L'Argentiere: victory to Meyer and Levet

Jérôme Meyer and Sandrine Levet win the fourth leg of the Bouldering World Cup 2003 in Argentiere La Bessé

July 2003

An enormous crowd gathered to watch the all French victory in Argentiere La BessÃ© last weekend, when JÃ©rÃ´me Meyer and Sandrine Levet took the honours in the all-important fourth leg of the Bouldering World Cup.

Meyer's victory steers him clear in the provisional leader board, edging away from Salavat Rakmetov who placed only 15th, while Levet continues to hold her slender lead over Olga Bibik who, placing third, confirmed that she is well in for the 2003 title race.

JÃ©rÃ´me Meyer kept his notorious cool and, starting from provisional 4th, topped out on 5 out of 6 boulders in 11 attempts. Sang Won Son from Korea placed a fantastic second - up until recently Son's results in the Difficulty event have certainly not been irresistible, apart from his victory in the Asian Cup Kunming Difficulty in 2001. Son topped out on four boulders and may well now have found his sport – as did World Champion Christian Core years ago, who now placed third gaining vital World Cup points.

Daniel Du Lac found his form once again to place fourth, topping out on 3 problems but needing 2 attempts more than Core. Serik Kazbekov placed fifth ahead of Mark Croxall sixth: both athletes topped out on one problem and were separated on the number of attempts needed, as were Gaidioz, Fischhuber. Jongeneelen, Progulakis, Laurence and Desgranges finished ninth to twelfth respectively, all unable to top out on any one of the six problems set.

Sandrine Levet directed the women’s event to a key, topping out on all 6 in 10 attempts. Italian Giulia Giammarco finally put her potential into practice and placed second, beating Olga Bibik thanks to her 8 attempts vs. 11 attempts for 5 problems. The remaining positions were filled by: Danion (FRA), Berry (AUS), Tcherechneva (RUS), fourth fifth and sixthe respectively with four boulders. Kotasova (CZE), Pouget (FRA), Perlova (UKR) and Shalagina (UKR) topped out on 3, while Ioulia Abramtchouk (RUS) and Lisa Rands (USA) topped out on two.

The Bouldering World Cup circuit now takes a lay-off until 13-14 September, where it reunites for the fifth stage in Italy’s Rovereto.

Final results women
1 Sandrine Levet (FRA)
2 Giulia Giammarco (ITA)
3 Olga Bibik (RUS)
4 Juliette Danion (FRA)
5 Samantha Berry (AUS)
6 Venera Tcherechneva (RUS)
7 Vera Kotasova (CZE)
8 Emilie Pouget (FRA)
9 Natalia Perlova (UKR)
10 Olga Shalagina (UKR)
11 Ioulia Abramtchouk (RUS)
12 Lisa Rands (USA)

Final results men
1 JÃ©rÃ´me Meyer (FRA)
2 Sang Won Son (KOR)
3 Christian Core (ITA)
4 Daniel Du Lac (FRA)
5 Serik Kazbekov (UKR)
6 Mark Croxall (GBR)
7 LoÃ¯c Gaidioz (FRA)
8 Kilian Fischhuber (AUT)
9 Wouter Jongeneelen (NED)
10 Georgos Progulakis (ITA)
11 Ludovic Laurence (FRA)
12 Romain Desgranges (FRA)

Bouldering World Cup 2003
	Third stage Lecco
	Second stage Fiera di Primiero
	Ailefroide bouldering

above: JÃ©rÃ´me Meyer at the World Championship in Chamonix (ph Giulio Malfer)

below: Giulia Giammarco during the Bouldering World Cup in Lecco.
(ph Planetmountain)

Bouldering World Cup Pays des Ecrins

"Tout Ã blocs Petzl"
Raduno Boulder a l'Ailefroide

Open espoir

L'ArgentiÃ¨re la BessÃ©e (FRA)
23 - 27 July 2003