World Championship Lead: the qualifiers

It was clear from yesterday’s Female Lead qualifiers that the men’s first round would not be at all easy, not even for them. This is what the Arco World Championship is all about, the selection is very difficult indeed. And beautiful, just like today’s weather: a sunny day, with a slight breeze, while the clouds chased each other high above the Climbing Stadium and the athletes raced up the 4 comp routes. There were two routes each for the two groups. One longer and more difficult line, while the other was slightly (but only just) easier. So: two tops and a faultless ascent to the top of both routes lead straight to the Semifinal; but only a few succeeded. All the usual athletes, or almost, since today held a few small surprises in store.

Read the full Male Qualification Lead report, check out the gallery and watch the videos produced by the Planetmountain teams on the official World Championship website www.arco2011.it