Kilian Jornet Burgada and Laetitia Roux win the first stage of Ski Mountaineering World Cup 2014

Laetitia Roux, the winner who takes it all. Once again the young 2013 World Champion has proven to be unbeatable by winning the opening stage of the 2014 ski mountaineering World Cup that took place last weekend at Val de Bagnes (Verbier, Switzerland). Thanks to a furious start the 4 times World Cup winner (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013) won the Individual race six minutes ahead of Switzerland's Maude Mathys and almost 8 minutes faster that France's Emelie Forsberg who finished third. There were only two Italian athletes of the 29 female competitors, namely Martina Valmassoi who placed an excellent 6th and Martina De Silvestro who finished 20th.

The men's starting block was comprised of 59 athletes and they battled it out on a 13.7 km, 1,700-metre altitude gain course that included 4 ascents and 3 sections faced on foot with skis strapped to rucksacks.Kilian Jornet Burgada didn't wait a second to hide his intentions of regaining the Cup he won in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012: he immediately took the lead, ahead of a strong pack that included Italy's Michele Boscacci, Robert Antonioli and Damiano Lenzi and France's William Bon Mardion. Burgada maintained his lead even after the third ascent to cross the finishing line first, ahead of an extraordinary Robert Antonioli (a mere 28 seconds behind Burgada) and William Bon Mardion. During the final descent the French 2013 World Champion managed to overtake Michele Boscacci who had to make do with 4th place. Damiano Lenzi, Matteo Eydallin and Manfred Reichegger finished an excellent 5th, 7th and 8th respectively.

After Saturday's Individual race, on Sunday morning the time came for the Vertical Race, ie the uphill sprint - 755m for the Seniors and 619 for the Juniors - through the centre of Verbier and on up the mountain. The women's event was won once again by France's Laetitia Roux in 45 minutes, a minute faster than rival Maude Mathys and two minutes ahead of Victoria Kreuzer. The men's event was marked by a spectacular photo finish between Kilian Jornet Burgada and France's Matheo Jacquemoud: after 39 minutes the two were seperated by a hair's breadth and the crossed the finishing line at exactly the same time. Only careful photo analysis revealed that Burgada had in fact crossed first. Second victory in two days therefore? No, because during the final ascent Burgada had problems with the climbing skins and consequently raced up on foot, skis in hand. And, according to the rule book, he was inflicted with a 15 second penalty which relegated him into third place, behind Damiano Lenzi who had trailed the duo by 12 seconds.

The Junior Individual event was won by the Italians Federico Nicolini and Alba De Silvestro, ahead of Oriol Cardona Coll and Luce Faifer, and Giulia Compagnoni and Sophie Mollard, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the male and female event. The Vertical Race Junior was won once again by Federico Nicolini, ahead of Oriol Coll Cardona and Remi Bonnet, while Giulia Compagnoni won the women's event ahead of Alba De Silvestro and Adele Milloz.




SCARPA ISMF SKI MOUNTAINEERING WORLD CUP 2014
Individual Race
Men
1 Kilian Jornet Burgada ESP 1987 01:32:15.524
2 Robert Antonioli ITA 1990 01:32:43.502
3 William Bon Mardion FRA 1983 01:33:32.509
4 Michele Boscacci ITA 1990 01:33:48.762
5 Damiano Lenzi ITA 1987 01:34:09.375
6 Alexis Sevennec FRA 1987 01:35:20.491
7 Matteo Eydallin ITA 1985 01:35:20.945
8 Manfred Reichegger ITA 1977 01:35:22.496
9 Valentin Favre FRA 1987 01:36:04.132
10 Xavier Gachet FRA 1989 01:36:04.758

Women
1 Laetitia Roux FRA 1985 01:52:43.699
2 Maude Mathys SUI 1987 01:58:43.000
3 Emelie Forsberg SWE 1986 02:01:23.589
4 Sophie Dusautoir Bertrand AND 1972 02:04:29.732
5 Martina Valmassoi ITA 1989 02:06:53.010
6 Marion Maneglia FRA 1982 02:10:47.625
7 Melanie Bernier CAN 1981 02:11:03.893
8 Anna Comet ESP 1983 02:11:06.586
9 Emilie Gex-Fabry SUI 1986 02:11:12.620
10 Valentine Fabre FRA 1976 02:14:40.812

Vertical Race
Men
1 Matheo Jacquemoud FRA 1990 00:39:21.278
2 Damiano Lenzi ITA 1987 00:39:33.871
3 Kilian Jornet Burgada ESP 1987 00:39:35.000 walking on finish
4 Robert Antonioli ITA 1990 00:39:40.696
5 Manfred Reichegger ITA 1977 00:39:43.548
6 Vincent Mabboux SUI 1988 00:39:49.587
7 Michele Boscacci ITA 1990 00:39:51.902
8 Anton Palzer GER 1993 00:39:52.770
9 Pietro Lanfranchi ITA 1978 00:39:58.582
10 Davide Galizzi ITA 1983 00:40:03.380

Women
1 Laetitia Roux FRA 1985 00:45:38.388
2 Maude Mathys SUI 1987 00:46:25.388
3 Victoria Kreuzer SUI 1989 00:47:44.566
4 Axelle Mollaret FRA 1992 00:48:12.751
5 Sophie Bertrand Dusautoir AND 1972 00:48:31.195
6 Emelie Forsberg SWE 1986 00:48:48.979
7 Claudia Galicia Cotrina ESP 1986 00:49:48.014
8 Elena Nicolini ITA 1988 00:50:58.673
9 Jennifer Fiechter SUI 1992 00:51:19.417
10 Martina Valmassoi ITA 1989 00:51:28.573