Olympic medals and strong emotions today at Sprint race
Maria Costa Diez (ESP) and Rocco Baldini (ITA) were the gold medallists at Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games
Lausanne, 13th January 2020 –The Sprint race, the second competition for Ski mountaineering included in the Lausanne 2020 Olympic programme, took place today at the Col de Bretaye, in the ski resort of Villars-sur-Ollon.
Supervised by the ISMF referees and delegates, the race was joined by some exceptional guests, in particular the IOC President, Mr. Thomas Bach. The visitors attended all the qualifying stages up to the finals that sanctioned the two new youth Olympic Champions.
This morning’s competition field was set in the best possible way and certainly appropriate to such an important context as the Youth Olympic Games.
Among Women, after the first qualifying stages and the semi-finals, Silvia Berra (ITA), Maria Costa Diez (ESP), Margot Ravinel (FRA), QuzhenSuolang (CHN), Erika Sanelli (ITA) and Caroline Ulrich (SUI) were lined up on the starting line.
From the very beginning of the race the strong Spanish athlete Maria Costa Diez established the rhythm, followed by the two Italians Silvia Berra and Erika Sanelli, who tried to keep up. In the part on foot the Spaniard maintained the first position, but further increasing the speed.
In the subsequent transition, the positions did not change and in the last section to be faced on with the sealskins the athlete of the Spanish team began to feel the victory getting closer. In the very fast descent the audience has held the breath until the moment they exploded in an endless applause for the victory of Maria Costa Diez with a time of 3’22’’.
The silver medal was achieved by Silvia Berra (ITA), while the bronze one by the French girl Margot Ravinel.
In the Men‘s field, the race has been a mix of technique and adrenaline andexcited the hundreds of people, who have climbed along the track to see these young champions a few meters away. In this way they had the opportunity to watch very fast transitions, impressive rhythm changes and heart-pounding descents.
In the final stage Nikita Philippov (RUS), Marc RaduaIvern (ESP), Julian Tritscher (AUT), Ot Ferrer Martinez (ESP), Luca Tomasoni (ITA) and Rocco Baldini (ITA)were at the starting line.
Once opened the starting gate, the young athletes have bolted towards the diamond section. TheItalians Luca Tomasoni and Rocco Baldini took the lead of the race and defined the rhythm. Afterwards, in the part on foot they tried to further accelerate the tread, chased by the Spanish colleagueOtFerrer Martinez.
Before the final descent, the two teammates were still in command and in the last change of the skins madeno mistakes. Therefore, they have thrown themselves headlong towards the achievement of two medals that are a dream.
After the last turn, Rocco Baldini appeared in the final straight with his hands raised to the sky and got the gold medal with the time of 2’30″. The second position was for the teammate Luca Tomasoni and the third one for OtFerrer Martinez.
Tomorrow it is time for the Mixed Relay, which will award the latest medals for Ski mountaineering at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games.
Full results here
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