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Ski Mountaineering World Cup: Axelle Gachet-Mollaret, Rémi Bonnet, Célia Perillat-Pessey and Arno Lietha win at Ponte di Legno

At Ponte di Legno in Italy Axelle Gachet-Mollaret and Rémi Bonnet won the Individual race of the first stage of the Ski Mountaineering World Cup 2023. The Sprint race was won by Célia Perillat-Pessey and Arno Lietha.

Planetmountain

December 2022

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Axelle Gachet-Mollaret on her way to winning the Individual race at Ponte di Legno of the Ski Mountaineering World Cup 2023

ISMF

This weekend Italy's Ponte di Legno hosted a stage of the Ski Mountaineering World Cup 2023. Friday evening's technical, somewhat shorter than usual Sprint race was won by Célia Perillat-Pessey, ahead of Marianna Jagerčíková and Léna Bonnel. In a hard-fought competition marked by rain and slushy snow, the 25-year-old Frenchwoman managed to secure her first World Cup victory. Giulia Murada had comfortably led the pack but a crash shortly before the end dashed he hopes of victory. Her day will come in the near future, no doubt about it. In the men's competition Arno Lietha controlled the tempo from start to finish and, in doing so, repeated his season debut performance in Lausanne at the end of November. He was joined on the podium by Iwan Arnold, silver, and, to the delight of the home crowd, Nicolo Ernesto Canclini, bronze.

After a day of rest, the first Individual race of the season took place on Sunday on the Presena glacier. In strak comparison to Friday evening, the 108 athletes from 18 nations competed in perfect conditions: sun, no wind and temperatures just below zero. As per usual Axelle Gachet-Mollaret immediately left the pack in her wake and continued her unbeatable run from last year. The reigning World and European Champion shared the podium with Giulia Murada, second, who in the end got the better of the thrilling duel with Alba de Silvestro. Célia Perillat-Pessey, winnerof Friday's Sprint, finished fourth, ahead of Emily Harrop.

The last race of the weekend, the Men's Individual, was won by Switzerland's Rémi Bonnet who shot off like a rocket on the first ascent. Thibault Anselmet and Davide Magnini didn't let themselves be intimidated though and in the second half of the course this trio dictated the pace. On the very last climb Bonnet managed to dig in a little deeper to win the first Individual this season, ahead of Magnini and Anselmet.

Link: www.ismf-ski.org, Scarpa, Karpos