Angelika Rainer Ice Climbing World Champion hattrick. Alexey Tomilov wins men's title

In the windy city of Cheongsong the Ice Climbing Lead event was won by Angelika Rainer and Alexey Tomilov, two athletes belonging to Grivel's so-called "Racing Division"; both climbers topped out in the final to beat Russia's Gallyamova and Ukraine's Sypavin.

But first things first: the women's competition proved a real battles right from the qualifiers with Wooseon, Gallyamova, Tolokonina and Rainer all making their intentions clear from the outset, although Wooseon’s and Rainer’s superior technique immediately sprang to the eye. In the Final Gallyamova topped out but she was 40 seconds slower than the Italian, while Maria Tolokonia failed on the really long last move which had got the better of Korea's Shin Wooseon who finished with bronze.

The Men's Final proved thrilling and Alexey Tomilov managed to top out and win, beating
Sypavin from the Ukraine who finished second despite topping out, while Korea's Hee Yong Park literally flew off the last hold just before managing to clip the chain and finish the route. It's worth noting two surprise exclusions from the Final, Austria's Markus Bendler who finished ninth and former World Champion Maxim Tomilov whose mistake in the Semi-final cost him dearly.

Cheongsong acted not only as the World Championship but also as the first stage of the Lead World Cup and the first 100 points went to Rainer and Tomilov therefore. Furthermore, this year the UIAA has introduced not only individual World Championship ranking but also a team ranking, which meant that Italy placed third thanks to Barbara Zwerger, on great form but somewhat unlucky in the Semi-finals. The Speed event was dominated by the Russian team and won by Maria Tolokonina and Kiril Kolchegoshev.

by Marco Servalli

Team Results:
1. Russia
2. Korea
3. Italy

Women Lead Final Results:
1. Angelika Rainer, ITA
2. Anna Gallyamova, RUS
3. WoonSeon Shin, KOR
4. Maria Tolokonina, RUS
5. Lucie Hrozova, CZE
6. Liudmila Badalyan, RUS
7. Svetlana Sokolova, RUS
8. WoonWha Jeong, KOR

Men Lead Final Results:
1. Alexey Tomilov, RUS
2. Valentyn Sypavin, UKR
3. HeeYong Park, KOR
4. ChangHyon Lee, KOR
5. Nikolay Kuzovlev, RUS
6 JungHee Han, KOR
7 Sergey Tarasov, RUS
8 Ivan Lyulyukin, RUS

Men Speed Final Results:
1. Kirill Kolchegoshev, RUS
2. Pavel Batushev, RUS
3. Pavel Gulyaev, RUS
4. Maxim Vlasov, RUS

Women Speed Final Results:
1. Maria Tolokonina, RUS
2. Julia Oleynikova, RUS
4. Ekaterina Feoktistova, RUS
3. Maryam Filippova, RUS

The next stage of the Ice Cl imbing World Cup takes place at Rabenstein (Italy) from 26 to 27 January, 2013.