1st WMC Climbing Indoor - Moscow (RUS) - Day 1

MOSCOW (RUS) – The 1st WMC Indoor Climbing started on November 27 with the Technical Meeting held in the evening in Moscow, Russia, in presence of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Borghino, CISM Board of Directors Member, Sports Commission President and Official CISM Representative for this event; Colonel Artem Gromov, PCSC Climbing; Lieutenant-Colonel Roman Kudryavtsev, Deputy Chief of CSKA; Dmitry Anatolyevich Bychkov, President of the Russian Climbing Federation; and Evgeniy Levin, Jury President.

In his opening speech, Colonel Gromov welcomed all the participants and representatives of the teams of the first WMC Climbing, also noting the rapid development and popularization of the sport. “Rock climbing is a young sport that is developing rapidly and actively. You all know very well that he became Olympic and will be present at the Tokyo OG 2020. Our task is to develop further climbing within the framework of the International Military Sports Council”, Gromov said.

The head of CSKA also noted the great contribution of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation to the development of climbing in Russia.

On November 28, the 35 athletes (23 male and 12 female) from 7 Member Nations (Russia, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Switzerland, Kazakhstan and Spain started the competition with the men and women’s lead events (qualifications in the morning and finals in the evening). Two more countries - Germany and Saudi Arabia - will be represented at the tournament as observers.

Among the athletes, we noted the presence of Dmitry Sharafutdinov (RUS), three-time World Bouldering Champion, World and European champion in all-round, World Cup bouldering Champion; Anna Tsyganova, World and European champion (Speed); Alexander Shikov (RUS), bronze medallist of the World Championship (speed); Mina Markovic (SLO), European Champion and three-time World Cup winner (Lead); Domen Skofic (SLO), World Cup winner (Lead).

The Slovenian delegation achieved an impressive performance yesterday by winning both events ahead of the Russian and Austrian delegations.

The first “gold” of the tournament (lead women) was won by the most titled athlete of the competition, the representative of Slovenia - European champion, three-time winner of the World Cup in Lead, Mina Markovic. In her only final attempt, she managed to get the farthest from her rivals on the track. The second place went to another athlete from Slovenia, Katja Kadić while Laura Stöckler from Austria grabbed the bronze medal. The first Russian athlete, 2016 World Champion all-around private Elena Krasovskaya, finished on the fourth place.

Among men, the Slovenian climber Domen Skofic, former World Cup winner, won the gold medal in Lead. In the final, he was the last to enter the route and was able to quickly and easily get to the very top. And he was the only one who got to the top.

Nikolay Michurov, from Russia, finished on the second step of the podium while another Russian, Dmitry Sharafutdinov grabbed the bronze medal.

Tomorrow, November 29, the opening ceremony of the tournament will take place at 17:00 (local time) while the Speed (Record) finals will be held at 18:00 (local time).