ROUND 7 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 1 February 2017

7th round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel for Gédéon Pochat and Elsa Nodet.

It is time for the halfway review of the 2017 Millet Ski Touring Courchevel. Already 7 ski mountaineering rounds run out of 14, 4 of them on the fallback course because of the lack of snow at the start of winter and 3 on the official course. 489 starts were given in the time trial for 335 classified competitors on the fallback course, led by William Bon Mardion in 20min02s and Corinne Favre in 25min42s. On the official route, 334 starts and 244 classified, with Mathéo Jacquemoud in 23min49s and Corinne Favre in 28min33s leading the provisional overall standings. In the end, after the 14th round, to be held on Thursday 23 March with the traditional fancy-dress climb and the show by Patrick Sébastien to close this 2017 season with a bang, more than 1,000 different participants will be classified on the official course. And to top it all, the Raymond and René Millet Trophy (founders of the Millet company) will be presented for the season’s records (man and woman) with €8,000 in prize money and €4,800 in vouchers to reward the 2017 podiums and categories. Everything will be decided and speed up in this second part of the season with the arrival of the world’s best and plenty of surprises in store: a thrilling end to the season is in prospect.

A look back at this 7th round on Wednesday 1 February.

3.2 km and 500 m of elevation gain devoured in just 24min27s by Gédéon Pochat of CAF Annecy. Best time of the evening among the 116 entrants for this trail running specialist, a member of the Salomon team, who will be at the “Red Bull 400” in Courchevel on 10 June. It will be one of the steepest foot races in the world, held on the Olympic ski jumps. Registrations closed in less than 35 minutes.

Arnaud Mazet took second place in 24min43s ahead of Florian Sautel of ESF Valmorel in 25min41s.

Among the women, Elsa Nodet of the Chamonix Ski Alpinisme club won in 31min27s ahead of Stéphanie Pommat (33min42s) and Charlotte Leroux of ESF Le Grand Bornand in 33min52s.

The provisional overall standings are unchanged.

This week sees the second round of the Plum KV Courchevel and the season’s Grand Slam.

The second ski mountaineering round of the Vertical Kilometre (KV) Plum KV Courchevel (PKVC) will be held on Friday 3 February. 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 “2nd Grand Slam” of the season will take into account the combined times of this Wednesday’s MSTC and those of the PKVC on Friday 3 February. The 2017 “Grand Slam” records are for now held by Arnaud Mazet (1h09min24s) and Géraldine Bau (1h29min23s).