a man capable of putting competitors with the maximum age of 60 years behind him. An achievement celebrated with immense pride by his 3 sons, Mino, Gianluca and Massimo, and by his 6 grandchildren who rushed to support him along the ramps.

The birth of a global towerrunning myth and the competitive winners

Giovanni Potenza’s career in the world of towerrunning represents a true fairy tale of contemporary sport. Having approached the discipline in 2013 almost by chance, after being encouraged during training in the gym by his friend Giovanni Ciccorelli, deputy commander of the Turin Fire Brigade, the athlete trained in secret before his dazzling debut in London in November 2018 with 70 floors completed in 15 minutes. Over the years his fame has crossed national borders: from the feat of the Allianz skyscraper in Milan in April 2019 with 50 floors in 10 minutes up to the triumph in Dubai in October 2019 with 156 floors tamed in 40 minutes, also winning the applause of the columns of New York Times after climbing the Freedom Tower in New York.

Alongside Giovanni Potenza’s feat, the third edition of the Piedmontese Vertical of the FISky Italian Championship crowned the champions of the competitive race played between 144 participants. In the men’s competition, the victory went to the Como beekeeper Fabio Ruga, who reached the finish line on the 41st floor in 5 minutes and 4 seconds, while among the women the race of the Cuneo athlete Alice Minetti triumphed, first in 6 minutes and 3 seconds.