Rakhmetov and Levet win in Rovereto

Salavat Rakhmetov and Sandrine Levet win the fifth stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2003 in Rovereto

September 2003

While Sandrine Levet pulled ahead of all rivals in Rovereto last weekend, Salavat Rakmethov closed the gap for the men’s 2003 title race: his win in Italy brings him to within 24 points of Jerome Meyer, making for an exciting grand finale in Edinburgh in December.

Rovereto’s near-vertical competition walls, four boulders located outside the Museum of Modern Art spelling the word MART, tested the athletes’ technique and balance much more than their brute force. Levet, winner of the World Championship in July, needed the final problem to clinch victory and to fuel her World Cup hopes. Clinch it she did, topping out on 5 of the 6 problems, while teammate Juliette Danion (5 tops but more than twice the number of attempts needed) pulled out a magnificent performance to place second. Olga Bibik, a podium habitue, surprised no one and placed third.

Rakmethov demonstrated his superiority in the men’s final, in particular on boulder problem number 3, a slopy slab testpiece climbed by only by Fischuber, Du Lac and, with extraordinary ease, Salavat. Du Lac climbed steadily and proved once again that his experience and refined technique are a great substitute for power, placing second overall with 4 tops, just ahead of Kilian Fischuber who needed 2 attempts more to place a fantastic third.

All eyes now to Scotland in December for the sixth and final stage of the World Cup 2003.

Bouldering World Cup 2003
	II stage Fiera di Primiero
	III stage Lecco
	IV stage Argentiere

Final results women
1 Sandrine Levet FRA
2 Juliette Danion FRA
3 Olga Bibik RUS
4 Natalia Perlova UKR
5 Ioulia Abramtchouk RUS
6 Barbara Bacher AUT
7 Vera Kotasova CZE
8 Corinne Theroux FRA
9 Giulia Giammarco ITA
10 MÃ©lanie Son FRA
11 Myriam Motteau FRA
12 Isabelle Bihr FRA

Final results men
1 Salavat Rakhmetov RUS
2 Daniel Dulac FRA
3 Kilian Fischhuber AUT
4 Wouter Jongeneelen NED
5 JÃ©rÃ´me Meyer FRA
6 Tomasz Oleksy POL
7 Stefano Ghidini ITA
8 Evgueni Ovtchinnikov RUS
9 Serik Kazbekov UKR
10 Ludovic Laurence FRA
11 Mathieu Dutray FRA
12 Stephane Julien FRA
13 Michele Caminati ITA
14 Lucas Preti ITA
15 LoÃ¯c Gaidioz FRA
16 Georgos Progulakis ITA
17 Matthias MÃ¼ller SUI
18 Karsten Borowka GER
19 Luca Parisse ITA
20 Riccardo Scarian ITA