Media Information
Team France Claims The First Mixed Relay Victory Of The Season In Val Thorens
Val Thorens, 26 November 2023 – Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet delighted the home crowds in Val Thorens to grab the first Mixed Relay win of the 2023/24 ISMF World Cup season, after a hard battle with Team Spain (Oriol Cardona and Ana Alonso), who crossed the line in second place. Giulia Murada and Nicolo Canclini gave Italy the bronze medal.
Sunday brought the sun to Val Thorens for the second day of competition on the French resort, even though the temperatures were still below zero. With the new competition format in place for this season, 43 teams started the qualifying round, with China (11 teams) and France (9 teams) as the countries with a broader representation, while Spain, Switzerland and Italy had three teams; Austria, Germany, Poland and Japan two teams and one for the rest of the squads for a total of 13 different countries.
The qualification was a hard battle for all the teams, knowing that only one team per country would make it to the Final, with a maximum of another two teams from the same Member Nation allowed on the B Final.
On the Final, Emily Harrop went full gas from the gun, trying to make a gap as big as possible before handing over to her teammate. Behind her, Giulia Murada (ITA), Johanna Hiemer (AUT), Ana Alonso (ESP) and Caroline Ulrich (SUI) were battling to stay in touch, while Team Germany, Slovakia and Poland were slowly fading behind the group, with Slovenia, China, USA and Japan losing ground but avoiding being lapped out.
Harrop handed over to Thibault Anselmet clearly in the first place, with almost 30 seconds ahead of the group of four athletes chasing them, but as soon as Oriol Cardona (ESP) was tagged, he started an impressive chase and by the time they were on the second ascend, Cardona and Anselmet were shoulder by shoulder, with both of them tagging their teammates together for the second lap. Behind them, Nicolo Canclini (ITA) was trying to open a small break with Jon Kistler (SUI) and Paul Verbnjak (AUT), all of them still relatively close together.
The second round for Harrop was another display of strength and technique, tagging Anselmet with a 42 seconds lead over Cardona, a time that was just a bit too much for the Spaniard. The Spaniard gave it all in the last climb but was not able to catch Anselmet, who crossed the finish line in the first place and hug Harrop for their first victory of the season, proving that they are the ones to beat once again, current World and European champions.
Cardona and Alonso were also happy with their silver medal, one to add to their two victories in the Mixed Relay events last year, while the bronze was finally for Canclini and Murada.
A decisive last round for Paul Verbnjak put Team Austria in fourth place, with Team Switzerland closing the top 5.
Full results HERE
Access all images from the races HERE
For more info www.ismf-ski.org
Follow us live on:
X @ISMFSkimo
FB @ismf.ski
IG @ismf_skimo
YT @ISMFSkimo
#thecallofskimo
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.