Golden day for France with six medal win on Day-1
Alpine Skiing
Day-1 of the 2023 Virtus World Skiing Championship looked quite promising for France as they added six medals (three gold and three bronze to their pouch and topped the medal tally).
In Alpine Skiing, Giant Slalom event for both men and women for all three eligibility classes was underway at the Rosshütte ski area today.
(L-R) Melanie de Bona of France, Eva Maria Dünser of Austria and Julia Pleikner of Austria. Picture Credit- Sebastian Mark
In Women’s II1 category, DE BONA Melanie from France had a close race up against the two Austrian Skiers. However, France took the gold with 1:45.48sec and DÜNSER Eva Maria (Austria) finished second just after Melanie with 1:46.90sec. PLEIKNER Julia (Austria) grabbed the bronze.
(L-R) Yoshihide Kimura of Japan, Aoshi Kanazsawa of Japan and Thomas Girard of France. Picture Credit- Sebastian Mark
Men’s II1 race was a treat for the audience as they put up a thrilling show. Two Japanese skiers went head to head for the top spot. Finishing just 0.01.05 seconds apart, KANAZAWA Aoshi won the gold (1:35.25sec) and KIMURA Yoshihide (1:36.30) grabbed the silver, followed by GIRARD Thomas from France who settled for bronze.
(L-R) Stephanie Schlömmer of Austria, Anna Sophie Friedl of Austria and Bea Westerstrahle of Finland. Picture Credit- Sebastian Mark
In Women’s II2 category, Austrian athletes made their country proud by adding two medals to their medal tally in this event. While FRIEDL Anna-Sophie and SCHLÖMMER Stephanie won gold and silver respectively, WESTERSTRAHLE Bea won the first medal for her country Finland.
In Men’s II2 category, RICHE Paul (France) and WIERCIOCH Antoni (Poland) kept challenging each other until the end of the race and made it extremely difficult for the audience to even take a guess at the winner. With the timing of 1:53.56sec, Paul snatched away the gold from Antoine (1:53.67sec). GRAMEISER Markus from Austria had a smooth win for the bronze.
(L-R) Antonie Wiercioch of Poland, Paul Richi of France and Markus Grameiser of Austria. Picture Credit- Sebastian Mark
In Men’s II3 race, BULÍČEK Hubert won the first medal for Czech Republic by beating Polish skier FRĄCZEK Lukasz.
(L-R) Lukasz Fraczek of Poland and Hubert Bulicek of the Czech Republic
In the Women’s category, WHITEHOUSE Elizabeth from the USA won the gold.
Elisabeth Whitehouse of the United States of America. Picture Credit- Sebastian Mark
Nordic skiing
The nordic competitions took place in the Seefeld Sports Arena
(L-R) BJÖRFELDT Kristin (Sweden), PERNAL Malgorzata (Poland) and THIROUX Lea (France). Picture Credit- Valentin Baubinder
In Women’s II1 Cross-Country Skiing 5km, PERNAL Malgorzata defeated fellow skiers to rise up to the top of the podium and win gold for Poland. Malgorzata was followed by BJÖRFELDT Kristin (Sweden) who grabbed the second place and THIROUX Lea (France) settled for bronze.
(L-R) YAMADA Yuta (Japan),TEEARU Hans (Estonia) and DUBOIS Titouan (France). Picture Credit- Valentin Baubinder
In II1 Men’s 10km Cross-country Skiing, TEEARU Hans from Estonia and YAMADA Yuta from Japan stormed together towards the end line but Hans snatched away the gold in the last moment with the timing of 27:13.6sec, with just a difference of 0.18.7sec. A similar race was witnessed between French skiers DUBOIS Titouan and GUEBEY Yann for the third place but Titouan grabbed the final podium spot with a difference of only 0.27.50sec.
In Men’s II2 10km Cross-Country, COLOMBY Clement added another gold to the medal tally for France while Italian skier KOSTNER Tobia Maria took silver.
Full results can be accessed from the Virtus World Skiing Championship website.
