Ice Climbing World Cup 2008: Lavarda and Anthamatten win after Saas Fee

Saturday was a day to remember for the Italian ice climbing movement as Angelika Rainer won her first ever World Cup stage while teammate Jenny Lavarda placed second and, in doing so, took home her second World Cup title in a row.

Rainer won her first stage ever by climbing about a meter higher than Lavarda, who was followed closely by the Russians Ksenia Sdobnikova and Maria Tolokonina, 3rd and 4th respectively. Hot favourite Petra Müller had to make do with 5th place and this "slip-up" cost her dearly as Lavarda capitalised immediatly to win her second overall title with a score of two 2nd places (Daone and Saas Fee) and one 3rd (Busteni).

The men's podium in the world's most famous ice climbing "garage" was topped by the "crazy ice goblin" and great climber Simon Anthamatten. After placing only seventh in Busteni the Swissman set the record straight, winning in front of his home crowd to secure overall 2008 victory.

Anthamatten was followed by Evgeny Kryvosheytsev who, thanks to this second place and 3rd in Busteni, took home bronze for 2008. This unexpected 3rd overall is testament to Kryvosheytsev's gigantic capacities - in Daone he false started and placed a disappointing 14th!

2008 will be a year to remember for South Korean revelation Park Hee-Yong who placed 4th overall after 8th in Daone, 5th in Busteni and 3rd in Saas Fee. No doubt he'll return home content, unlike Austrian Markus Bendler who led the provisional ranking at the eve of the final competition after victory in Busteni and second place in Daone. But the final and decisive Swiss stage got the better of him and his 8th place handed overall gold to Simon Anthamatten.

The Russians Maxim and Alexey Tomilov placed 4th and 5th, ahead of Patrick Aufdenblatten 6th and best placed Italian Herbert Klammer, 7th.

Results women Saas Fee
1 Angelika Rainer - Italy
2 Jenny Lavarda - Italy
3 Ksenia Sdobnikova - Russia
4 Maria Tolokonina - Russia
5 Petra Muller - Switzerland
6 Zwerger Barbara - Italy
7 Feller Felicitas - Switzerland
8 Shin Woon-Seon - Korea
9 Kulikova Natalya - Russia
10 Muravyeva Maria - Russia
11 Favé Marica - Italy
12 Launits Nadezhda - Russia
13 Graftiaux Chloe - Belgium
14 Hrozova Lucie - Czech
15 Petkov Radka - Bulgarian
16 Murray Fiona - Scotland
17 Mazlova Jitka - Czech
18 Stucky Sandra - Switzerland
19 Filipova Maryam - Russia


Results men Saas Fee
1 Simon Anthamatten - Switzerland
2 Evgeny Kryvosheytsev - Ukraine
3 Park Hee-Yong - Korean
4 Maxim Tomilov - Russia
5 Alexey Tomilov - Russia
6 Patrick Aufdenblatten - Switzerland
7 Herbert Klammer - Italy
8 Markus Bendler - Austria
9 Samuel Anthamatten - Switzerland
10 Jack Muller - Switzerland
11 Andreas Steindl - Switzerland
12 Mincho Petkov - Bulgarian
13 Mikhail Melnikov - Russia
14 Juan Carlos Garcia Bello - Spain
15 Javier Bueno Berges - Spain
16 Ronny Koller - Switzerland
17 Matteo Rivadossi - Italy
18 Mathias Schiestl - Austria
19 Sergey Tarasov - Russia
20 Stanimir Zhelyazkov - Bulgarian
21 Juraj Svingal - Slovakia
22 Benjamin Falbesoner - Austria
23 Manuel Cordova - Spain
24 Pavel Batushev - Russia
25 Peter Ortner - Austria
25 Evgeny Novoseltsev - Russia
27 Luka Krajnc - Slovenia
27 Jiri Pelikan - Czech
29 Matevz Vukotic - Slovenia
29 Jeff Mercier - France
31 Kang Hyung-Wan - Korean
31 Daniel Winkler - Switzerland