Giulia Compagnoni and Thomas Corthay take the Junior gold medals. Nadir Maguet and Marta Garcia Farres are first in the Espoir category.
The Scarpa ISMF World Cup circuit closed this morning on the snows of Prato Nevoso (Cuneo) with the Sprint Race. The Sprint Race represents a mix of all possible ski mountaineering situations, inversions, stretches on foot, skins on/off transitions and technical slopes. All this is concentrated in little more than four minutes of racing.
After the qualifying heats, the quarter and semifinals, of the men, those on the starting line were Yannick Ecoeur, Nadir Maguet, Josef Rottmoser, William Bon Mardion, Robert Antonioli and Michele Boscacci. Immediately after the starter’s gunshot the two Italians Boscacci and Antonioli went straight to the front to the group, pursued by Rottmoser and William Bon Mardion. Robert Antonioli arrived at the first skins transition with an advantage of a couple of seconds with respect to Boscacci and Rottmoser. The first to shot off on foot is Michele Boscacci, a fraction of a second behind are Antonioli and Rottmoser, and a little further back is the Frenchman William Bon Mardion. The small group climbs at the same pace, but at the last skins transition the first to arrive is still Antonioli, then Boscacci and Bon Mardion. Antonioli, maybe losing for a moment the lucidity that has always made him stand out, does a not-too-rapid skins transition. Boscacci takes advantage and throws himself down the slope towards the finishing line, just in front of Antonioli; the two of them fly towards the finishing line with Bon Mardion hot on their tails. Antonioli, not wanting to put winning the World Cup speciality at risk, doesn’t force the downhill slope and even makes some less-than-perfect manoeuvres, which lead to his team mate Boscacci crossing the finishing line by himself. Boscacci, executing a perfect downhill run, as his entire race, stopped the stopwatch with a time of 3’30’’. Antonioli, just behind him, manages by a hair’s breadth to confirm second place, while Bon Mardion is third. After which Josef Rottmoser, Nadir Maguet and Yannik Ecoeur arrive.
In the women’s race Laetitia Roux makes it to the final having won all the heats. With her at the starting line are Emelie Forsberg, Marta Garcia Farres, Valentine Fabre, Elena Nicolini and Malene Haukøy.
Roux runs the final without error and crosses the finishing line with a time of 3’43’’. Just behind her is a surprising Emelie Forsberg and the Swiss Valentine Fabre. Marta Garcia Farres and Elena Nicolini are respectively fourth and fifth, while Malene Haukøy is sixth.
In the Juniors Race, of the boys the Swiss Thomas Corthy wins with a time of 3’19, ahead of Arnaud Gasser and Nicoló Canclini. Of the girls Giulia Compagnoni wins. Marianne Fatton and Alba De Silvestro are second and third.
Nadir Maguet and Marta Garcia Farres are first in the Espoir category.
As regards the final ranking of the World Cup speciality, the Sprint Race, in the Junior category Thomas Corthay and Giulia Compagnoni win, in the Espoir category Nadir Maguet and Marta Garcia Farres win the Crystal Cup.
Of the Seniors, Robert Antonioli and Laetitia Roux have dominated the season and won the World Cup Sprint Race.
Race results are online on ISMF website.
http://ismf-ski.org/www/content/races-result?id=134
All the new provisional World cup rankings are on
http://ismf-ski.org/www/content/rankings-podiums&ranking=wc2015