European Lead Championship, Bombardi and Rogora qualify for tonight's finals

Campitello di Fassa hosted a great lead Semifinal a few minutes ago. Between bouts of sun and gusts of wind there was some impressive, intense climbing, on difficult routes that really tested the athletes. So much that there were plenty of surprises in store. But who needs mentioning first of all is 20-year-old Belgian Anak Verhoeven who was almost the only one to top out on the Semifinal. Almost, because 18-year-old Slovenian Janja Garnbret reached the top as well but… after time had run out, i.e. after the allotted 6 minutes. Which means that Verhoeven now leads the provisional standing, (demonstrating once again her immense class) ahead of Garnbret, who literally walked up the route, so much so that she forgot the time.These two are followed into the finals by: Mina Markovic from Slovenia, once again on top fighting form; Austria’s Jessica Pilz; France’s Salomé Romain; Austria’s Katharina Posch; France’s Nolwenn Arc and last but not least a superb Laura Rogora. The 16-year-old Italian fell off the same hold as the three athletes who preceded her and qualified last due to countback. Claudia Ghisolfi, the other Italian in the Semis, finished 19th overall.

In the men's competition 23-year-old Marcello Bombardi from Italy produced an outstanding climb that left him in the lead for a long time before eventually qualifying provisional 5th (he had been 13th after the qualifiers). In the final this evening Bombardi will have to battle it out against an extremely determined Romain Desgranges from France who "won" the Semis by climbing three holds higher than defending world champion Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic who, in turn, managed to get the better of 22-year-old Frenchman Thomas Joannes. Jakob Schubert from Austria put up a great fight to qualify provisional 4th, ahead of the aforementioned Bombardi, Switzerland’s Sascha Lehmann, Slovenia’s Domen Skofic (one of the favourites this evening) and Sweden’s Hannes Puman. The biggest surprise of all was the surprise exclusion of Italy’s Stefano Ghisolfi, one of the strong contenders for the podium who - partly due to the difficulty of the route that really tested everyone and early due to the “pressure" of being a home favourite - finished his run 10th overall after having placed 3rd in the qualifiers. Ghisolfi therefore won’t compete this evening at 21:00, along with his other teammates Michael Piccolruaz (12th), Filip Schenk (14th), Francesco Vettorata (25th).

The LEAD FINALS begin at 21:00

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Info: www.fassaclimbingevents.com

Finalists Male European Lead Championship
1 Romain Desgranges FRA 50
2 Adam Ondra CZE 47+
3 Thomas Joannes FRA 47
4 Jakob Schubert AUT 45+
5 Marcello Bombardi ITA 45+
6 Sascha Lehmann SUI 42+
7 Domen Skofic SLO 40
8 Hannes Puman SWE 36

Finalists Female European Lead Championship
1 Anak Verhoeven BEL Top
2 Janja Garnbret SLO 47
3 Mina Markovic SLO 46
4 Jessica Pilz AUT 45+
5 Salomé Romain FRA 42+
6 Katharina Posch AUT 42+
7 Nolwenn Arc FRA 42+
8 Laura Rogora ITA 42+