Crespi and Eiter rock Austria

Flavio Crespi and Angela Eiter have won the third round of the Lead Worldcup 2005, held in Imst, Austria, last weekend.

May 2005

Flavio Crespi and Angela Eiter, once again, win a round of the World Cup Lead 2005. The Austrian and Italian won in Imst last weekend and, after three straight victories for Eiter and two wins and one second place for Crespi, are now firmly in the lead. Even if the marathon is still in its early stages, interrupted this year by the all important World Championship, it is clear that 1/3 of the way through these two athletes are the undisputed leaders of the Difficulty 2005.

"This time I really didn't expect to win. I didn't feel 100%" said Crespi after the event. Despite this sensation, the Italian produced a fundamental top in the Qualifiers, which turned out to be "the hardest route in the competition." So much so thay only 5 athletes finished it: Crespi, followed by super champions Tomás Mrazek and Alexandre Chabot, this year's revelation Jorg Verhoeven and the incredible Luca Zardini.

In the semifinal it was Mrazek's who, with a perfect performance, produced the only top, followed closely by Crespi and Ramón Julián Puigblanque, both of whom touched the same hold. They were followed by Cédric Lachat and Alexandre Chabot, The competition was wide open and victory still completely up for grabs.

In the Final these athletes were joined by Patxi Usobiaga, Kilian Fischhuber and Sylvain Millet, while unlucky Zardini was the first to be excluded from the Final. Flavio Crespi's task was by no means easy: he started penultimate, ahead of just Mrazek, and from the isolation zone it soon became clear that the others had climbed high, extremely high. Ramon Julien had even managed to reach the top.

Crespi had to race hard to reach the chain and win, which he did. Even if "I expected much longer routes, less intense. The routes at Imst tended to be not more than 45 moves long, while I had trained for much longer routes" Crespi confided. But perhaps this is the inborn class that distinguishes true champions from the rest of the field: knowing how to confront a competition in all its moments, giving it all they have. Crespi certainly has this gift while Mrazek, without a doubt a great champion, once again got lost on his road to victory, throwing away the advantage he had gained in his perfect Semifinal. Mrazek, increasingly unruly and a genius finished eigth in the end, while Puigblanque finished 2nd, Usobiaga 3rd, Lachat 4th, Chabot 5th, Fischhuber 6th, Millet 7th. Crespi won for the seond time in three competitions, an unthinkable achievement just two mnonths ago and a historic event for Italian sports climbing.

The women's competition was full of uncertainties, twists, turns and duels between the highs and lows of the main actors. Angela Eiter topped out in the qualifier but slipped to provisional 4th in the Semifinal. Both Sandrine Levet and Maja Vidmar topped out in both the Qualifiers and Semifinal, while Muriel Sarkany, unrecognisable, only just managed to qualify for the Final. Angela Eiter then set the record straight, producing the only top in the finishing round for her hattrick victory this season. She was followed by the monumental Sandrine Levet, who this year is attempting the grand slam by competing in both the Lead and Bouldering disciplines. Levet beat an impressive Maja Vidmar, who in turn beat Shalagina 4th, Ciavaldini 5th, Franko 6th, Sarkany 7th, Saurwein 8th and Gross 9th.

Flavio Crespi is now firmly in the lead, 60 points ahead of Puigblanque and 115 ahead of Lachat. Chabot is currently placed 7th, Mrazek 8th. The women's provisional results is spearheaded by Angela Eiter, 114 points clear of Ciavaldini and 119 away from Vidmar, while Levet and Sarkany are currently 5th and 6th respectively.

Flavio Crespi sums up the season so far: "The World Cup journey is still extremely long. Because of this my main objective is to always qualify for the final. And I'll go on, one competition after the next, concentrating of the problem immediately ahead of me, without thinking too much about the long term future. This is how I'll compete in the World Championship. This has always been the way I've approached competitions, also because every competition is a completely new ball game. There are so many variables, and at least 5 different athletes can win each time. We'll see..." Yes, we'll see.

