Media Information
France shines at home to win the Youth Mixed Relay European Championships
Chamonix, 12 January 2024 – Jules Raybaud and Louise Trincaz delivered a perfect performance to bring Team France on top of the podium on the Youth Mixed Relay European Championships in Chamonix, with Clizia Vallet and Hermann Debertolis securing a fantastic silver medal for Team Italy, and Norway making their official debut at the medals on a top level competition with Ida Waldal and Aron Rodal Haugen crossing the finish line in third place to capture the bronze medal.
The day was beautiful in Chamonix, with clear sky, sun shinning bright up on the sky and 17 teams lining up on the feet of the Mont Blanc for the 2024 ISMF Youth Mixed Relay European Championships. With the new rule applying and only one team per nation making it to the A Final, 11 nations were represented in the Final.
And it was Ida Waldal, for Team Norway, who made it clear from the beginning that they would be the team to beat. After capturing a medal in the three previous events (Individual, Vertical and Sprint), the young Norwegian pushed hard in the first lap of the course, only followed by another owner of a hat trick this week, Spain’s Laia Selles.
Trincaz, Vallet and Lea Hancion Havet (AND) followed closely behind, and the five of them tagged their teammates quite closely.
As soon as Raybaud was on course, he made it clear that he would be hard to beat, and after winning also the Individual, Sprint and Vertical races, he pushed incredible hard to set himself on the lead and open a significant gap with Haugen, who managed to hold the pressure even though he was the youngest athlete on course today, only 16 years old.
Behind both of them, Biel Pujol (ESP), Max Palmitjavilla (AND) and Hermann Debertolis (ITA) were battling for the bronze medal, and half way through the race they were in close contact, with Italy in second place when tagging their teammates.
The second round for the girls saw Trincaz opening an even better gap and Waldal and Selles moving to podium positions again, and for the last and final lap, Raybaud just had to keep the margin, knowing that he had almost one minutes over the chasers.
Debertolis was the one with an impressive final push to pass the rest of the field in the last ascend to then make it to the finish line in second place, with Team Norway securing the bronze medal in the last effort by Haugen.
Pujol from Spain moved to the fourth place just a few meters after crossing the finish line, after Palmitjavilla struggled in the last transition and finished in fifth place.