The International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) Youth World Cup season continued with its third stage at Jennerstier in the German alpine resort of Berchtesgaden. In the lead up to the Torino 2025 FISU World University Games Winter, this event also included a FISU endorsed International University Championship for university students as part of the vertical race staged on 17 February. This was the first FISU related event for ski mountaineering that became a recognized sport by the FISU Executive Committee in the summer of 2023.
Fog and rain greeted competitors in the mountains of Berchtesgaden, located in the southwest corner of Germany, near the Austrian border and approximately 30km from Salzburg. In the women’s event, Louise Trincaz of France (pictured in middle of header photo) won the U20 vertical event and as a university student, also claimed the International University Championship. She finished in a time of 27:31.87 for the 2.5 km course and took her third gold medal of the Youth World Cup season. Her French teammate Loanne Roussillon (on left in header photo) finished 38 seconds back and took silver in the U20 event and the university competition. Coming in third in this FISU endorsed competition was German Luisa Paller (pictured on right). Trincaz currently leads the U20 Youth World Cup rankings with 463 points.
(photo from International Ski Mountaineering Federation)
For the men’s International University Championship, it was two Germans in Felix Gramelsberger and Finn Hösch who finished 1-2. Gramelsberger crossed the finish line in 21:53.00, the best time among university students with Hösch behind by a mere 10.71 seconds. These times also placed them 4th and 5th in the senior category. Finishing the 2.5 km course as the third fastest student-athlete was Frenchman Jules Raybaud. His time of 21:55.64 was 2.64 seconds back of Hösch and was also good enough for 2nd place among U20 competitors.
With the first FISU endorsed event in the books, ski mountaineering university athletes can now look forward to 2025 when sprint and vertical races will be held as part of the Torino 2025 FISU Games from 13-23 January.