Ice Climbing World Cup 2012: Angelika Rainer and Maxime Tomilov win in Korea

The start of the Ice Climbing World Cup 2012 was marked by impressive Russian domination but the first stage which took place in Korea this weekend also proved a great event for the Italian ice climbers with the 2011 World Champion Angelika Rainer winning the women's event. Competing against a record number of competitors, Rainer qualified tenth, moved up to provisional second in the Semi-final and then won the event, topping out almost two minutes faster than second-placed Anna Galyanova from Russia, while Lucy Hrozova from the Czech Republic placed third. The routes set by Attilio Munari from Italy proved difficult and selective right from the outset while the athletes' ability extremely impressive.

The men's event was dominated clearly by the Russian squad: Maxime Tomilov placed first, his brother Alexey second while the reigning World Champion Park Lee from Korea finished third. Mauro Dorigatti from Italy qualified for his first final and climbed superbly to finish 7th, while his teammate Giulia Venturelli unfortunately failed to make it past the qualifiers.

The next stage takes place in Saas Fee in Switzerland in a mere 5 days time; what else can we say but "good luck!"


Results - 1st stage of the Ice World Cup 2012 (Cheongsong - Korea)
Women's Lead
1. RAINER, Angelika ITA
2. GALLYAMOVA, Anna RUS
3. HROZOVA, Lucie CZE
Men's Lead
1. TOMILOV, Maxim RUS
2. TOMILOV, Alexey RUS
3. PARK, Hee Yong KOR

Women's Speed
1. SHABALINA, Viktoria RUS
2. KRASAVINA, MARIA RUS
3. FILIPPOVA, Maryam RUS
Men's Speed
1. SPITSYN, Ivan RUS
2. VAGIN, Alexey RUS
3. TOMILOV, Alexey RUS


ICE WORLD CUP 2012
Cheongsong (Korea) 14-15 January 2012
Saas Fee (Switzerland) 20-21 January 2012
Champagny (France) 4-5 February 2012
Busteni (Romania) 10-11 February 2012
Moscow (Russia) 3-4 March 2012
Kirov (Russia) 9-10 March 2012