ROUND 9 - DYNAFIT SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - 1 February 2012

Kilian Jornet Burgada and Laetitia Roux lead the Dynafit Ski Touring Courchevel.

Wednesday 1 February saw the 9th round of the season for the Dynafit Ski Touring Courchevel (DSTC) and a positive first assessment at the halfway point of these 18 ski mountaineering climbs for Gruillaume Prin , president of the organising association Courchevel Sports Alpinisme. So far, 605 participants have started these climbs of 3.2 km and 500 m of elevation gain, with 390 different competitors ranked, including almost all the best ski mountaineers at the top of the standings.

Last Saturday, in the 8th DSTC, held as part of the French Vertical Race Championship, ski mountaineering world champion Kilian Jornet Burgada with a time of 22min34s smashed the record held last year by Yannick Buffet and now leads the provisional overall standings. Among the girls, it is French champion Laetitia Roux who has taken the reins of the women’s standings after beating the 2011 record of Spain’s Mireia Miro Varela with a new record of 28min12s.

For this 9th DSTC, the cold was part of the party (-12° at the Courchevel 1850 finish), enough to put off a good number of future participants.

Among the 40 brave souls, Sébastien Bedu of the Club des Sports de Tignes chose to keep his down jacket on during the race and won this climb in 24min 20s ahead of Vivien Berlaud of the 13th Alpine Chasseurs Battalion in 26min49s and Yannick Aboulikan of the Club Multisports d’Arêches-Beaufort in 27min 29s.

On the women’s side, Armelle Favre of CAF Vanoise climbed onto the highest step of the podium with a time of 34min 11s. Mireille Bartnicki came second in 43min 31s and Laurence Setiey of Courchevel took third place in 43min 33s.

Next Wednesday the second half of the season begins for the DSTC and nothing is settled yet for Kilian and Laetitia before the final climb on 4 April. Will the winners of the 2010-2011 season, Yannick Buffet, world runner-up, and Spain’s Miriea Miro Varela, world champion, manage to beat these new records?

The answer comes over the next 9 Wednesdays in the second part of the DSTC.