After the Sprint, the Mixed Relay. And it was once again a show in Cortina d’Ampezzo for the second and final day of the Cortina Skimo Cup. As with the Sprint, the Mixed Relay also competed on the spectacular Col Gallina track: two uphills and two downhills for each of the two members of the different teams. 70 meters of positive difference in altitude to cover in apnea, as many to face downhill. In fact, the race was created on a route that is visible almost in its entirety, in a landscape context of extraordinary beauty.
In the absolute match, the two bearers of the Army Sports Center, Alba De Silvestro and Michele Boscacci, were crowned Italian champions: the first started off strong immediately and was then good at resisting the return of Ilaria Veronese, Boscacci was equally good at containing Nicolò Canclini (tricolor sprint) and to win in the end with a gap of just 4”. Silver to Veronese-Canclini (Carabinieri Sports Centre) and bronze to another team from the Army Sports Centre, the one made up of Giulia Compagnoni and Rocco Baldini, third at about twenty seconds.
The other titles all end up in Lombardy. Among the Under 20s the new Italian champions are Anna Pedranzini (Sci club Alta Valtellina) and Simone Fioroni (Polisportiva Albosaggia) while among the Under 18s the title went to Melissa Bertolina (Sci club Alta Valtellina) and Erik Canovi (Polisportiva Albosaggia) and among the Under 16s to Teresa Schivalocchi (Sci club Bagolino) and Giacomo Illini (Sci club Alta Valtellina). «Very beautiful and demanding course, with attention to detail in every part – commented Alba De Silvestro and Michele Boscacci -. It was a very demanding match against strong and determined youngsters. Beating them was by no means a given: it was nice to win and it was wonderful to win as a couple».
«We tried to prepare a route that had important technical contents and which, at the same time, was spectacular» says Federico Michielli, of the Cortina Alpine Guide Group, race director of the two Italian days. «We believe we succeeded and we did it thanks to the work of the many volunteers who worked on the track in the days leading up to the event».
«After the Alpine Skiing World Cup and the Paralympic skiing events, we are pleased to archive another great event, the two-day Cortina Skimo Cup which raffled off the titles of Sprint and Mixed Relay, the two formats these will be the disciplines with which ski mountaineering will make its debut at the 2026 Olympics» says Stefano Longo, president of the Cortina Foundation. «On the horizon of our work as a Foundation there are the Games but not only: we aim to ensure that Cortina increasingly becomes an international hub for sport. As far as ski mountaineering is concerned, the dream is to organize a stage of the World Cup soon».