Schladming – WÜRTH MODYF ISMF World Cup will return to Austria after four years with Sprint and Vertical races.
After a month’s break, the World Cup action is back with two races in Schladming, Austria. The sixth stop of this year’s circuit will see around 90 athletes from 20 countries.
The famous Austrian ski resort will host the ski mountaineering competition for the first time. Furthermore, the weekend will be very symbolic because the Sprint race will be held in the famous Planai Stadium, known as the night slalom venue in Schladming.
Austria has been waiting to host the World Cup since January 2019, when the Sprint and Individual races were in Bischofshofen.
Sprint race
Schladming’s first discipline will be the Sprint race. The track will be situated in the Planai Stadium, where the night men’s slalom finishes yearly. The programme will start early in the morning with qualifications for both Senior Men and Senior Women.
Arno Lietha, the leader of the Sprint World Cup, will race with red No. 1 with a goal to grab third victory of the season. On the other hand, Iwan Arnold, his compatriot and second in the discipline ranking, will want to stay in contention for the small Globe before the last sprint in Norway. Third in the Sprint ranking is current Sprint World Champion Oriol Cardona Coll, who is already 104 points behind. Lietha can thus win the Globe if he wins and Arnold finishes 8th or worse.
On the women’s side, Emily Harrop of France is the leader of the rankings and the biggest favourite on Saturday. Marianna Jagerčíková, a native of neighbouring Slovakia, won the world title in Spain but has not yet won the World Cup race this year.
Giulia Murada and Célia Perillat-Pessey will compete for the most points. Only two points separate them at the top of the overall standings. Third Axelle Gachet-Mollaret and fourth Emily Harrop are still in the game. The latter will be in direct contention for the championship if she wins the sprint.
The Sprint race will be streamed live on TV.ISMF-SKI.ORG from 10:30 CET.
Vertical race
The second and last race day in Schladming will be about pure effort. The start takes place in Planai Stadium, and the course leads to the middle station of the cable car. The course is 2,2 km long with 615 metres of elevation. On paper, it looks like a very steep and selective Vertical.
The main favourites are clear. Rémi Bonnet of Switzerland and Axelle Gachet-Mollaret both became World Championships in this discipline and won all Verticals this season. It is a battle for second place in both genders, as those two are on another level.
You can watch the Vertical race on TV.ISMF-SKI.ORG, with the men going out at 11:20 am and the women at 12:05 pm local time CET.
After this weekend, three races will be left in Tromso, counting to the World Cup. Thibault Anselmet can get closer to his big dream – a World Cup triumph. The Frenchman is leading by 133 points. He finished second in the Sprint race at the World Championships and is the most complex racer right now.
The game in the women’s category is still open. Two points separate Murada and Perillat-Pessey, but Gachet-Mollaret is not far behind, with two Individuals and Verticals ahead of her. Emily Harrop, who missed two races in Andorra, is still in the mix despite being 85 points back.
Don’t miss the action and watch this weekend’s races on TV.ISMF-SKI.ORG.
