Park Hee Yong and Maria Tolokonina win the Ice Climbing World Cup 2013

The final, decisive stage of the Ice climbing World Cup 2013 was marked by nervousness that led to Angelika Rainer committing a mistake; after dominating throughout the entire season, the Italianice climber handed the cup to her closest rival and Grivel Racing Department teammate Maria Tolokonina, in tears after her climb but understandably happy at the end of the competition. The mistake cost the South Tyrolean climber dearly but it is clear that keeping sufficient calm, concentration and clarity for the entire two-month period is no mean task. With her World Championship title at the season start, second place at Saas Fee and victory at Rabenstein, Rainer nevertheless had a superb season and this bleak moment won't get her down: sometimes things go wrong, not necessarily the best athlete wins, this isn't to do with luck or misfortune, it's simply sport!

But back to the competition: qualifications were characterized by yet another novelty put forward by the International Federation and supported by the Russian organisation; to reduce the competition time, the qualifications took place on two routes instead of one - as in all other stages - and the routes were the same for both men and women. Something unheard of previously! In the Semi-finals the routes were split and the usual climbers dominated: Maxim Tomilov and Park Hee Yong in the men's event, Shin Woon Seon and Angelika Rainer in the women's event.

In the women's final victory went to Korea's Seon - for the first time in three years - and deservedly so, while Tolokonina checked into second place after failing to breach the roof at half-height. Lucie Hrozova placed third while Rainer, as mentioned previously, made a mistake and fell low down to finish eighth.

The men's final route was unbelievable long, so much so that even the best stopped 3 quickdraws short of the top, was won by Grivel Racing Department athlete Maxim Tomilov, ahead of Park Hee Yong and his teammate Nikolay Kuzovlev. For the record, only three athletes topped out, 2 in the qualifiers and 1 in the Semifinal, while no women reached the finishing holds (the route setters had probably calibrated the routes slightly too hard).

The Speed competition was dominated by the Russian squad and won by Egor Trapeznikov, ahead of Radomir Proscchenko and Ivan Spitsyn; the women's race was won by Ekaterina Feoktistova ahead of Julia Oleynikova and Maryam Filippova.

The curtain now falls onto the World Cup circus. Some single events which took place during the individual stages still need analysing and there will no doubt be a review and clear definition of some of the rules, but all, above all the athletes, are convinced that the right steps are being made.

A special thanks to AVS Altoadige which registered all Italian athletes for the competitions and therefore gave them the opportunity to take part in the World Cup. Special thanks also to Diego Patete who accompanied the Italian team to all the competitions as their official photographer.

Marco Servalli

FINAL RANKING 2013
Lead Men
1 Heeyong Park KOR 405
2 Maxim Tomilov RUS 398
3 Valentyn Sypavin UKR 294
4 Nikolay Kuzovlev RUS 287
5 Alexey Tomilov RUS 237
6 Hee Han Jung KOR 173
7 Alexey Vagin RUS 150
7 Sergey Tarasov RUS 150
9 Ivan Lyulyukin RUS 131
10 Pavel Batushev RUS 103
10 Yevgen Kryvosheytsev UKR 103

Lead Women
1 Maria Tolokonina RUS 380
2 Angelika Rainer ITA 363
3 Seon Shin Woon KOR 100
4 Lucie Hrozova CZE 328
5 Maryam Filippova RUS 244
6 Nadezhda Gallyamova RUS 196
7 Natalya Kulikova RUS 187
8 Anna Gallyamova RUS 186
9 Svetlana Sokolova RUS 182
10 Liudmila Badalyan RUS 175
11 Barbara Zwerger ITA 121

Speed Men
1 Egor Trapeznikov RUS 310
2 Ivan Spitsyn RUS 306
3 Pavel Gulyaev RUS 289
4 Pavel Batushev RUS 275
5 Vlad Golub RUS 224
6 Dennis Van Hoek NED 211
7 Kirill Kolchegoshev RUS 202
8 Alexey Tomilov RUS 187
9 Maxim Vlasov RUS 176
10 Nikolay Kuzovlev RUS 163

Speed Women
1 Julia Oleynikova RUS 348
2 Maryam Filippova RUS 340
3 Ekaterina Feoktistova RUS 339
4 Maria Tolokonina RUS 333
5 Ekaterina Glazunova RUS 243
5 Maria Krasavina RUS 243
7 Nadezhda Gallyamova RUS 216
8 Irina Bagaeva RUS 188
9 Natalya Kulikova RUS 162
10 Radka Petkova BUL 152


11/02/2013 - Ice Climbing World Cup 2013: Park and Hrozová take gold in Busteni
28/01/2013 - Ice Climbing World Cup 2013, Angelika Rainer and Maxim Tomilov win at Rabenstein
21/01/2013 - Ice Climbing World Cup 2013, Tolokonina and Tomilov win in Saas Fee
13/01/2013 - Angelika Rainer Ice Climbing World Champion hattrick. Alexey Tomilov wins men's title