Ivy Schölzhorn finished in 9th place.

Austria and France celebrate at Piz Sella

This year's FESA Raiffeisen FIS Challenge in Val Gardena concluded on Tuesday with two men's and one women's downhill races. Nearly 300 young racers from over 30 different nations competed in excellent conditions and delivered impressive performances.

02 December 2025

From: pm

The young men had to compete twice on Tuesday. The first downhill race was won by Frenchman Ken Caillot. The 27-year-old from St. Beron completed the 2,4-kilometer course in 1:29.23 minutes, relegating Valentin Jachmann (+0,19/Germany) and his fellow Frenchman Thomas Chaix (+0,37/best U21 athlete) to second and third place, respectively. For the World Cup veteran, it was his first victory in a FIS race, following three second-place finishes (one of them in Val Gardena in 2022). The best Italian and fastest South Tyrolean speed skier, Emanuel Lamp (Gsieserstal), finished fourth, just over half a second behind the winner and 17 hundredths of a second off the podium.

Another Frenchman celebrated victory in the second downhill race. This time, Thomas Chaix posted the fastest time. The 20-year-old up-and-comer from CS Orcieres Merlette crossed the finish line in 1:28.59 minutes, celebrating his first FIS race win, just like Caillot. Jachmann once again finished second, this time 0,79 seconds behind. Norwegian Vetle Fjellstad Fosse took third place (+0.084), marking his seventh FIS race podium finish. Glauco Antonioli (Bormio, +1,66) was the best Italian racer, finishing sixth. Emanuel Lamp was once again the best South Tyrolean downhiller, though he had to settle for 13th place (+2,22).

In the women's race, there was an Austrian one-two finish. Leonie Zegg prevented Anna Schilcher from achieving a double victory. Zegg, who was fastest in training on Monday and then sixth in the first race, set the fastest time of 1:34.29 minutes. Schilcher was 0,15 seconds slower than her Austrian teammate, who secured her second victory in a FIS race. Finnish speed skier Rosa Pohjolainen finished third (+0,22), preventing an all-Italian podium finish for fourth-placed Federica Lani (+0,71). Two South Tyrolean skiers, Nora Damian from Tiers (8th/+1,19) and Ivy Schölzhorn from Sterzing (9th/+1,54), finished in the top ten. Damian was awarded the prize for best U21 racer.

The FESA Raiffeisen FIS Challenge concluded with the three races on Tuesday. "We saw a total of four exciting finishes. I would like to congratulate all the young talents on their performances and wish them a successful, injury-free season. A special thank you goes to everyone who contributed to the success of this event, and especially to the ski-enthusiastic Marzola family, who made these races possible in the first place. Now our entire focus is on the World Cup races on the Saslong this weekend before Christmas," said Rainer Senoner, President of the Saslong Classic Club.