140 days to go until the Olympics! Trentino, Val di Fiemme and its regional and organisational excellence are busy with the FIS Nordic Summer Festival, a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Olympic Games. Italy is tricking time by winning the Roller Ski World Cup 200 m Sprint competition in free technique with Emanuele Becchis, in an all-Italian final with Michele Valerio, and with Alba Mortagna also taking second place in the women's race, despite an unfortunate fall in the final.

The Nordic Ski Val di Fiemme organising committee, led by Pietro De Godenz, which has established itself over the years and hosted three Roller Ski World Championships, had the important task this year of managing a full-fledged Nordic skiing Festival. In a sunny Ziano di Fiemme, the Roller-skiing races took off today, valid also for the last stage of the Roller Ski World Cup 2025, which will end on Sunday.

In the early afternoon, when the sun peeped out from behind the Latemar mountains, warming the large crowd that had gathered, the fast-paced 200 m Sprint took centre stage. This spectacular and exciting format provided some thrilling moments along the track set up in Via Nazionale in Ziano.

The men's final was nothing short of sensational, with Michele Valerio arriving strong as the leader of the Sprint World Cup. After a one-two in the qualifications, with Becchis gaining three points that proved to be decisive in hindsight, the two found themselves in the final, where Becchis literally dominated his rival, who had to settle for second place in the race and in the sprint ranking, despite having scored the same number of points. In fact, the rules state that the winner is who has won the most races in the current season. Lauri Kaparkalejs (LAT) finished in third place, somewhat overshadowed.

It was a painful race for Matteo Tanel, leader of the overall standings on the eve of the final stage in Ziano, who was defeated in the quarterfinals by Riccardo Lorenzo Masiero. Unfortunately, the Italian finished tenth, losing valuable points to Latvian Raimo Vigants (sixth today), who is closing in on him in the standings.

On the women’s side, there was nothing to do for Alba Mortagna, current world champion, who, however, did not start as one of the favourites in the final act against the Swedish champion Linn Sömskar, second in the World Championships last year in Val di Fiemme, but already a multiple-time winner in the valley of Nordic skiing.

Another all-Italian final in the junior race, with Davide Piccinini and Francesco Chiaradia ending with a sprint finish, where the latter beat the former, thanks to a stumble of the competitor in the final metres. Ville Jutterdal (SWE) finished in third place and is currently leading to win the World Cup.

Among the junior women, instead, the victory went to the Latvian Linda Kaparkaleja over the Norwegian Emilie Ruud Lia, while the current leader of the World Cup Johanna Holmberg ended up third.

The overall ranking sees Matteo Tanel still ahead of Raimo Vigants, but with the Latvian closing in at just 6 points behind, bearing in mind that there is only one individual competition left before the final: Sunday's eagerly awaited mass start, which will effectively award the coveted crystal globe.

The Sprint title was already awarded today, for the third consecutive time, to Emanuele Becchis, who completed a great comeback by finishing ahead of Michele Valerio (same points, but more victories).

In the women's competition, Sweden's Ebba Stenman mathematically won the World Cup today, with the crystal globes to be awarded on Sunday during the grand finale of the Festival in Ziano.

Tomorrow, the mixed team sprint will take place in the heart of Ziano di Fiemme: the junior race is scheduled to start at 2 p.m., while the highlight of the day will be served at 4 p.m. with the senior race.

Rollerski – Men Sprint

1 BECCHIS Emanuele ITA; 2 VALERIO Michele ITA; 3 KAPARKALEJS Lauris LAT; 4 OLAFSEN Jostein NOR

Rollerski – Women Sprint

1 SOEMSKAR Linn SWE; 2 MORTAGNA Alba ITA; 3 GARAC Leona CRO; 4 KRAMPE Samanta LAT

Rollerski – Junior Men Sprint

1 CHIARADIA Francesco ITA; 2 PICCININI Davide ITA; 3 JUTTERDAL Ville SWE; 4 MAURY Levi FRA

Rollerski – Junior Women Sprint

1 KAPARKALEJA Linda LAT; 2 LIA Emilie Ruud NOR; 3 HOLMBERG Johanna SWE; 4 ZUPAN Zala SLO

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