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Crespi and Eiter win in Puurs

On 29/05 Flavio Crespi and Angela Eiter won the first stage of the World Cup Lead in Puurs (BEL). 16 year old David Lama placed 2nd at his debut performance.

Vinicio Stefanello

May 2006

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Planetmountain.com

Four months have passed since their World Cup 2005 victory and Flavio Crespi and Angela Eiter, the Italian and the Austrian, are once again leaders of the World Cup Lead. On 28/29 April the Belgian town of Puurs hosted the first stage of what promises to be one of the most interesting world cups in recent years. Despite the victory and reconfirmation of last year's winners, the competition held plenty of surprises in store. First and foremost the incredible debut of 16 year old David Lama who, in his first ever senior competition, placed a dream second after having controlled the competition from the outset, finishing just behind Crespi and well ahead of none other than Tomasz “Terminator” Mrazek.

There were surprise is store in the women's event, too, where the defending bouldering champion Sandrine Levet placed second. She intends to concentrate on the Lead only and her shared silver is a strong indication to her final victory aspiration. Levet shared silver with another emerging star, teammate Caroline Ciavaldini, whom Eiter and company would do best to heed! And there are other athletes to watch out for in the men's event, such as "veteran" Luca Zardini who after all these years placed provisional second and finished fifth overall.

Puurs seemed electric, a fever-pitch fermentation with the perfect basis for a fought-out 2006 season. David Lama's competition is a synthesis of this: he topped out in the first round and then produced the only top in the second round with a breathtaking series of dynos to take the provisional lead. It seemed as if he climbed effortlessly and had plenty more in store, while Flavio Crespi seemed, despite qualifying for the final, somewhat under par. But then, and this will probably be the theme of 2006, he relied on his class and experience to pull out all the stops in the final: he rightly read the tricky traverse which opened up the way to the top. Lama had read the descent down the arÃªte correctly too, while Mrazek (as usual) flew straight past this section. But it was Crespi who climbed highest of all to produce and perfect, champion-worthy final!

As is clear the men's Final proved to be exciting, one to be remembered. Jorg Verhoeven's fourth place, just a step behind Mrazek, confirms his great 2005 season, as does Luca Zardini's fifth place, which had all the makings of something even more impressive... The final results reads as follows: CÃ©dric Lachat from Switzerland 6th, Ramon JuliÃ n Puigblanque from Spain 7th and Fabien Dugit, the only Frenchman to qualify for the Final, 8th. This lack of French athletes in the Final is surprising, as is Patxi Usobiaga false-start 24th place.

The women's event turned out to be much more lively than a first glance reveals. Natalija Gros involuntarily upstaged all by climbing perfectly in the first two rounds (top + only top in the semifinal) only to throw it all away in the final, falling at half height and finishing 8th. Eiter, Levet and Ciavaldini capitalised by topping out all three, and Eiter won thereby won her nth World Cup victory on the basis of her Semifinal performance. Just a hold separated her from the other two who, having fallen at exactly the same place in the semifinal, placed second equal.

18-year-old Chloe Graftiaux made the most of the home crowd to place 4th, ahead of yet another young surprise, 15 year old Charlotte Durif from France. She beat Maja Vidmar from Slovenia (6th) and teammate Florence Pinet (7th). If it is true that the French team failed to leave its mark in the men's event, the opposite is definitely true in the women's!

All that is left to be said is that the organisation was perfect. And the direct live streaming in internet was truly superb. And that the routes set by FranÃ§ois Legrand were described as beautiful by Luca Zardini. And there are plenty of other positive signals, first and foremost the new young athletes making a name for themselves in world cup competitions. But the circuit now moves on and the next stage is just a stone's throw away...

Il prossimo appuntamento con il circuito mondiale Ã¨ tutto per il Boulder con la World Cup di Rovereto del 12-13-14 maggio.

The World Cup Lead continues on 19- 20 May in Dresden (GER).

Results men - Puurs (BEL)
1 Crespi Flavio (ITA)
2 Lama David (AUT)
3 Mrazek Tomas (CZE)
4 Verhoeven Jorg (NED)
5 Zardini Luca (ITA)
6 Lachat CÃ©dric (SUI)
7 Puigblanque Ramon JuliÃ n (ESP)
8 Dugit Fabien (FRA)
9 Winkler Daniel (SUI)
10 Millet Sylvain (FRA)
11 Stranik Martin (CZE)
12 Marin Garcia Eduard (ESP)
13 Bindhammer Christian (GER)
14 Desgranges Romain (FRA)
15 Lagni Bernardino (ITA)
16 Van Der Werf Roman (NED)
17 Hequin Olivier (FRA)
18 Dugit Stephane (FRA)
19 HÃ¶gstrÃ¶m Magnus (SWE)
20 Sova Matej (SLO)
21 Bindhammer Andreas (GER)
22 NeumÃ¤rker Felix (GER)
23 Ten Sijthof Casper (NED)
24 Usobiaga Patxi (ESP)
25 Hoppe Markus (GER)
26 Fuselier Micka‘l (FRA)
27 Wszolek Marcin (POL)
27 Reis Juergen (AUT)
29 Jubes Marcos (ESP)
30 Jaggi Martin (SUI)

Results women- Puurs (BEL)
1 Eiter Angela (AUT)
2 Levet Sandrine (FRA)
2 Ciavaldini Caroline (FRA)
4 Graftiaux Chloe (BEL)
5 Durif Charlotte (FRA)
6 Vidmar Maja (SLO)
7 Pinet Florence (FRA)
8 Gros Natalija (SLO)
9 Markovic Mina (SLO)
10 SchÃ¶ppf Bettina (AUT)
11 Minoret Chlo‘ (FRA)
12 Cufar Martina (SLO)
13 Graftiaux Alix (BEL)
14 Caprez Nina (SUI)
15 Bacher Barbara (AUT)
16 Saurwein Katharina (AUT)
17 Zijlstra Vera (NED)
18 Chereshneva Yana (RUS)
19 Sarkany Muriel (BEL)
20 Lavarda Jenny (ITA)
21 Ociepka Kinga (POL)
22 Schmid Christina (SUI)
23 Cardoso Janine Fermandes (BRA)
24 Wisniewska Agata (POL)
25 Brumagne Mathilde (BEL)