Speed & Lead Results from the Climbing World Cup
This weekends competition was as good as ever
This weekend's Climbing World Cup leg in Chamonix was full of thrills and spills, a touch of controversy over the set up of the wall, and as ever was a great spectacle for the crowd to enjoy.
Tom Humpage was there enjoying all the action and has sent us this report & photography..
In Speed Climbing French climber Anouck JOUBERT (FRA) got of to blistering start posting an 8.00 flat time in qualification followed by two consistently fast climbs in the quarter finals. But a slip in the semi finals and a false start in the small finals put the pressure on and Mariia Krasavina (RUS) piped her to third place in 7.70 the fastest time of the evening. The grand final saw Alina Gaidamakina (RUS) up against Aleksandra Rudzinska (POL) with Aliana having one false start against her already and slightly slower times than her opponent for most of the event Aleksandra had to be going in to final as favourite but with two uncharacteristic mistakes by her she left the door wide open for Aliana to claim victory.
In the men’s event Reza Alipourshena (ISI) got to the small final having already knocked out the tall, Czech favourites Libor Hroza (CZE) and went on to podium 3rd knocking Bassa Mawem (FRA) out of the medals. Marcin Dzienski (POL) was looking hard to beat posting the fastest times all event, but a fall in the final handed the win to Danylo Boldyrev (UKR).
MEN Speed result
1. Danylo Boldyrev UKR Time 7.20 sec
2. Marcin Dzienski POL Time Fall
3. Reza Alipourshena ISI Time 6.01 sec
WOMEN Speed result
1. Alina Gaidamakina RUS Time 8.30 sec *
2. Aleksandra Rudzinska POL Time Fall
3. Mariia Krasavina RUS Time 7.70 sec *
[*Mariia Krasavina & Alina Gaidamakina (and a number of male competitors) set what would have been numerous new world records, however due to technical issues with the wall not fitting IFSC standards, the records do not stand. The world record for women is currently 8.33s and 5.58s for the men].
In Lead Climbing Jakob Schubert (AUT) qualified first with Romain Desgranges (FRA) just a few holds behind making for what the French would hope to be a nail biting final. Whilst Sachi Amma (JPN) only just qualified in 8th place scrapping through and knocking Sean McColl (CAN) out. With Sachi Amma disappointing qualification he started first in the finals and climbed what looked to be a very average climb finishing with just a 28+. But what followed was a list of the world top climbers all falling well before the top and not even getting close to Sachi’s score. Questions are being asked about the difficulty / grade of the route. A short day out for the man and a slightly disappointing show for the crowd.
The women’s event was a far more crowd-pleasing affair. Mina Markovic (SLO) qualified first in the quarter finals and joint first with Jain Kim (KOR) in semi finals making her favourite going in to the final round. As the light faded around Chamonix and the spotlights came on, all eight finalist put on a cracking performance with Jain Kim coming out victorious with her usual graceful yet often dynamic style of climbing taking her just a few hold from the top and a 50+ score.
MEN Lead results
1. AMMA Sachi JPN
2. Jakob Schubert AUT
3. Domen Skofic SLO
WOMEN Lead results
1. Kim Jain KOR
2. Magdalena Röck AUT
3. Markovic Mina SLO
Take a look at Tom's full set of photos on his facebook page.
