Klemen Becan and Maja Vidmar win the first Winter Military World Games

The Games were opened in Aosta, on March 20. The IFSC President, Marco Scolaris attended the ceremony, together with IFSC Honorary member Paola Gigliotti, and stated: "It was a great emotion to see some of our athletes (Tomaz Mrazek led the Czech Team, Martina Cufar the Slovenian) as flag bearers during the parade! We want to thank the CISM and its President Gianni Gola for including climbing in this great event".

The hall in Courmayeur, on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc, was crowded with some three hundred people, civilians, military athletes and authorities, many of whom had never attended a climbing competition before. All watched the competition with evident amazement and enthusiasm, from the Semifinals in the morning to the Men’s Superfinal in the late afternoon.

The level of the competition was very high: Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, France and last but notl least, Slovenia, were well represented by world ranking athletes and former World Champions and World Cup winners (Kilian Fischhuber, Flavio Crespi, Tomas Mrazek, Maja Vidmar, Klemen Becan), for a total of 50 athletes representing 17 countries. The Italian routesetters Donato Lella and Alberto Gnerro’s work was commented positively by all athletes.

In the women’s category only Maja Vidmar managed to top both the Semi and the Final routes, although her Austrian adversary, Christine Schranz, actually got to the last hold in the Semi, but clipped the wrong quickdraw. Evidently it was not her lucky day for the 21-year old because in the Final – an overhanging route comprised of 45 moves – she made a fatal mistake of clipping the draws in the roof and was disqualified because of this. As a result she left the field empty for the flawless performance of the Slovenian Vidmar, who reached the end of the route with no apparent effort.

Unlike the women's competition, the men's event was no easy match, and Kilian Fischhuber, Flavio Crespi and Klemen Becan – who all had topped the Semi – had to fight through an additional route after they all topped the Final route. Mrazek from the Czech Republic had actually been the first to reach the belay of the never-ending overhang, but failed to qualify for the Superfinal due to his failure to top the Semi.

So, after only twenty minutes since Becan's climb, the three athletes (he, Fischhuber and Crespi) were called back again on the same wall, where Donato and Alberto had made some small but extremely significant changes, upping the grade significatnly. They were all evidently tired (and Becan had been seen dipping his forearms in a heap of unmelted snow after the Final), but they gave it their best and impressed the public once more, locking the two-finger pocket at the end of first roof and racing up towards the volume well above the heads of the audience. Becan was the last to go, fighting to his last breath, and he fell touching the same finger pocket which Fischhuber had aimed at during his final dyno.

Thus Slovenia had two athletes on the highest step of the podium, and they have now become the first World Military Champions ever. Judging by the success of the event in terms of satisfaction expressed by Heads of Delegations and Military Authorities on one side, and of the attendance on the other, it seems clear that Sport Climbing will become an asset in the next editions, hopefully contributing to the development of this discipline.

While much work still needs to be done, our sport is now involved in many important world multidiscipline events, such as the Military Games and the World Games; and it is not impossible to dream of being part of the Olympics, one day.

Results men
1. Becan Klemen SLO
2. Fischhuber Kilian AUT
3. Crespi Flavio ITA
4. Mrázek Tomás  CZE
5. Dugit Fabien FRA
6. Jagg Martin SUI
7. Zardini Luca ITA
8. Winkler Daniel SUI

Results women
1. Vidmar Maja SLO
2. Cufar Martina SLO
3. Poitevin Marion FRA
4. Li Chunhua CHN
5. Pan Xuhua CHN
6. Schranz Christine AUT
7. Renqing Lamu CHN
8. Coldefy Alice FRA