Australian was first in a race to the top of Taipei 101, world's tallest skyscraper

Australian Paul Crake was the fastest man up the world's best tallest building on Sunday in a successful defence of his Taipei 101 title, organisers said.

Thirty-one-year-old Crake, five-time winner of the Empire State Building run from 1999-2003, finished Sunday's race in 10 minutes 31 seconds to take 200,000 Taiwan dollars.

In the women's event, 27-year-old Austrian Andrea Mayr won in 13 minutes 28 seconds to also take home 200,000 dollars.

Mayr, the 2004-2006 winner of the Empire State Building run, beat 24 other women to the top.

Paul Crake

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

508-metre-high Taipei 101, which cost 58 billion Taiwan dollars to build, was opened in December 2004.

Thomas Dold from Germany, the 2005 Empire State Building race winner, came second at 11 minutes 16 seconds. Rudolf Reitherger from Austria finished third in 11 minutes 53 seconds.

In the women's race, Lee Hsiao-yu of Taiwan came second in 14 minutes, 51 seconds, beating 37-year-old New Zealander Melissa Moon on 14 minutes 52 seconds.

Another 2,000 people took part in the so-called "self-challenging" race.