Shenzen World Cup results

François Auclair and Muriel Sarkany win the ninth stage of the World Cup Difficulty 2003, but overall victory goes to Alexandre Chabot and Sarkany

PlanetMountain.com

November 2003

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Strange things happen in China. Last weekend the two World Cup leaders failed to qualify for the next round and, for the first time, watched the Final from the tribune. Alexandre Chabot and rival RamÃ³n JuliÃ¡n Puigblanque had to “make do” with 12th and 9th place respectively, whilst FranÃ§ois Auclair claimed his first ever victory in the World Cup series. Tomas Mrazek reappeared on the scene to place a splendid second, whilst outsider Keita Mogaki from Japan placed third.

But, not wishing to belittle the final results in any way, it now seems as if the game was over even before the athletes’ departure for Shenzen. Yes because, as Frenchman Jacky Godoffe wrote “with the subtle game of stages not considered for the final results” and a comparison of results if two athletes are joint-equal, Alexandre Chabot had already mathematically won the World Cup 2003 prior to departure. For those who enjoy this science, the hypothetical sums go as follows: Ramonette wins in both China and Scotland and, eliminating the three worst results, scores a total of 660 points. Chabot decides not to participate in the last two legs and he too scores 660. According to the rules laid down by the ICC, their results are compared head-to-head. Chabot: 5, Puigblanque 3. Victory, for the third year running, to Alexandre. Chapeau!

The conquest of the first place in the Women’s Cup was less subtle: Muriel Sarkany dominated with her nth victory and crowned a truly incredible year, ahead of revelation Angela Eiter and Sandrine Levet (2nd and 3rd at Shenzen). This is the third World Cup title in a row for the Belgian, too, but with a significant difference: in July she also won the World Championship in Chamonix.

We’ll need a bit of time to reflect on this season, which finishes in ten days time in Edinburgh. But one thing is certain: the overall victories were created above all during the first half of the season, and the new arrivals, finally, made a name for themselves during the second half. It’s obviously far too early to talk about the next season, but we find it hard not to predict: the World Cup Difficulty in 2004 will be more gripping than it has been for a long, long time…

1.	Auclair	FranÃ§ois	FRA
2.	MrÃ¡zek	TomÃ¡s	CZE
3.	Mogaki	Keita	JPN
4.	PreuÃler	Timo	GER
5.	Usobiaga	Patxi	ESP
6.	Vinokur	Vadim	USA
7.	Bindhammer	Andreas	GER
8.	Son	Sang-Won	KOR
9.	Pouvreau	GÃ©rome	FRA
	Puigblanque	RamÃ³n JuliÃ¡n	ESP
11.	Chabot	Alexandre	FRA
	Millet	Sylvain	FRA
13.	Ten sijthoff	Casper	NED
14.	Ovtchinnikov	Evgueni	RUS
15.	Cao	Rong-Wu	CHN
16.	Tan	Sze Ping	SIN
17.	Marin garcia	Eduard	ESP
18.	Bindhammer	Christian	GER
19.	Crespi	Flavio	ITA
20.	Liu	Chang-Zhong	CHN

1.	Sarkany	Muriel	BEL
2.	Eiter	Angela	AUT
3.	Levet	Sandrine	FRA
4.	Knorr	Damaris	GER
5.	Bacher	Barbara	AUT
6.	Eyer	Alexandra	SUI
7.	Minoret	ChloÃ©	FRA
8.	Go	Mi-Sun	KOR
9.	Raffetseder	Gerda	AUT
10.	Nilsson	Ingela	SWE
11.	Lavarda	Jenny	ITA
12.	Ciavaldini	Caroline	FRA
13.	Kysilkova	Tereza	CZE
14.	Huang	Li-Ping	CHN
15.	Liu	Hiu-Ying	HKG
16.	Podgorbounskikh	Zosia	RUS
17.	Zeilemaker	Monica	NED
18.	Saulevich	Olesya	RUS
19.	Hnizdilova	Sona	CZE
20.	Flores	Elaina Kristine Ap	PHI