ROUND 5 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 18 January 2017

Mathéo Jacquemoud and Corine Favre win on the official course of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel.

After 4 ski mountaineering rounds held on the fallback route since Wednesday 21 December, the counters were reset to zero this Wednesday 18 January with the opening of the official course of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel. Recent snowfall on the official 3.2 km course with 500 m of elevation gain, from the start at Le Praz to the finish in Courchevel 1850, allowed this track to be reopened. It has become the essential benchmark in vertical race events and has logged more than 10,000 time-trial and mass-start departures over 7 years. This evening, 102 competitors faced off in this 5th round, including Mathéo Jacquemoud, winner of the 2013 edition in 22min40s and the 2016 edition in 22min55s, who set the first reference time of this 2017 season in 23min49s. “With the cold, the snow tended to stick and I had to save myself because I leave tomorrow for the Ski Mountaineering World Cup in Andorra. I’ll do better next time,” he told us at the finish. He was followed by the holder of the “2016 Grand Slam” record Arnaud Mazet in 24min43s and Julien Lodolo in 25min48s.

Among the women, no surprise for Corinne Favre, leading the provisional standings on the fallback course, who again won on the official one with a time of 28min33s. Elsa Nodet took second place in 31min16s ahead of Géraldine Bau in 31min59s.

In the ESF Challenge, ESF Peisey Vallandry was in the spotlight with Frédéric Glez in 28min26s ahead of ESF Courchevel 1650 with Yoann Lemoine (31min10s) and ESF Aime La Plagne with Jean-Christophe Ambrosini (31min21s). Among the women instructors, ESF Flaine took the lead with Marie Thevenet (39min25s) hot on the heels of ESF Les Arcs with Véronique Glez (39min43s) and ESF Courchevel 1550 with Pascale Gachet Mauroz (39min50s), who has taken part in every climb since 21 December.

If all goes well, 10 rounds will count this season towards the official overall standings, with €8,000 in prize money and €4,800 in vouchers distributed to the best ski tourers. There is still a long way to go; the serial of the 2017 Millet Ski Touring Courchevel has only just begun and will wrap up on Thursday 23 March at the grand fancy-dress final with the show by Patrick Sébastien. Each episode will have its share of suspense, with the main actor being the clock. From next Wednesday, the first start will be at 6.20 pm and registration will be possible until 6 pm.

This week will see the first Plum KV Courchevel and the 1st Grand Slam of the season.

The first ski mountaineering round of the Vertical Kilometre (KV) Plum KV Courchevel (PKVC) will be held on Friday 20 January. At the end of the 4 rounds offered this season (20 January, 3 and 17 February, 17 March) on this 5 km course with 1,000 m of elevation gain, approved by the French Mountain and Climbing Federation (FFME), the 2017 French KV records will be awarded.

In the weeks when the MSTC and the PKVC are organised, a ranking is drawn up for those who complete the “Grand Slam” (taking part in the 2 events in the same week).

This week, the season’s “1st Grand Slam” will take into account the combined times of this Wednesday’s MSTC and those of the PKVC on Friday 20 January. The 2016 “Grand Slam” records were set by Arnaud Mazet (1h09min22s) and Axelle Mollaret (1h16min46s).