55th WMC Skiing - Boden (SWE) - Final update
BODEN (SWE) - The 55th WMC Skiing ended on March 31 with the Patrol competition and the Closing Ceremony.
Prior to that, several competitions were held successfully under optimal conditions for our military athletes.
On March 29, Austrian Lisa Hauser won the Women's Sprint 7.5km biathlon by more than 40 seconds over French athletes Paula Botet and Lou Jeanmonnot, who won silver and bronze medals respectively.
Lisa Hauser, accompanied by her teammates Dunja Zdouc and Anna Juppe, even achieved a double by winning the biathlon team competition ahead of France (Botet, Jeanmonnot and Chevalier), while the Poles Maka, Jakiela and Zuk finished on the third place of the podium.
In the men's competition, Latvia's Andrejs Rastorgujevs was the fastest in the 10km sprint biathlon and became the military world champion with a 15-second lead over silver medallist Eric Perrot of France. It was finally the Bulgarian Vladimir Iliev who took the bronze, finishing more than 30 seconds behind the winner of the day.
The French team won its second gold medal of the championship thanks to the team title of Perrot, Guigonnat and Claude in the biathlon team competition ahead of Austria (Eder, Komatz and Oberhauser) and the Ukrainians Tsymbal, Pryma and Nasyko.
The women's Middle Distance Ski Orienteering competition was dominated by Sweden's Evelina Wickbom who gave the host country its first title of the week. The Swede won the race with a lead of nearly one minute and thirty seconds over her compatriot Isabel Salén, while Bulgarian Antonia Grigorova took the bronze medal. The two Swedes also took the World Military Ski Orienteering Team title ahead of Latvia (Kudre and Paalberg) and Lithuania (Pauzaité and Aleliuniené).
Sweden's Rasmus Wickbom made it a one-two punch by taking first place in the Men's Ski Orienteering competition ahead of Bulgaria's Stanimir Belomazhev and Finland's Wille Laitamäki. In the team competition, Wickbom and his compatriot Simon Eriksson took first place ahead of Estonians Rööm and Linnus and Latvians Kivlenieks and Jubelis.
The day of the 29th ended with the Ski mountaineering Individual competition. In the men's competition, the Austrians Paul Vrbniak and Amif Höfl achieved the double by finishing first and second respectively, ahead of the Swiss Werner Marti, bronze medalist. The two Austrian companions, accompanied by Andreas Mayer, also won the team title ahead of France (Equy, Gachet and Fleury) and Switzerland (Marti, Mettan and Berson).
The French women's team also took advantage of the Ski Moutaineering competition to impress the spectators by placing three athletes on the first three steps of the podium: Emily Harrop took the gold, Celia Perillat-Peisey the silver and Axelle Mollaret the bronze. The three French athletes also finished first in the team race ahead of the Germans Paller Wesling and Brandl.
The day of March 30 began with the 10km (Women) and 15km (Men) Cross-Country competitions. In the men's competition, Remi Lindholm from Finland was the fastest, ahead of Jules Lapierre from France and Andrejvs Rastorgujevs from Latvia, while in the women's competition, Victoria Carl from Germany won her second military world title, finishing ahead of Flora Dolci from France and Izabela Marcisz from Poland.
The women's and men's team competitions were won respectively by the Swiss team (Weber, Kaelin and Steiner) and the Finnish team (Lindholm, Vuorela and Hakola).
A parasport cross-country race was also programmed during the same day and it is the French Benjamin Daviet who became Military World Champion! The Estonian Jann Lepik took the silver and the French David Barnabe the bronze.
This third day of competition ended with the Ski Orienteering Mix Team sprint won by Evenlina and Rasmus Wickbom. A great performance by the Wickbom siblings who finished ahead of their compatriots Salén and Eriksson, silver medalists, and the Bulgarians Grigorova and Belomazhev, bronze medalists.
Finally, on Friday, March 31, the 55th WMC Skiing 2023 ended with the patrol, the main event of the competition. And it was France that showed itself to be the strongest by achieving a grand slam thanks to its victories in the men's and women's competitions.
In the final ranking of nations, France finished first with 160 points, followed by Austria with 86 points and Sweden with 56 points.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stefan Fredriksson, PCSC Skiing, said at the end of the competitions: "It was a wonderful week and I really want to congratulate all those who made it possible, both the staff of the associations in Boden, but also all the volunteers who were involved. Without all of you, it would not have been a success. Overall, we saw many good performances and the conditions were excellent, with lots of snow and sunshine".
He also added: "I would say that what touched me the most was the performance of one of the para-skiers who fought all the way through the seven kilometers of the course in Pagla and never gave up. He finished far behind the winner, but he did not give up! This is the first time that a military world ski championship includes para disciplines and four athletes from France and Estonia participated. This is a great first for our sport".
A closing ceremony and banquet for all participants and officials took place on the evening of March 31 before the athletes left Boden. Hopefully, the memories of the 55th WMC Skiing will remain with our military athletes forever.
Thanks to Sweden for the great organization and see you soon for new adventures!
(Source: Swedish Armed Forces and CISM Media & Communication Department)
