Sawt Falasteen - Cardona Coll, Fatton claim first Olympic ski mountaineering golds

In the men's sprint, Russian Nikita Filippov won the first medal at the Milan-Cortina Games for individual neutral athletes when he claimed silver.

Filippov finished 1.52sec off Cardona Coll, who won in 2min 34.03sec for Spain's first Winter Olympic gold since the 1972 Games in Sapporo, Japan.

"Winning this gold after so many years, it means a lot for us as a country," said Cardona Coll, 31. "It also means a lot for the ski mountaineering family to be here."

Thibault Anselmet of France took bronze in the skimo sprint, an adrenaline-packed event requiring athletes to negotiate uphill climbs on ski and foot before descending by ski.

The Swiss pair of Arno Lietha and Jon Kistler had led up the initial gruelling 65-metre climb in heavy snow in northern Italy.

But reigning world champion Cardona Coll showed all his experience to fight back and surge into the lead in an astonishing display of stamina and technical nous on the opening transition.

Filippov moved into second as the Swiss duo faded and tracked Cardona Coll down through the finish line.

"I saw on social media that they said that Nikita Filippov has a very important day today for us because there is no medal, and he is our main hope," the 23-year-old Russian said.

"I told myself, 'just relax, Nikita, do your thing, and the medal will come'."

Filippov admitted it was tough not to have the proper backing of his country but said he had the support of the skimo community.

"It's hard because I see athletes with flags of their nations and they are in the uniform of their nations, but it's OK," he said.

"Everybody knows from what country I am. I'm just happy to be here and to realise my childhood dream," he said.

He expressed his hope that in the coming years there would be "no more neutral athletes, it'll be just like in the past".

- Neutral flag -

It was a first medal for the 20-strong team of Russian and Belarusian athletes listed as AIN, meaning they are competing under a neutral flag.

Athletes from the two nations have faced bans from international competition since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Filippov and his AIN teammates have been allowed to compete in Italy under a neutral banner, having met strict conditions.

Those include taking part only in individual events and undergoing checks to prove that they did not actively support the war in Ukraine or have any links with the army.

The same conditions applied at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

In the women's sprint, Fatton clocked a winning time of 2min 59.77sec on the Stelvio course, depriving France's Emily Harrop by 2.38sec.

Spain's Ana Alonso Rodriguez claimed bronze.

"The atmosphere here was amazing, it was already so cool to race here with all the noise," said Fatton. "Winning the gold medal was the topping on the cake."

Harrop, a four-time World Cup overall champion, had been hot favourite, but she paid the price for a slow second transition.

After an initial ascent, Harrop was neck-and-neck with Fatton as the pair took off their skis to climb a stairway on foot.

Skiers have to re-don their skis at the top for one final climb, and Fatton was much slicker than Harrop, racing away to a lead she never looked likely to relinquish.

R.Halabi--SF-PST