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THE COMPETITION
Open 18 January
After last week’s World Championship in Pitztal, the second stage of the IWC kicked off on Friday morning in the Italian Valle di Daone with the Women’s Open. Their start, in some respects a warm-up for the next rounds, nevertheless gave some clear indications as to how things may turn out.
Ten athletes easily qualified for Saturday morning’s Semi-final, topping out on all three boulder problems first go. These were Buchmann, Go, Sdobnikova, Wielebnowsky, Torretta, Papert, Maureau, Sansoz, Livshits, Ware. Kiss and Watkins also topped out of all three routes but needed slightly more attempts. The remaining five to qualify for Semi-final were Kolodkina, Bonaldo, Iakimova, Gemelli, Kovlikova and Colussi.
Ines Papert, recently crowned World Champion, impressed all with her strength and technique, while the local Anna Torretta showed that last week’s second place wasn’t just one-off affair.
Men
The Men’s Open commenced with a minute’s silence dedicated to two Italian Mountain Guides, Urban Ties and Patrick Antenhofer, who tragically died on Thursday when an icefall they were climbing collapsed.
World Champion Krivoisheitsev Ukraine impressed most, impeccable for his speed, strength and conviction. But the Canadian Will Gadd and the French contingent Dulac, Lamiche, Husson and Lombard are all forces to be reckoned with. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare when the going gets tough in Saturday’s Semi-final.
Group B. Krivoisheitsev, Dulac, Bythocova and Lamiche all topped out first go, followed by Lombard, Steinbrugger, Tomilov, Odermatt and Svab.
Group A. Berger Gadd topped out on all three and were followed by Anderle, Schiestl, Purcher, Bole, Matvve, Bonneville.
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Top: Bubu Bole climbing the first boulder problem
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