French Championships 2024: kick-off of season 14

The French ski mountaineering championship opens season 14 of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel

Blistering times were recorded from the 1st round of the Millet Ski Touring on Saturday 16 December. The reason: this weekend the resort of Courchevel hosted the French ski mountaineering championships in the Vertical Race and Mixed Relay events. This first competition took place on Saturday 16 December on the official MSTC course of 3.2 km and 500 m of elevation gain between Courchevel Le Praz and Courchevel, a route that has become the absolute benchmark among Vertical Race events in 13 years, with 195 rounds held, 21,472 starts and 5,799 competitors ranked.

Vertical Race titles for Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet

The event records held by Axelle Gachet Mollaret in 23min54s and by Switzerland’s Rémi Bonnet in 20min35s were not broken but, since the beginning, the season has never started so strongly. Normally you have to wait until mid-January to see the big performances arrive, as the specialists of the discipline build towards peak form, but this Saturday 16 December will go down in the annals. Emily Harrop, a member of the club Courchevel Sports Outdoor and holder of the 2022 and 2023 Crystal globes, took her 3rd French ski mountaineering Champion title of the season after those won in the sprint and the individual race last week. In her training backyard, she set the pace and pulled away from the start of the race, posting a time of 25min25s, the second best time in the history of the women’s MSTC. To date, only 3 women have managed to break the symbolic barrier of 26 minutes. Célia Perillat Pessey of the Club des Sports de La Clusaz finished national VR vice-champion in 26min22s ahead of Margot Ravinel of the Club des Sports de Chamonix, bronze medallist in 28min02s.

In the men’s race, the first 4 went under the 22-minute barrier! The fight was intense between Xavier Gachet (Club Multisports d’Arêche Beaufort) and Thibault Anselmet (Club des Sports de Bonneval sur Arc). The latter, credited with a time of 21min21s (the 2nd best in the MSTC) and with one last effort, snatched the victory, beating Xavier by 3 seconds. The 3rd step of the podium was even more closely contested. In 21min52s, Gédéon Pochat Cottilloux of the Club des Sports de La Clusaz took advantage of the short final descent to win by a ski tip (exactly 40 hundredths) ahead of Samuel Equy of Team Isère Montagne, who stayed at the foot of the podium. In this favourable context, since the origin of the event in 2011, only 8 athletes have achieved the feat of going under 22 minutes.

Having got off to a flying start, the MSTC saga will continue every Wednesday from 20 December to 13 March, not forgetting the Millet Everest on 2 and 3 March, up to the grand fancy-dress final on Wednesday 20 March and the concert by Deluxe, which will, as usual, close this season 14 with a bang.

The Mixed Relay title for Célia Périllat Pessey and Thibault Anselmet

On Sunday 17 December, it was the turn of the French Mixed Relay championship, a competition organised for the first time in history in Courchevel in January 2023 on the same site at the foot of the Loze ski slope. This event, on the programme of the Cortina Olympic Games in 2026, was hotly contested between the pairs Emily Harrop/Baptiste Elmenreich and Célia Perillat Pessey/Thibault Anselmet. The latter team finally won in Courchevel, with a first national title this year for Célia and a fourth victory for Thibault after the sprint, the individual race and the vertical race. New recruit of the club Courchevel Sport Outdoor Laura Deplanche paired with Robin Galindo of Team Isère Montagne completed the podium.

A weekend of great quality that launches the ski mountaineering season in the best possible conditions.

Next date: Millet Ski Touring Courchevel on Wednesday 20 December 2023