Eiter and Chabot win in Aprica

Angela Eiter and Alexandre Chabot have won the seventh stage of the World Cup Difficulty 2004 in Aprica (Italy)

October 2004

The great battle for the World Cup Difficulty 2004 continued with the seventh stage in Aprica (Italy) last weekend.

Alexandre Chabot, reborn after his hiccough in China, beat Tomas Mrazek in a photo-finish on the marathon 60-move final: both touched a hold at 3/4 height, forcing the judges to carefully analyse the videtape. Hold only touched, and therefore a superfinal, or held and, if so, by whom? The judges decided that Mrazek had grabbed for the hold, intent on simply touching it, while Chabot had held the hold for a fraction of a second, before coming down to earth. And so victory, deservedly, to Chabot, who is emerging as the athlete who can lucidly push himself right to the limit, while "Terminator" Mrazek seems to be so strong that he cannot fully cope with those (albeit rare) moments of difficulty. Maxim Petrenko is on a clear road to fitness and form, placing an outstanding third ahead of Flavio Crespi, the only athlete to top out in the Semifinal.

Unlike the men's event, where no athlete topped out in the final, the women's event needed a superfinal to provide a clear winner. The route seemed endless, but Angela Eiter, Bettina SchÃ¶pf and Alexandra Eyer all topped out, and in marathon times - Eiter just 22 seconds before the end of her 15 minute session! This resulted in three unbeatable tops (Semifinal, Final and Superfinal) and victory in Aprica, ahead of teammate SchÃ¶pf and Eyer, and, once again, Caroline Ciavaldini (FRA) and Franko Lucjia (SLO).

And what about ever-present Muriel Sarkany? The Belgian got lost in the the Semifinal quicksand and was the first to be excluded from the Final. This neagtive result means that, for the first time ever, Angela Eiter leads the provisional WC ranking. The margin is small, just 5 points, but these are significant. No doubt their thoughts are already in Valence, where the next stage of the World Cup takes place this weekend. Mrazek probably feels comfortable with his nigh-on unassaiable 149 point lead, but then again, the next stage is in France, on Chabot's homeground. Au revoir, the story continues.

Portfolio Claudio Piscina

Results men - Aprica
1 Chabot Alexandre FRA
2 MrÃ¡zek TomÃ¡s CZE
3 Petrenko Maxim UKR
4 Crespi Flavio ITA
5 Usobiaga Patxi ESP
6 Puigblanque RamÃ³n JuliÃ¡n
7 Millet Sylvain FRA
8 Zardini Luca ITA
9 Lo Piccolo CÃ©dric
10 Valjavec Tomaz SLO
11 Fuselier Mickael FRA
12 Bindhammer Christian GER
12 Pouvreau GÃ©rome FRA
12 Repcik Juraj SVK
12 Verhoeven Jorg NED
16 Vinokur Vadim USA
17 Sova Matej SLO
18 Lagni Bernardino ITA
19 Winkler Daniel SUI
20 Droetto Fabrizio ITA
21 Marin Garcia Eduard ESP
22 Desgranges Romain FRA
23 Brenna Cristian ITA

Results women - Aprica
1 Eiter Angela AUT
2 SchÃ¶pf Bettina AUT
3 Eyer Alexandra SUI
4 Ciavaldini Caroline FRA
5 Franko Lucjia SLO
6 Shalahina Olha UKR
7 Gros Natalija SLO
8 Cufar Martina SLO
9 Lavarda Jenny ITA
10 Vidmar Maja SLO
11 Sarkany Muriel BEL
12 Saurwein Katharina AUT
13 Asher Elizabeth USA
14 Graftiaux ChloÃ© BEL
15 Kysilkova Tereza CZE
16 Iaemourd Ekaterina RUS
17 Bacher Barbara AUT
18 Ostapenko Alena UKR
19 Vidmar Katja SLO
20 Raffetseder Gerda AUT
21 Iovane Luisa ITA