You could say Aaron Durogati was born to be in the mountains.
Merano – Aaron’s home town – is surrounded by some of Italy’s highest peaks. With adventure always present on his doorstep, the Italian grew up with a passion for extreme sports. Speed riding, mountaineering, skiing and most notably, paragliding – he’s earned himself a high profile name in mountain sports.
Find out what makes Aaron tick and what the future looks like for an athlete who lives in the skies.
Where it all began
Durogati’s love for the sport took flight at just six years old, when his father first took him under his wings and introduced him to tandem paragliding. “My father was my inspiration,” he tells us.
“I inherited my passion for sport from him.”
At just 15 he starting flying solo. It was then he realised his dream of making it onto the list of the world’s top paragliding pilots. With his father backing him all the way, and the perfect destination surrounding him, Aaron had all the ingredients to make this dream a reality. All he had to do was dig deep and train hard.
“I’m very focused on the goals that I have set. I was born to do these kinds of sports. For me, it is easier to train hard than to train just a little.”
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Motivation is everything
Aaron knows what he wants to achieve and makes sure everything he does in life is going to help deliver it. “I always have great motivation because my life now fulfils the dreams I had as a child.”
He soared home with his first World Cup in 2012. Something that every paraglider strives to get their hands on and a amazing achievement that outlines just how much this man can achieve in his discipline! “If I look back to my career, the biggest achievement is winning the Paragliding World Cup Championship in 2012 – the most valued trophy within the paragliding sport.”
It wasn’t long until he turned to Red Bull’s series of events to get his adrenalin kicks. “In the Red Bull X Alps 2013, I was so tired I fell asleep on the flight! The weather conditions were very bad during the Red Bull X Alps in 2015 – more than half the days weren’t flyable, but I did everything the same.”
Watch Aaron in David Attenborough’s much-hyped Planet Earth II (49:40)
The road to greatness
Since his amazing World Cup achievement in 2012, Aaron has continued to push himself year on year.
Most notably, he landed an impressive win in 2016 – his “greatest achievement to date” – in this year’s Red Bull Element race. “I always follow the same training. The Red Bull X Alps [for example] needs a long training process – five years training the same way,” Aaron tells us about his preparation.
“It is an endurance race, but speed is important, so I play ski-touring everyday in winter and train for running and paragliding in summer.”
Aaron takes to the mountains in Salewa Lite Train shoes.
“I practice different training for different kinds of races, so (when looking for training shoes) I look for lightweight and responsive footwear to help me train for speed, durability, and stability.”
Find out more here.
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