Ski Mountaineering European championship 2014: Bon Mardion and Roux win Individual Race at Andorra

The ski mountaineering continental titles were awarded yesterday morning under a heavy snowfall, twenty centimetres of fresh snow covered the tracks that climbed the Arcalis mountains. An incisive and technician route that did not provide any moments of respite for the international champions, the Seniors faced five uphill slopes with five stretches on foot for an overall altitude gain of 1,880 metres, the youth categories had less of a gain.

The Frenchman William Bon Mardion, Matteo Eydallin and Manfred Reichegger battled for the entire race, just behind the three pacemakers Anton Palzer, Xavier Gachet and Alexis Sevennec. The fast technical descents may have benefited Bon Mardion, even if the two Italians were always glued to the tail of the Frenchman.

The snowfall, which lasted the duration of the race, left the athletes with no room to move. Of the men William Bon Mardion gained some seconds over the two Italians on the last descent, which led him to cross the finishing line in complete solitude. The time of the winner was 01:55'29". Matteo Eydallin, choosing more direct lines, came up the home straight in front of his teammate Reichegger. Eydallin was thus second with a time of 1:55'56", while Reichegger climbs onto the third step of the podium with 1:56'06". Anton Palzer and Xavier Gachet qualified respectively in fourth and fifth place. Anton Palzer, with the fourth place overall, won the Espoir category. Again, of the Espoirs, the Italian Nadir Maguet was second, while Steven Girard was third.

In the women's race Laetitia Roux was always in first position but had to repeatedly check up on Maude Mathys, who was always on the attack and the author of a beautiful race. Behind Mathys, Axelle Mollaret went all out, threatened by the home athlete Sophie Dusautoir Bertrand and Valentine Favre. Roux was by no means worried about the lack of visibility and on the last descent flew, stopping the clock at 1:42'32". Shortly after, Maude Mathys crossed the finishing line with 1:44'54", while the very young Mollaret took the third position. Mollaret thus won the Espoir category in front of Jennifer Fiechter and Marta Farres Garcia.

In the races reserved for the youth categories, the Cadets, David Magnini and Fanny Meynet won. Behind the Italian, Nicolò Canclini and Julien Ancay classified. Of the girls Giulia Murada was in second position, while Verena Streitberger was third. The Italian Alba De Silvestro won another gold in the Junior category and behind her was teammate Giulia Compagnoni. The young French woman Adele Milloz completes the podium. Of the Juniors the Spaniard Oriol Cardona Coll once again climbs onto the top step of the podium. Federico Nicolini and Pietro Canclini were second and third respectively.

In the collection of medals of this wonderful European competition Italy accounted for the greatest number of medals with six golds, nine silvers and four bronzes. Behind Italy was France with ten medals and Spain with six.

RESULTS INDIVIDUAL RACE - SENIOR
Men
1 William Bon Mardion France 1h55:29.36
2 Matteo Eydallin Italy 1h55:56.85 27.49
3 Manfred Reichegger Italy 1h56:06.37 37.01
4 Anton Palzer Germany 1h56:34.18 1:04.82
5 Xavier Gachet France 1h56:50.89 1:21.53
6 Alexis Sevennec France 1h57:29.64 2:00.28
7 Valentin Favre France 1h58:33.41 3:04.05
8 Pietro Lanfranchi Italy 2h00:34.59 5:05.23
9 Didier Blanc France 2h01:02.65 5:33.29
10 Marc Pinsach Rubirola Spain 2h01:13.00 5:43.64

Women
1 Laetitia Roux France 1h42:32.59
2 Maude Mathys Switzerland 1h44:54.78 2:22.19
3 Axelle Mollaret France 1h50:57.87 8:25.28
4 Sophie Dusautoir Bertrand Andorra 1h53:31.74 10:59.15
5 Valentine Fabre France 1h54:09.88 11:37.29
6 Jennifer Fiechter Switzerland 1h56:25.94 13:53.35
7 Victoria Kreuzer Switzerland 1h57:16.15 14:43.56
8 Martina Valmassoi Italy 1h58:40.01 16:07.42
9 Marta Garcia Farres Spain 1h59:54.62 17:22.03
10 Claudia Galicia Cotrina Spain 2h01:05.31 18:32.72