Cross-country skiing: Les Bleus kept their medal hopes alive in Italy
Unlike their junior compatriots Quentin Viguier, Annette Coupat, Romain Vaxelaire and Margot Tirloy, who had a happy ending in the final of the mixed relay at the world junior and U23 cross-country skiing championships in Schilpario (Italy), the U23 cross-country skiers were unable to win a medal on the wire in difficult sliding conditions.
Victor Cullet Calderini, Cloé Pagnier, Mathieu Blanc and Léonie Perry had a cruel end to their race, as they were placed in the race for the world medals as the kilometres went by. Léonie Perry caught up with the last Finnish relay runner Maija Tiainen as she passed, and also saw Germany’s Helen Hoffmann, individual skateboard world champion the day before, catch up with her.
After pulling away from the Finn, the two young women battled it out for the bronze medal in the sprint. And despite a short lead, the Vosges native saw her rival finish very strongly to overtake her on the line and give her team-mates Elias Keck, Verena Veit and Marius Kastner a nice global reward.
However, the Tricolores have nothing to be ashamed of in their respective performances, where they were in contact with the best cross-country skiers of the week during just over an hour of effort. At the top of the rankings, Norway, with Thomas Linnebo Mollestad, Anniken Sand, Mathias Holbæk and Eva Ingebrigtsen, were crowned champions after a superb performance. Italy, with Davide Ghio, Nadine Laurent, Martino Carollo and Maria Gismondi , took silver on home soil to round off the Junior and U23 World Championships.
Full results
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- Schilpario: Quentin Viguier, Annette Coupat, Romain Vaxelaire and Margot Tirloy take silver in the World Junior Mixed Relay
- Schilpario: individual U23 skate and world gold for Helen Hoffmann, Cloé Pagnier and Léonie Perry in the top 10
- Schilpario World Championships: another gold medal for Mathias Holbæk in the U23 individual skate, Victor Cullet Calderini excellent sixth
- Schilpario: Milla Grosberghaugen Andreassen crushes the junior skateboard individual to win gold, Margot Tirloy and Annette Coupat in the top 10
- Junior World Championships in Schilpario: more gold for Lars Heggen, crowned individual free skater, Gaspard Cottaz eighth
- Schilpario: Norway’s Mathias Holbæk crowned world U23 mass-start classic champion, Luc Primet a solid ninth
- Schilpario: after the classic sprint, Maerta Rosenberg again takes gold in the classic mass-start, with Julie Pierrel in the top 10
- “It was my goal for the year and I knew that a medal was within my grasp”: the frustration of Ivan Essonnier, sixth in the classic sprint final at the U23 World Championships in Schilpario.
- “It’s incredible”: Forézienne Annette Coupat’s satisfaction after her fourth place in the mass-start classic at the Junior Worlds
- Schilpario: Lars Heggen Junior World Champion in the Mass Start Classic, Romain Vaxelaire eleventh
- Schilpario Junior Worlds: Milla Grosberghaugen Andreassen takes gold in the mass start classic, Annette Coupat fourth, Margot Tirloy eighth
- Schilpario: Anton Grahn takes the U23 world title in the classic sprint, Ivan Essonnier sixth in the final
- Schilpario: Maerta Rosenberg becomes U23 world champion in the classic sprint, while France remain stuck in the quarter-finals
- Schilpario: Filip Skari becomes world junior classic sprint champion
- Cross-country skiing | Schilpario: Malin Hoelsveen takes the world title in the junior classic sprint ahead of two other Norwegians, Annette Coupat stops in the semi-finals
