World Youth Climbing Championships: gold for Laura Rogora, Sam Avezou, Ekaterina Barashchuk and Gian Luca Zodda

BOULDERING
Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 (YOG) qualified athletes Sam Avezou of France and Italian Laura Rogora soared to 1st place on the last problems of Youth A Bouldering finals in Moscow.

A crowd-facing start kicked off the final for the 6 female athletes. Rogora solved the crux and showed her strength by leaping to the top hold for the flash and an early lead. Rakovec used alternative beta by dynoing straightaway, and Saki Kikuchi dangled by one hand at the move for a top as well. Every athlete struggled to cross the volumes of F2 and big reach to the small finishing hold of F3, leaving F4 to decide the podium. Rogora showed no signs of fatigue on the concluding static climbing, stepping up the ladder of volumes and onto the top of the Youth A Bouldering podium with a flash for the Bouldering title. Rakovec scored the zone point for second place and Slovenia’s third medal, and Futaba Ito of Japan topped with just over 30 seconds remaining to knock teammate Kikuchi off the podium.

M1 tested the composure of the 6 male finalists, requiring a flash to be among the leaders. Avezou and Eneko Carretero Crux of Spain separated from the field on M2, the only athletes to surpass the crimp crux of the slab problem on their first attempt. A two-hand dyno followed by big moves changed the pace on M3, but Avezou and Carretero Crux stayed perfect with three tops in three attempts and Martin also completed his third top to stay in the hunt for gold. On the last problem, Carretero Crux cruised through the opening power moves but peeled off at the technical finishing press on his first attempt, giving Avezou an opportunity to take the victory by topping in one or two attempts. After dropping to the mats on hist first attempt, Avezou regained composure and duly topped on his second attempt to take the victory on countback to semi-finals. Martin joined him on the podium with a top of his own, making it two medals for France in Youth A Bouldering finals and four among YOG qualified athletes.

SPEED
Ekaterina Barashchuk and Gian Luca Zodda, former Speed youth world champions, capped off the Speed climbing at IFSC Youth World Championships Moscow by regaining the title in their last year of Juniors. Five Russian athletes advanced to the medal races on Sunday in front of their home crowd, including Barashchuk who bested teammate Elena Remizova in the semi-final and Elizaveta Ivanova who guaranteed another gold medal for Russia. In a tight final race, Barashchuk scored the fastest time of the round (8.12 seconds) and slapped the finishing pad four hundredths of a second before Ivanova. It was her second Speed title since she competed at the IFSC Youth World Championships in 2014 in Noumea, New Caledonia. In the small final, Remizova capitalised on a fall from Elisabetta Dalla Brida (ITA) to join her compatriots on the all-Russian podium. YOG qualified athlete and Combined world champion Elena Krasovskaia also climbed in finals, placing 6th.

Zodda raced past Demyan Zaytsev of Russia in the semi-final and overcame a slip in the big final to hand Italy a gold medal in Speed climbing. Zodda was last crowned with the Speed title in 2016 in Guangzhou, China. American Noah Bratschi eliminated 2017 Youth A champion Sergei Rukin (RUS), the fastest male athlete of the round (6.21 seconds), from contention in the semi-final and placed 2nd. In the small final, Rukin slipped early and Zaytsev continued upward for Russia’s 4th medal in Juniors and 7th in Moscow so far.

The championships continue today with Lead qualifiers and Youth B Boulde. Live streaming on ifsc-climbing.org

Monday 13th August
09:30 Male Juniors, Female Juniors and Male Youth A Lead Qualifications
12:30 Youth B Bouldering Semi-Finals (LIVE)

Tuesday 14th August
09:00 Female Youth A Lead Qualifications
12:00 Youth B Bouldering Finals (LIVE)
15:00 Juniors Lead Semi-Finals (LIVE)
18:00 Youth A Lead Semi-Finals (LIVE)

Wednesday 15th August
09:30 Youth B Lead Qualifications
17:00 Youth A Lead Finals (LIVE)
18:00 Juniors Lead Finals (LIVE)

Thursday 16th August
09:00 Youth B Lead Semi-Finals (LIVE)
15:00 Youth B Lead Finals (LIVE)

Youth A Boulder Female
1 Laura Rogora ITA 2T3z23
2 Lucka Rakovec SLO 1T4z49
3 Futaba Ito JPN 1T4z513
4 Saki Kikuchi JPN 1T3z46
5 Frederike Fell GER 1T2z23
6 Brooke Raboutou USA 0T4z010
7 Camilla Moroni ITA
8 Oceania Mackenzie AUS
9 Sandra Lettner AUT
10 Emily Phillips GBR
11 Celina Schoibl AUT
11 Natalia Grossman USA
11 Laura Lammer AUT
14 Miu Kurita JPN
15 Hannah Meul GER
16 Flavy Cohaut FRA
17 valentine Mangin FRA
18 Miriam Fogu ITA
18 Olimpia Ariani ITA
20 Daria Furmanova RUS
21 Eliska Adamovska CZE
21 Zoé Egli SUI
23 Arabella Jariel USA
23 Daria Veretenina RUS
25 Valentina Aguado ARG
25 Emma Palmer USA
27 Lucie Delcoigne BEL
27 Sienna Kopf USA
29 Mahya Darabian IRI
29 Anastasiia Evgeneva RUS
31 leah Jeffries AUS
31 solene Moreau FRA
33 Noa Shiran ISR
33 Aida Torres Illamola ESP
35 Maja Rudka POL
35 Yinki Ying CAN
37 Ana elén Argudo Marugan ESP
37 Gayeon Cho KOR
37 Lisa Hardiquest BEL
37 Babette Roy CAN
41 Vanda Michalkova SVK
42 Yael Baharad ISR
42 Daniella Popova UKR
44 Marie Colot BEL
45 Aleksandra Kalucka POL
45 Natalia Kalucka POL
45 Ingrid Kindlihagen NOR
45 Natalie Tuzova CZE
49 Maria Benach Zubero ESP
49 Zeta Hittmann NZL
49 Rut Monsech Gasca ESP
49 Eliska Novotna CZE
49 Elizaveta Trokina RUS
49 Ariana VanLith VAN NZL
55 Yelyzaveta Lavrykova UKR
56 Ula Koroliova LTU
56 Aarailym Ongalbay KAZ
56 Anastassiya Postoyenko KAZ
56 Clara Viegas Rezende BRA
56 MiaStöver Wollebaek NOR
61 Hyewon Joo KOR
61 Valeriya Lankova KAZ
61 Leila Shmidke KAZ

Youth A Speed Male
1 Gian Luca Zodda ITA 7.69
2 Noah Bratschi USA 9.29
3 Demyan Zaytsev RUS 6.61
4 Sergei Rukin RUS 12.09