Thibault Anselmet, ski mountaineering world champion
Ski mountaineering leader
Meet... The star of French ski mountaineeringIn 2021, in his very first year on the senior circuit, Thibault Anselmet ended the ski-mountaineering season (the competition side of ski touring) with a small globe in the vertical race and second place overall in the World Cup! In 2022, he confirmed this with another second place overall. Thibault then clearly announced his objective: to win the "Gros Globe" in 2023, i.e. the overall ski mountaineering World Cup ranking. A goal achieved during this exceptional season, during which he also won the mixed relay world championship title (with Emily Harrop).
Once you've reached the top, the hardest thing is to stay there. This is what Thibault Anselmet did in 2024, winning the Gros Globe again in 2024 plus the title in "sprint", an ultra spectacular discipline that will be at the 2026 Olympic Games.
In 2025, Thibault Anselmet once again confirmed his status as the world's number 1 ski mountaineer. At the March 2025 World Championships in Switzerland, Thibault once again won the mixed relay title with Emily Harrop, then took silver in the sprint. His efficiency and consistency also won him the overall World Cup ranking. A "Big Globe" for the third year running!
His 2024-2025 season
Thibault Anselmet:
"Let's start with the World Championships, the main event of the winter. This was my main objective, and I arrived in early March in top form for these championships. I'm proud to have achieved them with a gold and a silver medal.
I wasn't in great shape at the start of winter. I had some problems in the autumn which affected me a lot; it wasn't easy. But from the start of the season, I was able to draw on my experience, and the results were still very good. This allowed me to believe once again in the overall World Cup standings, a goal I had put aside at the start of the winter. Finally, once again, I managed to maintain my consistency and versatility at the highest level, and in the end, win the crystal globe for the third year running.
This season has taught me a lot, enabling me to look forward to the coming winter with a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina as my main objective."
2025: Overall World Cup winner, World mixed relay champion, World sprint runner-up, 2-time French champion
A family story
Like many local children, Thibault Anselmet took up skiing when he could barely walk. Not surprising, with a father who was himself a mountaineer. A member of the Ski Club de Bonneval sur Arc (a resort awarded the "Terre d'Alpinisme" label by the Unesco Committee), he took to the peaks before switching to ski mountaineering as a teenager. And it wasn't long before he was following in his father's footsteps. Between transmission and admiration: "He used to pick me up from boarding school on Wednesdays to end the day with dry climbs in our Haute Maurienne Vanoise resorts.
Ski mountaineering became much more than a discipline for the young man from Maurienne: "This sport is physically and mentally difficult, and you learn a lot about yourself. You discover yourself. It also lets you go wherever you want in the mountains, without being restricted to slopes or lifts."
Ski mountaineering runs in the Anselmet family. Thibault's brother Jérémy won silver in the U20 mixed relay at the 2023 World Championships.
A deep sense of freedom
Inspired at an early age by the likes of Kilian Jornet, benevolently advised by his father and supported by his local council and the Tourist Office, Thibault Anselmet progressed rapidly. And his talent and abilities are unmistakable: in 2021, the man who used to work as a carpenter will become one of the only Frenchmen in the discipline to turn professional, thanks to a contract with the Army of Champions and the support of his partners, including the Haute Maurienne Vanoise Tourist Office, which has been committed to Thibault since 2018.
At 83 m tall, the skier from Bonneval sur Arc has broad shoulders: "Obviously, my ambitions are higher". The sprint and mixed relay will make their debut at the Milan Olympics in 2026: "That would clearly be a medium-term objective."
Follow Thibault Anselmet on Instagram!
To the moon
In 2023, Thibault Anselmet set himself the highest goal in his discipline: to win the overall World Cup in ski mountaineering. A goal he achieved thanks to hard work and an ironclad mentality. In 2023, he's reached the moon: Thibault's impressions of his new "To the moon" video.
Ski touring culture
A leading figure in ski mountaineering in France, Thibault Anselmet is also indicative of a ski touring culture that is firmly rooted in the Haute Maurienne Vanoise resorts. Races and events are regularly organized in the resorts (Trace du Châtelard in Aussois, Traversée des Rois Mages in Valfréjus, montée de l'Eterlou in La Norma...), and special itineraries have been set up in Aussois, Val Cenis and Bessans.
Bessans and Bonneval sur Arc have even been awarded the " Land of Mountaineering " label by UNESCO, thanks in no small part to their ski touring culture.
Thibault Anselmet may still be young (he was born in 1997), but the next generation is already here: Anselme Damevin, from Val Cenis, is one of the best young Frenchmen, with a 5th place in the team competition at the 2025 World Championships and a third place at the 2025 Pierra Menta.
With such a high density, Haute Maurienne Vanoise is now the home of France's ski mountaineering champions.
