On Saturday, at the time of the great Sprint finals in the third manga of the Mountain Ski Cop Swiss and a Frenchman. Spain World Skimo? Spain treating you to you to alpine arch countries? No one would have said it 15 years ago, but at the Pyrenean station of Boí Taüll, everyone looks sideways at Oriol Cardona, European champion in 2022 and the world in 2023, always in this fetish scenario. And it does not disappoint, nor does the skier of Granada Ana Alonso, veteran That you know them all.
At the time of the final count, Oriol took the third manga of the World Cup of the Sprint specialty after imposing himself in the first of the course and failing in the second; Ana finished third in individual and both, hand in hand, were seconds in a spectacular test for mixed relay held yesterday. Together, they promise an Olympic medal. Oriol also looks for another in Sprint’s discipline while his teammates Iñigo and Ot (sixth and fifth on Saturday) pursue a last Olympic square.
While several former competitors are shaking, contemplating stunned how the Olympic format and their television needs have adulterated the essence of this winter modality, its protagonists are recycled and do not deny a possibility that, they wait, bring money and make known the possibilities of An increasingly popular activity. In addition, everyone is recognized to be able to participate in games. If he belongs to the mountains, the World Cup tests are celebrated in Alpine skiing stations, where everything is much more controllable, where the cameras and the public from the sofa of his house can easily arrive can attend a format that , although it does not respect the essence of the discipline it is exciting.
Intratable, Oriol Cardona deleted on Saturday with authority his skateboarding of Azerbaijan (did not qualify), with an impeccable final. Physically above the lot, impeccable in the transitions, the Catalan skier was imposed with solvency to its greatest rivals, the Swiss Robin Bussard and Arno Lietha, two who present themselves as serious candidates for the Olympic podium. Ot Ferrer, just 23 years old, superb in the quarterfinals and in the semifinal there was a point below the expectations in the grand final (5th) while Iñigo Martínez de Albornoz starred in an epic decrease in the semifinal to sneak between the six better (6th).
Yesterday, at the time of the final relay finals, which will also be Olympic, Oriol Cardona and Ana Alonso worked an impeccable tactic to reach a second place that. In the final B, Iñigo Martínez de Albornoz and Marta García only yielded to the huge initial advantage achieved by the French Emily Harrop, one that has won all the quotes of the season in Sprint and that plans above their rivals. The relay test is much longer than Sprint’s: 3 minutes compared to 28 on average, and observe many more transitions. These have to do with the change of ascent to descent, of sliding to career on foot, and are crucial when gaining tenths of second that allow us to move on before the final descent, where the overtaking is as risky as it is unlikely.
The competitors open the test, give the witness to their classmates, women retake the march and give the final prominence to men. Ana Alonso, impeccable, finished her second round in third position, when Switzerland was already flying first, unattainable. It limited differences with Austria just before the final descent: in the last curve, the Catalan drew a tremendous exterior and reached the last tenth transition before his rival. It was only missing the seal skins on the ski skating and covering ten meters to the goal: its change was manual. “We have competed very well, with rhythm and strategy, we are very satisfied with this result. Returning to the podium here in Boí Taüll (they also achieved silver a year ago) means a lot for us, ”he trusted Ana Alonso.
The relay test allows you to see spectacular persecutions, faintness, errors caused by fatigue, alternatives and emotion. It is a classic race concentrated in a few meters of unevenness, but allows you to see many of the essential maneuver of the old mountain skiing: slide on the skins, take off their skis and place them in the backpack, heat them up again to draw turns with winged wing , face a descent after keeping the skins kangaroo pocket, place them again to face another ascent …
Many competitors carry up to 5 pairs of skins: they have to hit enough not to lose them, but not too much to be able to take them out of a pull and save them without picking them up. Each ascent demands a new pair of skins, that skiers have meticulously placed in their diver or in an accessible backpack pocket. It is a test that can be won or losing in details that are carried just a second, or even somewhat less.
