Marathon 'tower runners' have scaled the 2,754 steps to reach the 100th floor of Shanghai's World Financial Centre.
The World Financial Centre is Shanghai's tallest building at 492 metres.
The marathon's 300 contestants began at 8am local time with the fastest, Austria's Rolf Majcen taking out first place with a time of 18 minutes and 55 seconds.
The 46-year-old Austrian praised the event as the world's best race for tower runners.
'(I came) Because it is the highest one; it is the most impressive building, so this should be the race number one in the world for all the tower runners, because it is fantastic. Maybe this new tower in Shanghai, which will be 600 meters, will be number one in several years, but for the moment, this is the best in the world,'
With 25 years experience Mr Majcen is a tower running-veteran, but for many of the contestants the race proved extremely challenging.
'I was very excited and ran the fastest during the first ten flights. I ran at an even pace during the flights in between. It was very tiring, but the most exhausting part was during the 70 to 80 flights. I was fighting with myself over whether to keep on or not. It was really really exhausting,' 21-year-old Chinese university student Chen Zehong told Reuters.
The top three runners received a miniature Shanghai Financial Centre model and a medal for their efforts.
The top eight were awarded a 500 yuan ($80) voucher to redeem in the centre's myriad of shopping destinations.
The Shanghai Tower which is currently under construction will eventually steal the title of China's tallest building at a planned height of 632 metres once finished.
