Sarkany and Mrazek World Champions

Muriel Sarkany and Tomas Mrazek win the World Championship 2003 in Chamonix

July 2003

Muriel Sarkany and Tomás Mrazek are the winners of the Difficulty World Championship 2003. After winning almost all there is to win over the last couple of years, the Belgian deservedly adds the missing World Championship title to her long list of victories. Mrazek's win is finally "official" confirmation of his immense strength which, all too often, brought him to within a whisker from true victory.

Mrazek powered up through the technical bulges on Sunday evening and, although not able to reach the finishing holds, climbed almost 2 meters higher than closest rival Patxi Usobiaga. The Spaniard's second place comes as a small surprise to some, pushing Frenchman David Caude into an excellent third place. The evening's real surprise came from none other than Alexandre Chabot himself, who in the end placed fifth overall.

Arguably this change at the top has been in the making for a while, and the last few competitions showed how equally spread the top male competitors have now become. Unbeatable Chabot suddenly "seems" slightly more human, demonstrating that he too can be off form and in difficulty. And this will no doubt have a positve psychological effect on his adversaries, as they now know that, he too, is vunerable. Christian Bindhammer's fourth place is worth underlining: never somone who gives up, Christian is well capable of top positions any time. The remaining finalists finished as follows: Sylvain Millet sixth, Ramon Julien Puigblanque seventh and Evgueni Ovtchinnikov eigth.

In the women's event Sarkany had no rivals and missed the top. Two meters lower down six finalists battled it out on one hold, with some touching, and others holding the hold, and Emilie Pouget moving off from it. Pouget placed second, ahead of teammate Sandrine Levet. Levet hoped to do the unprecedented grand Slam by winning both the Bouldering and the Difficulty events, but in the end placed third. Jenny Lavarda from Italy placed fourth, ahead of Alexandra Eyer, Caroline Ciavaldini and Angela Eiter, fifth to seventh respectively.

The crowd, estimated at 12000 for Sunday's final, crownd the event. As if to say, just like in Lecco, that this sport potentially has all the right credentials to make it big.

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Results women
				Final	1/2 Final	1/4-Final
1	Sarkany	Muriel	BEL	24.60-	Top	Top
2	Pouget	Emilie	FRA	22.27+	18.15-	Top
3	Levet	Sandrine	FRA	22.27	Top	Top
4	Lavarda	Jenny	ITA	22.27-	18.15	Top
5	Eyer	Alexandra	SUI	22.27-	18.15-	Top
6	Ciavaldini	Caroline	FRA	22.27-	16.94	Top
7	Eiter	Angela	AUT	22.27-	16.94-	Top
8	Bacher	Barbara	AUT	20.12	17.42+	Top
9	Harrington	Emily	USA	17.72-	16.94-	Top
10	Shalahina	Olha	UKR	7.26-	16.94-	Top
11	Novikova	Natalia	RUS		16.94-	17.51+
12	Cufar	Martina	SLO		16.01+	Top
12	Schöpf	Bettina	AUT		16.01+	Top
14	Ostapenko	Alena	UKR		16.01	19.92-
15	Hnizdilova	Sona	CZE		14.74-	17.51+

Results men
				Final	1/2 Final	1/4 Final via 1	1/4 Final via 2
1	Mrazek	Tomás	CZE	23.55-	22.50-	Top
2	Usobiaga	Patxi	ESP	21.29+	20.64-		Top
3	Caude	David	FRA	21.29	24.24+	Top
4	Bindhammer	Christian	GER	15.40-	20.64	Top
5	Chabot	Alexandre	FRA	14.48-	25.00-		Top
6	Millet	Sylvain	FRA	12.31-	23.76-	Top
7	Puigblanque	R. Julián	ESP	10.81	22.87-	Top
8	Ovtchinnikov	Evgueni	RUS	10.81	20.64		Top
9	Auclair	François	FRA		19.56+	19.54
9	Lachat	Cédric	SUI		19.56+		Top
9	Pouvreau	Gérome	FRA		19.56+		Top
12	Crespi	Flavio	ITA		19.56-	Top
12	Zardini	Luca	ITA		19.56-		Top
14	Petit	François	FRA		19.38-		Top
15	Rakhmetov	Salavat	RUS		17.94+	19.54+
16	Son	Sang-Won	KOR		16.53	Top
17	Lella	Donato	ITA		15.88+		Top