Round 11 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 24 February 2016

11th Millet Ski Touring Courchevel: Mathéo Jacquemoud as impressive as ever!

For this 11th round of the "Millet Ski Touring Courchevel" (MSTC) on Wednesday 24 February, the 132 ski mountaineers were able to enjoy the stands set up at the start of the race by representatives of the partner brands Millet and Dynastar to discover and try out a few novelties for next season in a sneak preview. The rain of recent days did not make the course easy. It was on thoroughly wet and at times very soft snow that participants set off on this Vertical Race course of 3.2 km with 500 m of elevation gain between Le Praz and Courchevel 1850. “When I wanted to speed up by letting the skis glide on the less steep sections I was stuck, and on the steeper places I was sliding!” confides Mathéo Jacquemoud, the French Vertical Race ski mountaineering champion. And yet some people managed to improve their personal best, such as Philippe Mugnier, mayor of the commune, who smashed his best time by more than 2 minutes with 42min27s. Roland Claude Durant Terrasson, manager of the radio station R’Courchevel, who set off just ahead of him, could not keep up and finished a few seconds later in 42min57s. At 11, Enzo Di Luzio, the youngest competitor of the evening, finished in 1h10min20s and took first place in the Benjamin category.

Current holder of the provisional record of the 2016 “Plum KV Courchevel”, Mathéo Jacquemoud of the Courchevel Sports Alpinisme club smashed the record and took the lead in the provisional MSTC 2016 overall standings in 22min55s, pushing Florent Perrier (23min40s) back to second place overall. Jean-François Philipot of CAF La Roche sur Foron took third place overall by finishing second in this 11th round in 24min35s. Gédéon Pochat completed the evening’s podium in 24min48s.

Among the women, victory for Véronique Lathuraz of the Courchevel Sports Alpinisme club ahead of Melanie Bernier, a member of the Canadian national team (33min40s), and Christine Gachet of team Isère Montagne (34min19s). No change in the overall standings, with Axelle Mollaret (27min29s), Corinne Favre (28min10s) and Justine Tonso (29min26s) in the leading trio.

In the ESF challenge, Florent Sautel of ESF Valmorel won in 25min53s and Pauline Caillet of ESF Courchevel 1850 made the difference among the women instructors in 36min55s.

Only 4 rounds remain and the race for records will go down to the wire. The ski mountaineering world champion Laetitia Roux is putting everything on the last one, announcing her participation in the final climb on Wednesday 23 March. It must be said that the elites are fighting for the season’s record but also for the top podium places, which will be richly endowed with €8,000 in prize money and €4,800 in vouchers. The men’s and women’s record holders will also be presented with the “Raymond and Renée Millet 2016” crystal trophy, named after the founders of Millet. This trophy will be presented next Wednesday at the 12th round. All prizes will be awarded at the grand final on 23 March, which will also be the occasion to celebrate the 100th climb with the traditional fancy-dress climb followed by the concert by “La Compagnie Créole” and plenty of other surprises.