Ice World Cup: Jenny Lavarda and Evgeny Kryvosheytsev win in Saas Fee

Evgeny Kryvosheytsev and Jenny Lavarda are the winners of the second stage of the Ice World Cup 2007 which took place in Switzerland's Saas Fee on 1-3 February. The Ukranian won by a hair's breadth, beating Russian Alexey Tomilov and Swiss Simon Wandeler, second and third respectively. Lavarda beat Stéphanie Maureau from France and Petra Müller from Switzerland, and her victory is the second in a row after winning the first stage in Daone (in which she was also crowned World Ice Bouldering Champion).

The Speed event was dominated as usual by the Russian climbers, with just two exceptions: Matevz Vukotic from Slovenia who placed 5th and Marica Favé from Italy who placed 6th. Victory went to Nikolay Primerov and Maria Shabalina, followed by Nikolay Shved and Igor Fayzullin, and Maria Muravyeva and Maryam Filippova.

The Men's Difficulty Final proved a mammoth 40m outing, and this was climbed clean by three athletes, who were then split on the basis of the time needed to top out. Evgeny Kryvosheytsev stopped the clock at 10 minutes 45 seconds, while Alexey Tomilov clocked in at 12:04 and Simon Wandeler at 12:11. To understand just how quick and well Evgeny climbed, note that his lead over Alexey was more than a minute and that the maximum time allowed was 12 minutes 30 seconds. In Saas Fee Evgeny proved to be on super form, fast and impeccable!

Austrian Markus Bendler (winner in Daone) finished fourth, followed by Daniel Winkler from Switzerland. The two Italians Florian Riegler and Mario Prinoth placed 6th and 7th, ahead of Swissmen Jack Müller (8th) and Patrick Aufdenblatten (9th), while Albert Leichtfried fell to 10th after his hook slipped off the hold. Herbert Klammer was unfortunate too: hopes were high after his third place in Daone, but in Saas Fee he failed to proceed past the first round, as the ice broke beneath his blows. Ice is, and remains, a fickle element...

Jenny Lavarda has found the form (and luck she deserves) with ice axes and crampons: after her debut last year the Italian is now the undisputed leader. Jenny won by climbing higher than all the rest (almost to the top, but she was stopped as she ran out of time) and confirmed that the 2007 Ice World Cup is really hers, one stage ahead of schedule.

The final stage begins in Romania's Busteni today and finished on Saturday 11 February.


Results men Saas Fee
1 Evgeny Kryvosheytsev Ukraine
2 Alexey Tomilov Russia
3 Simon Wandeler Switzerland
4 Markus Bendler Austria
5 Daniel Winkler Switzerland
6 Florian Riegler Italy
7 Mario Prinoth Italy
8 Jack Müller Switzerland
9 Patrick Aufdenblatten Switzerland
10 Albert Leichtfried Austria
11 Stanimir Zhelyazkov Bulgarian
12 Pavel Gulyaev Russia
13 Alexey Vagin Russia
14 Martin Jaggi Switzerland
15 Mikhail Melnikov Russia
16 Jiri Pelikan Czech
17 Carlos Garcia Spain
18 Peter Ortner Austria
19 Frédy Abächerli Switzerland
20 Matthias Ruh Switzerland
21 Nikolay Shved Russia
22 Jeff Mercier France
23 Mincho Petkov Bulgarian
24 Benjamin Falbesoner Austria
Complete results

Results women Saas Fee
1 Jenny Lavarda Italy
2 Stéphanie Maureau France
3 Petra Müller Switzerland
4 Natalya Kulikova Russia
5 Alexandra Eyer Switzerland
6 Maria Muravyeva Russia
7 Tanja Grmovsek Slovenia
8 Maria Shabalina Russia
9 Barbara Zwerger Italy
10 Marina Rashitova Russia
11 Marica Favé Italy
12 Felicitas Feller Switzerland
13 Nadezhda Launits Russia
14 Maryam Filippova Russia
15 Franziska Feller Switzerland
16 Noemi Dupertuis Switzerland
17 Angelika Rainer Italy