25.09.2026
KINGS AND QUEENS OF KRK ‘N’ ROLL: The Queen course winners since 2017
Eight races. Sixteen victories. Thirteen names.
Queen doesn’t hand out crowns in advance. On KRK ‘N’ ROLL there are no guaranteed winners and title defenses are rare. And sometimes, hours of racing come down to only one second difference.
Since the first KRK ‘N’ ROLL in 2017, only two racers have managed to return to the top. Christoph Soukup has won three times. Blanka Krajnc twice.
Everyone else got one chance, and turned it into a victory that remains part of the race’s history.
KINGS OF KRK ‘N’ ROLL
The first winner and the first major drama
It all began in 2017.
Borut Ramšak became the first Queen winner, setting the benchmark for the toughest course of the KRK ‘N’ ROLL. His victory could not be compared with any that came before it – because there had been none.
The following year brought the first major thriller.
Boštjan Hribovšek and Rok Naglič came through the final checkpoints side by side. Hribovšek crossed the finish line in 2:56:54. Naglič finished in 2:56:55.
A single second decided the Queen course winner in 2018.
After almost three hours of racing, the decision who will get the crown came down to the time it took to complete one pedal stroke.
The Soukup era
Three races. Three victories. With total time advantage of only 3:31.
Christoph Soukup reached the top in 2019.
In his first victory, he was only 1:12 ahead of Boštjan Hribovšek. Enough to win the KRK ‘N’ ROLL race, but not enough to make the final stages comfortable.
The Queen was not held in 2020. The longest course returned in 2021, so did Soukup. He won again – this time by only 1:02 ahead of Luka Tavčar.
A year later his third crown came. In 2022, Soukup defeated Matic Grošelj by 1:17.
Three victories in three consecutive editions of the Queen race.
Even more interesting is how he achieved them. Add up all three winning time advantages and, in his entire era, Soukup beat his closest rivals by a combined total of only three minutes and 31 seconds.
This was not domination without resistance. He did not disappear from the competition in the opening kilometers and win with huge time advantage. Every crown had to be earned in a race that remained open almost until the finish.
You can win once on a perfect day. A second victory confirms greatness. A third creates an era.
Christoph Soukup is the first, and so far the only three-time Queen winner. No other man has managed to win the crown even twice.
The similar time. One second. A change at the top.
After Soukup’s era, Michael Holland took the win in 2023.
Behind him came a result that opened one of the best stories in KRK ‘N’ ROLL history: Matic Grošelj and Robert Vrečer crossed the finish line with exactly the same time – 2:46:21.
A year later, they arrived together again. This time, they were fighting for the win.
Grošelj: 2:52:28.
Vrečer: 2:52:29.
One second apart.
First, the similar time. Then, one second difference. And in 2025 – the third act.
This time Robert Vrečer won the Queen. Matic Grošelj finished third, only 1:01 behind him.
With no grand predictions or pre-written storyline, the results told the story themselves: a tie, a one-second defeat, then a comeback and victory.
KRK ‘N’ ROLL QUEENS
Five races, five winners
The first women’s crown went to Mija Radotić in 2017. Andrea Kiršić won in 2018, followed by Vita Movrin in 2019.
When the Queen returned in 2021, Anna Hofmann was the fastest. A year later, Maja Bonačić took the win.
Five editions held – five different winners.
For years, the women’s Queen refused to have a permanent owner. Every autumn, Krk crowned a new queen. Until Blanka Krajnc arrived.
Blanka did what no woman before her had managed to do
Blanka Krajnc won the Queen in 2023, finishing eight and a half minutes ahead of Natalija Anderluh.
It was a major victory, but its full significance became clear only a year later.
Blanka returned in 2024 and won again. This time she was more than 35 minutes ahead of her closest rival.
With that, she became the first woman to successfully defend the Queen title and the first two-time female winner in KRK ‘N’ ROLL history.
Until then, every edition had a new winner. After Blanka, it was no longer possible to say that the Queen does not allow a women’s dynasty to emerge.
It does – but only for those who can come back and prove themselves the best once again.
The last crown before the anniversary 10th edition
Maruša Naglič won the women’s Queen in 2025.
She became the seventh different winner in eight editions, and the latest woman to claim the Queen title before the anniversary 10th edition.
Perhaps that best illustrates just how open the women’s race has been over the years: eight editions, seven different winners, and only one successful title defense.
KRK ‘N’ ROLL Hall of Fame
• 2017. Borut Ramšak and Mia Radotić
• 2018. Boštjan Hribovšek and Andrea Kiršić
• 2019. Christoph Soukup and Vita Movrin
• 2020. The Queen was not held
• 2021. Christoph Soukup and Anna Hofmann
• 2022. Christoph Soukup and Maja Bonačić
• 2023. Michael Holland and Blanka Krajnc
• 2024. Matic Grošelj and Blanka Krajnc
• 2025. Robert Vrečer and Maruša Naglič
Thirteen names have already earned their place in KRK ‘N’ ROLL history.
Only one has won three times. One was the first to defend the women’s crown. Two victories were decided by a single second. And some turned their one and only chance into a result that no one can ever take away from them.
The 10th KRK ‘N’ ROLL will take place on October 10th, 2026 in Baška.
The previous kings and queens already have their place in history.
Now only one question remains:
Who’s next?