TAIPEI, Nov 25, 2007 (AFP) - A 30-year-old Italian man climbed 91 floors in just over 11 and a half minutes on Sunday to win the race up the world's tallest skyscraper, Taipei 101, organisers said.

Marco De Gasperi beat 80 competitors to the top of the enormous building in downtown Taipei to win 200,000 Taiwan dollars (6,187 US).

De Gasperi, champion of the 2007 uphill/downhill WMRA World Mountain Running Trophy in Switzerland, finished the race in 11 minutes, 39 seconds.

Competitors run up 91 floors or 2,046 steps at Taipei 101 which is 390 metres (1,287 feet) more than the Empire State Building's 86 floors and 1,576 steps.

Last year's champion Australian Paul Crake did not take part because of injury, organizers said.

Thomas Dold from Germany, the 2005 Empire State Building race winner, was second in 11 minutes, 56 seconds while Taiwan's Chen Fu-tsai was just one second behind to finish third.

In the women's event, defending champion Andrea Mayr won in 12 minutes, 54 seconds to also take home 200,000 dollars.

The 28-year-old Austrian was also the 2004-2006 winner of the Empire State Building run.

Australia's Suzy Walshman finished second at 13 minutes, 42 seconds, followed by Lee Hsiao-yu of Taiwan in 14 minutes, 16 seconds.

Another 1,500 people took part in the so-called self-challenging race while 1,000 others joined a group race.