Rock Master Lead, Semifinal results

And so the Rock Master 2014 Lead begins for the 12 + 12 athletes. Six, from both the men's and women's competition, have been invited to take part on the basis of the world ranking. The other six had qualified from Thursday's Open to challenge the best in the world. The route tackles the wall on the left, the yellow one that rears upwards against the sky right up high, there where it gets really difficult. The battle begins immediately. Up for grabs are 8 places to qualify for the final ("after-worked") this evening.

Those who qualified from the Open start first. With Swisswoman Alina Ring who immediately discovers the "tricky" section of the women's route. She's followed by Ukrainian Valeriy Kryukov who explores the whole first part of the route to then finish there, on the huge red volume where the missile-shaped wall changes angle and intensity. But his nevertheless seems like a good performance. This is confirmed shortly later by Frenchman Thomas Joannes who falls far lower. And by Belgium's Loïc Timmermans, who gets a little closer. But it is Russia's Mikhail Chernikov who forges ahead a bit. Yes, this is climbing's equivalent of the Mariana Trench.

Further confirmation comes from Francesco Vettorata who climbs to within a whisker of Russian and slightly higher than the Ukrainian. Meanwhile in the women's competition Claudia Ghisolfi proves her worth by taking the provisional lead, along with with far more experienced Frenchwoman Mathilde Becerra, climbing higher than Ring and also Austria's Christine Schranz. But then "veteran" Charlotte Durif from France overtakes them all. The general feeling is that the women's route, maybe, holds some surprises in store.

Now it's crunch time: time for the six invited athletes. Beginning with Stefano Ghisolfi and Jenny Lavarda. The young talent alongside with the more experienced athlete. Jenny climb on well, with more grit that technique, but that's to be reckoned with. And she forges upwards. To a metre from Durif, finishing her climb provisional second. Ghisolfi on the other hand falls below Timmermans' highpoint and is 5th. But there's no time to stop and think because the top climbers are roaring to go...

The first surprise comes from Russian Evgeniya Malamid who falls below Durif and Lavarda. Not to mention the immediate fall of Slovenia's Maja Vidmar. And that of her teammate Urban Primozic who tumbles below Kryukov. Their teammate Domen Skofic takes the lead, climbing two metres higher than Chernikov and Vettorata. Someone (we're not going to say who) begins to hope... Especially when the Rock Master King , Ramón Julian Puigblanque, falls far (perhaps way too far) lower. The seven-times Rock Master winner suddenly risks being eliminated. Almost unbelievable.

In the meantime in the women's competition an unleashed Hélène Janicot climbed powers her way up high, almost reaching the top. The Frenchwoman is supreme! Russia's Dinara Fakhritdinova fails to imitate her and falls off the same hold as Ghisolfi. For those who've lost the thread, this now means that with only two competitors still to come, Lavarda is 3rd and Ghisolfi is 5th along with Becerra and Fakhritdinova. The first, Austria's Magdalena Röck, climbs well but falls two meters below Janicot but well ahead of Durif and Lavarda. The last out is Slovenia's Mina Markovic, the winner of Rock Master 2013.

In the meantime the men's comp received a shock from the masterful "blows" of Canada's Sean McColl and then the great Japanese Lead climber Sachi Amma. McColl is provisional first, Sachi second. The two are separated by a full two metre gap ... But there's one more competitor still to come, Austria's Jakob Schubert, a.k.a. "the machine".

In short, it's a grand final with Schubert and Markovic who, on their respective routes, seem to give everyone a climbing lesson. For a while they climb in tandem. Then the Austrian shifts up a gear, and while Markovic ends her attempt well below Röck and Janicot, Schubert goes far higher than the hold touched by McColl. He seems destined to reach the top but falls, just when the finish is in sight. His however is a great "semi-final" and he's clearly the favorite.

So, in the end the champions of this onsight round are Jakob Schubert and Hélène Janicot. Along with Schubert those who qualify for tongith's final are: Sean McColl, Sachi Amma, Domen Skofic, Mikhail Chernikov, Francesco Vettorata, Valeriy Kryukov and – joint 8th - Urban Primozic and Loïc Timmermans. It's worth noting (and applauding) the 6th place of Vettorata, the 7th of Kryukov and Primozic and Timmermans 8th place. All had qualified from the Open! The upsets are Puigblanque and also Stefano Ghisolfi, the first to be excluded.

In the women's competition Janicot is joined, in this order, by Magdalena Röck, Mina Markovic, Charlotte Durif, Jenny Lavarda, Evgeniya Malamid, Mathilde Becerra, Dinara Fakhritdinova and Claudia Ghisolfi - these last three joint 7th. Once again it's superfluous to say that the biggest achievements were made by those athletes who made their way from the Open: Durif, Becerra and Claudia Ghisolfi.

But there is no time to stop and think. In a few hours time the athletes will begin to work the route they'll then climb this evening. The marathon continues. At 20:00 this evening, for the last decisive competition!

ROCK MASTER 2014
- Gallery Rock Master 2014
- Video Rock Master 2014
- Results Rock Master 2014

RESULTS SEMIFINAL ONSIGHT
Men
1 Jakob Schubert AUT 42
2 Sean McColl CAN 36
3 Sachi Amma JPN 34
4 Domen Skofic SLO 31
5 Mikhail Chernikov RUS 29.5+
6 Francesco Vettorata ITA 29+
7 Valeriy Kryukov UKR 29
8 Urban Primozic SLO 27+
8 Loïc Timmermans BEL 27+
10 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 23
11 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP 20+
12 Thomas Joannes FRA 20

Women
1 Hélène Janicot FRA 47
2 Magdalena Röck AUT 45+
3 Mina Markovic SLO 37+
4 Charlotte Durif FRA 31+
5 Jenny Lavarda ITA 30+
6 Evgeniya Malamid RUS 27.5+
7 Mathilde Becerra FRA 26+
7 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS 26+
7 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA 26+
10 Christine Schranz AUT 21+
11 Alina Ring SUI 13+
12 Maja Vidmar SLO 11+