Media Information
Caroline Ulrich and Oriol Cardona grab the first wins of the ISMF World Cup season
Val Thorens hosted the opening race of the 2023/24 season, with Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, France and Slovakia claiming the podiums
Val Thorens, 25 November 2023 –
She might be only 22 years old, but Swiss skimo star Caroline Ulrich has already proved that she is ready to compete on the world stage amongst the top athletes. On her second season as U23, she grabbed the victory at the inaugural World Cup of the 2023/24 season, with Tove Alexandersson (SWE) and Marianna Jagercikova (SVK) accompanying her on the podium. In the Men’s race, Oriol Cardona had a superb performance, dominating all the Heats and his semi-final to claim the victory in style despite almost falling at the start of the final. Inigo Martinez de Albornoz (ESP) and Thibault Anselmet (FRA) claimed second and third on the day.
54 women toed the start line this Saturday in Val Thorens on a cold and windy day, with 5 centimetres of fresh snow that covered the slopes during the night. And almost all the favourites managed to make it through the qualification round to distribute themselves in five heats. Caroline Ulrich, Celia Perillat-Pessey (FRA), Giulia Murada (ITA), Alessandra Schmid (GER) and Emily Harrop (FRA) all won their heat, willing to prove that they were ready for the next stages.
And the five of them made it to the semi-finals, along with Marta Garcia Farres (ESP), Lenna Bonnel (FRA), Tatjana Paller (GER), Ana Alonso (ESP) and Marianne Fatton (SUI).
But the first surprise of the day came in the first semi-final, when Emily Harrop had issues with her skin at the beginning of the race, and even though she tried to continue, she again had more problems in the second change, forcing one of the favourites for the podium to withdrew.
Alexandersson and Ulrich got the first two spots for the final, and Perillat-Pessey and Jagercikova followed them with direct spots, while Bonnel and Garcia Farres were the two lucky losers that made it to the final.
And in the big final, it was Alexandersson and Jagercikova who put themselves in the first position at the start of the race, with Ulrich close behind them. Still, the Swiss had a superb performance up the stairs and put herself in the lead until she crossed the finish line, with Alexandersson and Jagercikova sprinting for the second spot on the podium that finally went to the Swede, on a great return to the top level competition. In contrast, Jagercikova finished in the third place. Celia Perillat-Pessey, Lena Bonnel and Marta Garcia Ferrer rounded the top six.
Men’s race
The current Sprint World Champion, Oriol Cardona Coll (ESP), couldn’t have dreamt of a better start to the 2023/24 season, with a dominant victory even after a fall that could have been awful at the final. The young Spaniard made it clear from the beginning that he was the man to beat on the day, dominating the qualifying round, his heat, semi-final and then the final.
Inigo Martinez de Albornoz (ESP), Arno Lietha (SUI), Maximilien Drion du Chapois (BEL) and Matteo Favre (SUI) also won their heats, and were accompanied on the semis by Thibault Anselmet (FRA), Robin Galindo (FRA), Iwan Arnold (SUI), Nicolo Canclini (ITA), Ot Ferrer (ESP), Pablo Giner (FRA) and Florian Sautel (FRA), making it a total of four french, three Spaniards, two Swiss, one Italian and one Belgian in the semi-finals.
And it was again Oriol Cardona, along with Robin Galindo making their way to the final as they finished top two in their semi-final, while Arno Lietha and Inigo Martinez also got the direct spots, and Anselmet and Arnold were the lucky losers, one from each semi-final in this case.
In the final, drama was just about to unfold when Oriol Cardona slipped right at the start and was left behind by the other five men, but he was able to quickly catch them and by the time they were starting the steps, he was already leading the group, with his teammate Inigo Martinez right behind him. Cardona started the descent solo, and solo he crossed the finish line, with Martinez claiming the silver medal and Anselmet grabbing the bronze after a penalty that was applied to Robin Galindo, who ended up finally in fifth place. Iwan Arnold was the fourth and Arno Lietha closed the top six.
Check some images of the races HERE
About the ISMF
Founded in 2007, the International Ski Mountaineering Federation ISMF is the global governing body for ski mountaineering competitions. Since 2016, the organization is officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee IOC. Its main goals are the promotion, regulation and development of the ski mountaineering sport worldwide. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the ISMF’s membership consists of 47 national mountaineering or ski sports federations in Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. The ISMF organizes ski mountaineering World Cups events and World Championships. For the first time, ski mountaineering has been a medal sport at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland and has recently been included in the programme of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.