Villars-sur-Ollons – Team Spain grabbed gold today at the Mixed Relay race of the ISMF World Cup in Villars-Sur-Ollons, Switzerland, with Oriol Cardona and Marta Garcia pairing on a relay for the first time. On a sunny and splendid morning in the Swiss valley, Team Switzerland emerged at the last leg to claim silver, while Italy finished in the third place.
With the new rule in place of a maximum of one team per country making it to the A Final, some countries like Spain decided who would be their A Team based in the results of the qualification round, and it was Marta Garcia Farres who finished ahead of Ana Alonso -the usual partner of Oriol Cardona in the Relays- who had the best time, therefore making it to the A Final along with Cardona.
France also lined up a slightly different team than in other relays this season, with Lenna Bonnell and Anselme Damevin toeing the start line, while Switzerland had Jon Kistler and Marianne Fatton.
The first leg saw Johanna Hiemer (AUT) pushing hard to take the lead, followed by Farres, Bonnell, Giulia Murada (ITA) and Marianna Jagercikova (SVK) managing the hard and technical course. But as the men started their leg, Cardona proved to be a man on a mission, after the disappointment of not making it to the semi finals yesterday on the sprint race.
He moved to the first place and Team Spain was never kicked out of that place until the end of the race, with Marta Garcia increasing a bit their lead and Cardona smashing his last leg, with clean transitions and fast ascents, to cross the finish line with over 40 seconds of a lead.
Behind Team Spain, Paul Verjbiak (AUT), Davedin (FRA) and Tim Hosch (GER) were battling for the other podium positions for most of the race but the last leg was once again decisive, and a superb push from Jon Kistler (SUI) put them in second place right before the last descent, while Davedin struggled a bit and was passed by Nicolo Canclini (ITA) and Verjbiak.
At the finish line, Kistler crossed in second, followed by Canclini, while a penalty in the last transition ended up with Team Austria in fourth place, with France rounding up the top five.
About the ISMF:
Founded in 2007, the ISMF is the global governing body for competitive ski mountaineering. Since 2016, the organisation has been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee. Its main goals are the promotion, regulation and development of the sport of ski mountaineering worldwide. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the ISMF’s membership consists of 49 national federations located in Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The ISMF organizes ski mountaineering Senior and Youth World Cups, as well as Masters and World Championships. For the first time, ski mountaineering was a medal sport at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has been included in the programme of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
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