Winter Olympics: No final for Drion as Cardona Coll takes gold

Belgium’s Maximilien Drion missed out on a place in the final of the ski mountaineering sprint on Thursday at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Competing in heavy snowfall in Bormio, Drion finished fifth in his semi-final in a time of 2:47.23, more than 13 seconds behind Swiss winner Arno Lietha. Only the top two in each semi-final and the two fastest remaining times progressed to the final. Drion eventually placed ninth overall.

The Belgian, seen as a medal contender in the sport’s Olympic debut, lost valuable time in the transition zones, where athletes change equipment between climbing and descending. A fall shortly before the downhill section ended his hopes of reaching the final.

Gold went to Spain’s Oriol Cardona Coll, ahead of Russia’s Nikita Filippov and France’s Thibault Anselmet. In the women’s race, Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton claimed the first ever Olympic gold in the discipline.

Belgium’s medal tally at these Games remains at one. Last week, the short track team of Hanne Desmet, Stijn Desmet, Tineke den Dulk and Ward Pétré won bronze in the mixed relay. It was the country’s first medal of the Games.

^{Maximilien Drion © Laurent Zabulon/ABACAPRESS.COM}