GB Skimo Team go head to head with world's best at Andorra ISMF World Cup
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The third stage of the ISMF World Cup took place at the end of January in Arinsal, Andorra, where the GB Skimo team faced the demanding terrains of Comapedrosa Natural Park. Organisers adapted to limited snowfall by designing courses exclusively on the alpine slopes, incorporating multiple loops to test the teams’ endurance and technical abilities.
Saturday’s individual race saw Neil Palfrey, James Smith, and Christian Kober donning GB kit to take on steep, icy ascents and a giant slalom style descent. The trio finished in 50th, 52nd, and 53rd places, respectively. Switzerland’s Rémi Bonnet secured victory with a time of 1 hour 12 minutes.
Individual race results can be viewed here.
Sunday marked the debut of the Mixed Relay event, with 24 nations competing. The relay course featured two ascents of 70 meters each, interspersed with technical descents, all under cold and windy conditions at Col de la Botella.
GB fielded two pairs eager to make their mark in this new format. Claudia Chmielowska and Iain Innes narrowly missed qualifying for the finals by just 1m 6s, finishing with a time of 18m 51s. Ursula Catton and Neil Palfrey rounded out Great Britain’s results for the weekend with a time of 21m 19s
Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll took gold, followed by the French and Swiss pairings in second and third.
Full team results can be viewed here.
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