The IOC offers the following Video News Release to all news agencies, broadcasters and online news platforms free of charge. Italy’s Rocco Baldini raced clear to gold in the Ski Mountaineering Men’s Sprint Final at the Winter Youth Olympic  Games (YOG) Lausanne 2020. Baldini, who is 18, easily saw off the rest of the field in the six man medal winning race at the Villars Winter Park, winning in 2 minutes 30.14 seconds by 7.87 seconds. His Italian compatriot, 17-year-old Luca Tomasoni took the silver medal. Spain’s Ot Ferrer-Martinez won bronze. The Sprint is a short individual race, combining the essential Ski Mountaineering features and techniques. Part of the ascent is made on skis and another part on foot, with skis on the backpack. Finally, the descent from the top is made skiing in one single time. As its name implies, the Sprint is a very fast race. The total ascending elevation is of about 80 meters, with athletes starting and finishing in almost the same point. The first round is an individual qualification with athletes starting one after the other, every 20 seconds. After this qualifying round, athletes face each other in heats of 6 runners from quarter-final to final. The 3 best of every heat are qualified for the next round. Qualifying athletes race at least twice. In the final, the winner is the first to cross the finish line.