Round 5 - DYNAFIT SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - 8 January 2014

New records for Kilian Jornet and Laetitia Roux at the 5th stage of the Dynafit Ski Touring Courchevel.

This 5th stage of the Dynafit Ski Touring Courchevel (DSTC) was an opportunity to pay a fine tribute to Lionel Blanc with 265 participants, among them his children Baptiste and Julie. For this “Lionel” special, the president of the Association “Courchevel Sports Mountaineering” Guillaume Prin and his whole team had decided to donate all the registration fees of this 5th climb to Baptiste and Julie to help them with their studies. A collection box was also provided so that everyone who could not take part in the climb could make a donation, and a good number of people and partners were touched by this show of solidarity.

This 5th stage also allowed the organisers to hold a rehearsal ahead of the World Cup at the end of January. Indeed, with the large number of competitors, a mass start was given in the conditions and at the place defined for the World Cup “Vertical Race” event of 26 January, following the “Individual” event of 25 January.

Some big names were gathered in Courchevel for the 5th round of the DSTC, with Kilian Jornet, Mathéo Jacquemoud, Laetitia Roux, Emelie Forsberg. And in his first competition of the year, the Catalan Kilian Jornet set the bar very high with a new provisional record of 22min16s. With this performance, he posted the best time on this 3.2 km ski mountaineering climb with 500 metres of elevation gain. On the second step of the podium for the last 3 editions of the DSTC, Kilian is well placed to take the record of this 4th season. But beware, nothing is settled with Mathéo Jacquemoud. After a fall at the start of the race, Mathéo Jacquemoud of team Courchevel Sports Mountaineering finished second this time in 23min16s and left third place to Morgan Salmon in 25min31s. Junior William Perrier of team Courchevel Sports Mountaineering took fourth place in 26min24s.

Among the women, it was Laetitia Roux of team Ecrin Hautes-Alpes who achieved the feat of setting a new provisional record, never before reached, in 26min55s. This feat left no chance to Swede Emelie Forsberg , 2013 DSTC record holder, who took second position in 27min58s, widening the gap on Christine Gachet of team Isère (34min01s).

Julie Blanc finished this emotion-filled climb in 45min58s ahead of her brother Baptiste , who like his father never gives up and finished with a very nice time of 47min48s. They finished the evening alongside Kilian Jornet , who did not hesitate to sign his latest book “La Frontière Invisible” for them.