Marmot Icefight 2012 at Corvara

FRIDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2012

Hee Yong Park had never taken part in the Icefight before and in Saturday's qualification he only just qualified for the Semifinal by placing 12th. Things turned out completely differently on Sunday and he finished provisional 3rd in the Semis and then produced a class performance in the Final to top out on the extremely difficult route, leaving the two Russians Alexey Dengin and Markus Tomilov in his wake. Markus Bendler, the Austrian who had won all previous Icefights, finished fourth. At the end of the event the winner Hee Yong Park commented "This was a really tough comp and I'm happy with my result because my opponents are really strong. In many ways the Icefight is just like a stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup."

In the women's event all eyes were on local Angelika Rainer. The climber from nearby Meran had won the first two stages of the Ice Climbing World Cup at Cheong Song (Korea) and Saas Fee (Switzerland) and many hoped the South Tyrolean would be able to win the Icefight for the third time, but in the end a mistake at the crux resulted in 3rd place overall.

Anna Gallyamova from Russia won the event and while she usually dominates the Speed discipline, on Sunday she proved that she is a force to be reckoned with in Lead, too. "Today I've finally managed to win" said the Russian "after two second places in the World Cup, right behind Angelika Rainer. I'm really satisfied and I want to congratulate the organisers for this beautiful competition in Val Passiria."

The Speed discipline was won by Alexey Tomilov from Russia who in 19:00 seconds set a new course record up the 25m high tower. His teammates Kirusha Kolshegochev and Stanislav Lobzov placed second and third respectively.

Corvara also hosted a meeting which included representative of the International Federations (UIAA), the South Tyrolean Mountaineering Club (AVS) and the organising committee, with the aim of making the Icefight a stage of the 2013 Ice World Cup and, possibly, the venue for the 2015 World Championship. "The meeting was very productive" explained organising Committee president Reinhard Graf "We'll work on this in the coming weeks and then, in spring, we'll make a decision."

Marmot ICEFIGHT 2012:
Male Difficulty:
1. Hee Yong Park (Korea)
2. Alexey Dengin (Russia)
3. Maxim Tomilov (Russia)

Female Difficulty:
1. Anna Gallyamova (Russia)
2. Maria Tolokonina (Russia)
3. Angelika Rainer (Italy)

Speed Male:
1. Alexey Tomilov (Russia)
2. Kirusha Kolshegochev (Russia)
3. Stanislav Lobzov (Russia)

Source: www.planetmountain.com