Challenging conditions for the organizing committee and demanding terrain for the athletes, especially in the Individual race, assigned by chip to Jornet Burgada over Boscacci. President Mariotta: «The Ismf is open to discussion about the timing rules».

Sondrio (Italy) – The second stage of the ISMF Ski Mountaineering World Cup, took place last weekend in Albosaggia and Caspoggio, Northern Italy. The role of the local organising committee proved fundamental in being able to put on the event despite the very difficult snow and weather conditions, and although usually ISMF World Cups take place 100% on snow, starting and finishing a skimo race on foot is quite common. However, it has to be noted that this winter European winter sports are suffering from lack of snow in many areas: over the weekend colleagues from the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup were forced to cancel two races due to the unusual weather conditions.
In Valtellina, infact a huge effort was made to guarantee the go ahead of the 30th edition of the classic Valtellina Orobie, in fair and safe conditions.
The sporting results rewarded  the best men  and women on the circuit, with Laetitia Roux making a comeback to the podium and Kilian Jornet Burgada’ s back to back win in the Individual, in addition to the confirmation of Michele Boscacci’s and Emelie Forsberg’s presence in the top 3. Besides the competitive value of any single performance, every competition has something more to teach and tell. In the Individual race on Pizzo Meriggio, Jornet Burgada and Boscacci brought about a new turn of events, at least in recent history of ISMF competitions.
After going neck and neck on for most of the race, they decided to slow down together on the last descent, especially when it came to the last part no longer on snow, crossing the finish line hands held up together as a sign of mutual respect.
The victory was,nevertheless, assigned to the Spanish champion over the Italian athlete, because the use of an electronic chip for the time keeping system is what dictates the results in hundredths of a second.
The current ISMF rules don’t permit an ex aequo result, whilst it’s true that other sports allow for this. Therefore, the results were awarded by the referees and time keepers according to the actual rules.
Of course eight hundredths of a second, the time gap between Jornet Burgada and Boscacci, is not much. This is why the ISMF is willing to look at the case as an opportunity to discuss possible rule modifications. «This situation will give the international Federation the possibility to reflect on the topic, trying to learn from the experience – ISMF president Armando Mariotta said -».«We could propose to the plenary Assembly a change to our rules to manage these very particular situations. The idea – added Mariotta – will be discussed over the next few months, starting from a common and shared point of view. Only by respecting the existing rules we can guarantee fair play and defend the ethical values of our sport».