Para cross-country skiing: silver for Anthony Chalençon and Florian Michelon
On Friday, the para-cross-country skiing world championships in Toblach (Italy) came to a close with a 20km individual skate. Anthony Chalençon and his guide Florian Michelon put in a great performance in this long solo exercise. After a frustrating open relay, the French duo took the silver medal.
Only the untouchable American Jake Adicoff (guided by Peter Wolter), who won by a large margin, did better. As a result, Les Bleus have won their second world medal of the winter , following silver in the para biathlon sprint last week in Pokljuka (Slovenia). Sweden’s Zebastian Modin (guided by Emil Joensson Haag) came third.
China dominated the standing event with a hat-trick of titles, including Wang Chenyang, silver medallist Liu Xiaobin and bronze medallist Qiu Minyang.
Bornandin Benjamin Daviet, who was in the running after a strong finish, had to settle for fifth place.
Vilde Nilsen scores hat-trick
A few minutes before the men’s races, the women were on deck. In the standing race, Norway’s Vilde Nilsen, third after one lap, managed to get the better of Canada’s Natalie Wilkie, in silver, to take victory.
The Scandinavian won her third gold medal in three races in Italy. Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova was bronzed ahead of China’s Zhao Zhiqing and Canada’s Brittany Hudak.
In the visually impaired category, there was a tough battle between China’s Wang Yue (guided by Liu Hang) and the Czech Republic’s Simona Bubenickova (guided by David Srutek). After a strong finish by the latter, the Asian was crowned champion with a lead of just 10.8 seconds.
Austria’s Carina Edlinger (guided by Jakob Kainz) got a tan ahead of Germany’s Leonie Maria Walter (guided by Robin Wunderle) and Johanna Recktenwald (guided by Florian Baumann).
Alexis Sanchez eighteenth in the seated category
Earlier in the day, it was the seated para-athletes who competed in the 20km individual skate. On the men’s side, France’s Alexis Sanchez rounded off his first World Para Cross-Country Skiing Championships with 20th place. He finished the Italian course after an effort of over 1 hour and 13 minutes, placing him in the top 20.
The title went to China’s Mao Zhongwu, more than a minute ahead of Ukraine’s Pavlo Bal. Brazilian Cristian Ribera Westemaier was bronzed ahead of Zheng Peng and Liu Mengtao, two other Chinese riders.
The women’s gold medal was won by China’s Wang Shiyu ahead of American Kendall Gretsch and Germany’s Anja Wicker, who got a tan by beating Li Panpan, Aline Dos Santos Rocha and Indira Liseth. Third on the line, China’s Zhai Yuxin was disqualified for taking the wrong course.
Full results
Visually impaired
Men
Ladies
Standing
Men
Ladies
Sitting
Men
Ladies
- The full programme for the Toblach 2025 World Championships
- The French selection for the world championships in Pokljuka, Toblach and Trondheim
- Toblach World Championships: Karl Tabouret silver medallist in the individual 10km classic, Alexis Sanchez twenty-third in the seated event
- The joy of Karl Tabouret, new runner-up in the individual 10 km classic: “It’s a huge thing”.
- Toblach Worlds: Benjamin Daviet, Anthony Chalençon (guided by Florian Michelon) and Karl Tabouret disqualified from the open relay won by Norway
