GB Skimo's Ursula Catton takes Gold in Masters World Championships
Ursula Catton gains first ever Skimo female podium for GB at Masters level on the world stage at the ISMF Masters World Championships.
At the end of January, Ursula Catton and Cristian Kober lined up against the world’s best in their respective age categories. Both raced the individual event, with Cristian also taking on the vertical. Saturday’s vertical came first, and Cristian dug deep to secure an impressive 8th place in his age group.
Ursula’s weekend was a whirlwind. She flew out from the UK on Saturday for a 30 hour turnaround to race on Sunday. The individual course delivered proper ski mountaineering: more than 1800 metres of climbing, countless kick turns and some sketchy snow that kept the descents spicy.
It paid off. Ursula stormed to 1st place in the O35 category, marking the first ever female podium for GB at Masters level on the world stage. A landmark result and a huge moment for the team.
Cristian’s race was equally gritty. Battling a broken binding, he stayed in the fight all the way to the line, finishing strongly after a close contest.
There may be no podium photos, as Ursula had to dash straight back to the UK for work on Monday morning, but the result speaks for itself.
As Ursula put it: “It was fun having a proper race where I could be silly on the descent. Going very fast down some sketchy snow on jelly legs.”
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