The story continues with the next stage to be held in Zurich on 24-25 June. See you there.

Imst (AUT)
Final results men
1 Crespi Flavio ITA
2 Puigblanque Ramón Julián ESP
3 Usobiaga Patxi ESP
4 Lachat Cédric SUI
5 Chabot Alexandre FRA
6 Fischhuber Kilian AUT
7 Millet Sylvain FRA
8 Mrázek Tomás CZE
9 Zardini Luca ITA
10 Pouvreau Gérome FRA
11 Petrenko Maxim UKR
12 Bindhammer Christian GER
13 Sapey Anthony SUI
14 Hoppe Markus GER
15 Midtboe Magnus NOR
16 Dugit Fabien FRA
17 Valjavec Tomaz SLO
18 Repcik Juraj SVK
19 Krastev Ivailo BUL
20 Verhoeven Jorg NED
21 Fichtinger Reinhard AUT
22 Droetto Fabrizio ITA
22 Fuselier Mickael FRA
24 Bindhammer Andreas GER
25 Wszolek Marcin POL
26 Desgranges Romain FRA
27 Marin Garcia Eduard ESP
28 Becan Klemen SLO
29 Dugit Stephane FRA
30 Caude David FRA
30 Lo Piccolo Cédric FRA
30 Oleksy Tomasz POL
30 Preußler Timo GER
34 Sova Matej SLO
35 Pfanner Andreas AUT
36 Bosma Peter SWE
36 De Girolamo Vincent FRA
38 Manzanedo César Ciudad ESP
39 Titov Vyacheslav UKR
40 Kuess Mario AUT
40 Leitman Marek SVK
40 Malina Václav CZE
40 Neyer Thomas AUT
40 Svub Ondrej SVK
45 Winkler Daniel SUI
46 Gambaro Matteo ITA
47 Jung Daniel GER
48 Amann Mark AUT
48 Wagner Roland AUT
50 Hemund Kevin SUI
50 Jaggi Martin SUI
50 Reis Jürgen AUT
53 Hiramatsu Kosuke JPN
53 Schmid Thomas SUI
55 Tsuiki Takaaki JPN
55 Unterrainer Günther AUT
57 Breitenlechner Maximilian AUT
58 Buchauer Konrad AUT
59 Gouveia Anderson BRA
60 Thorbjoernsen Kristoffer Kvamme NOR
61 Gartmann Tobias GER

Final results women
1 Eiter Angela AUT
2 Levet Sandrine FRA
3 Vidmar Maja SLO
4 Shalagina Olha UKR
5 Ciavaldini Caroline FRA
6 Franko Lucjia SLO
7 Sarkany Muriel BEL
8 Saurwein Katharina AUT
9 Gros Natalija SLO
10 Kryvonis Olena UKR
11 Eyer Alexandra SUI
12 Harington Emily USA
13 Markovic Mina SLO
14 Crouvisier Stéphanie FRA
15 Lavarda Jenny ITA
16 Malamid Evguenia RUS
17 Stöhr Anna AUT
18 Bacher Barbara AUT
18 Uhden Marietta GER
20 Januel Caroline FRA
21 Cufar Martina SLO
22 Graftiaux Chloé BEL
23 Benetti Lisa ITA
24 Louis Stéphanie SUI
25 Giroux Elodie FRA
26 Raffetseder Gerda AUT
27 Knoche Lisa GER
28 Iovane Luisa ITA
28 Ruh Nadine GER
30 Etter Susanne SUI
31 Matthews Sarah AUS
31 Stendal Linn Karin NOR
33 Asher Elizabeth USA
33 Caprez Nina SUI
33 Mittelmann Irina GER
36 Van Landeghem Sandrine FRA
37 Schranz Barbara AUT
38 Piola Anouk SUI
39 Chudobova Katerina CZE
40 Hammeraas Sunniva NOR
41 Harnisch Martina AUT