In the run-up to the FISU World University Games Winter Torino 2025, this event also included a FISU-endorsed International University Championship for university students as part of the Vertical Race on 17 February. This was the first FISU-related event for ski mountaineering, which will be recognised as a sport by the Executive Committee of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in the summer of 2023, according to Doug McLean for FISU.

Fog and rain greeted the competitors in the mountains of Berchtesgaden, in the south-west corner of Germany, close to the Austrian border and about 30km from Salzburg.

On the women's side, France's Louise Trincaz won the U20 vertical event and, as a university student, also clinched the International University Championship. She currently tops the U20 World Cup rankings with 463 points, well ahead of Andorra's Lea Ancion Havet (366) and France's Loanna Roussillon (336). All three were born in 2024. She completed the 2.5km course in a time of 27:31.87 to claim her third gold medal of the Youth World Cup season. Her French teammate Loanne Roussillon finished 38 seconds behind her to take silver in both the U20 event and the university competition. Third in the FISU sanctioned event was Germany's Luisa Paller. 

Two Germans, Felix Gramelsberger and Finn Hösch, finished 1-2 in the men's International University Championships. Gramelsberger crossed the finish line in 21:53.00, the best time among the university students, while Hösch was only 10.71 seconds behind. These times also placed them fourth and fifth in the senior category. France's Jules Raybaud finished the 2.5km course as the third fastest student athlete in 21:55.64, 2.64 seconds behind Hösch and was also good enough for second place in the U20 category. 

As well as Louise Trincaz in the women's category, Jules Raybaud also leads the U20 men's overall Youth World Cup 2023-24 ranking with 456 points, just five ahead of Italy's Hermann Debertolis. Both were born in 2024, and Italy's Erik Canovi, born in 2005, is a distant third with 295 points.

With the first FISU-sanctioned event in the books, university ski mountaineers can now look forward to 2025, when sprint and vertical events will be held as part of the Torino 2025 FISU Games from 13-23 January.