54th WMC Skiing 2018 – Hochfilzen / Fieberbrunn (AUT) – Update – Competition Day 2 & 3
SIX GOLD MEDALS FOR THE HOST COUNTRY, TWO FOR GERMANY AND FOR SWITZERLAND!
HOCHFILZEN / FIEBERBRUNN (AUT) – For the second day of competition of the 54th edition of the World Military Skiing Championship, the Austrian Delegation continued its demonstration with four new gold medals out of four in the Paraski Competition. As the last jump took place on April 6, the Austrian jumper Sebastian Graser confirmed its first place in the men’s and junior competition. With 4 points for his last jump, Graser managed to keep the lead and win two gold medals with a total of 17 points. In the men’s event, the Slovenian jumper Bečan Matej took the silver medal with 55 points, followed by the bronze medalist Alexey Burenin (RUS – 78 points).
In the junior competition, the second place was taken by Graser’s teammate Manuel Sulzbacher (78 points), while Anton Petrik (RUS- 109 points) took bronze! In the female competition, the local Julia Schosser achieved an impressive performance, taking the gold medal with 115 points-lead on the Russian Mariia Lukianova. The French parachutist Deborah Ferrand finished on the third step of the podium with 177 points. In the team event, the Austrian team, composed of Hannes Kloiber, Sebastian Graser, Manuel Sulzbacher and Julia Schosser, won another deserved gold medal ahead of Slovenia and Switzerland.
In the cross-country 15km men’s individual event, Dario Cologna, a Swiss cross-country skier and true Olympic legend, who has won four overall World Cup victories, four Olympic gold medals, one World Championships gold medal and four Tour de Ski victories in his career, became the new cross-country military world champion, with a 32-seconds lead on Lucas Boegl (GER) while the Finnish Ristomatti Hakola took the bronze medal. Dario Cologna and his teammates Beda Klee and Jonas Baumann added a second gold medal to the Swiss collection with the title in the team event ahead of Finland and Sweden.
In the female 10km cross-country event, Germany won the individual and team title. Stefanie Boehler was faster than Lea Einfalt (SLO) and Anna Medvedeva (RUS) in the individual race and secured a first gold medal. With the help of her teammates Theresa Eichhorn and Antonia Fräbel, Boelher won a second title in the team event! Russia and Sweden respectively took silver and bronze.
The last event, the patrol competition, a spectacular competition, was scheduled on April 7. Once again, the Austrian delegation achieved another demonstration with two gold medals in the male and female events. The Austrian male team composed of Bernhard Tritscher, Sven Grossegger, Dominik Landertinger and Simon Eder finished the race with a one-minute lead on the German team while Ukraine stood on the third step of the podium.
In the women’s event, Barbara Walchhofer, Julia Schwaiger, Lisa Hauser and Katherina Innerhofer imitated the male team and took the gold medal after a fierce battle against the Polish team who took the silver medal. Ukraine finally grabbed a second bronze medal!
Results of the day:
Paraski: Male – Female – Junior – Team
Cross-Country:
- 15km: Individual Male – Team Male
- 10km: Individual Female – Team Female
The patrol event was followed by the Closing Ceremony, which took place in front of the KULTURHAUS in Hochfilzen in presence of the following high authorities: Colonel (Rtd) Walter Van Velthoven, CISM Treasurer General, Member of the BoD and Official CISM Representative of the event, Brigadier General Gernot Gasser, Chief of the Austrian Delegation to CISM, Lieutenant-Colonel Jure Velepec, PCSC Skiing, Colonel Gernot Rittenschober, PCSC Parachuting, Mrs. Wallner, Deputy Mayor of Hochfilzen, Major-General Pernsteiner, Commander of the Logistic Command and President of the Austrian Military Sports Association (HSV), Colonel Pritz, Commander of the Provincial Military Command of Salzburg, Colonel Krug, Chief of the Organizing Committee, the 25 Chiefs of Mission and several local and international high dignitaries.
The CISM OCR Colonel (Rtd) Walter Van Velthoven Colonel took the floor to thank the organizers and congratulate the participants: “Our military athletes proved that sportsmanship and fair-play are the key elements for a successful competition and everlasting friendships”. As a conclusion of the event, he also added: “I would like to thank the Austrian Delegation and all those who contributed to the organization of this wonderful event!”
Thank you Austria!
For more information, visit the OC Website.
All the pictures are available on the CISM Flickr!
(Source: CISM Media and Communication Department)
(Pictures: Mr. Maxime Morlet, CISM Media and Communication Department and Photographer)
