Arco Rock Master 2023: International Climbing Competitions and Festivals
In addition to the Torri Carnival (Saturday), the Uvas and Wine Festivals in Castelnuovo (September 13-15) and Monzambano (September 14-17), this weekend highlights the Rock Master climbing competition in Arco. The event kicks off tomorrow evening at 8:30 PM with the “Sint Roc Boulder Contest,” on a highly challenging course. The ten top-ranked athletes in the world will participate.
Among the men: Salavat Rakhmetov (Russia), Daniel Andrada and Pedro Pons (Spain), Daniel Dulac, Stephane Julien, and Frederic Tuscan (France), Italians Mauro Calibani (recent world champion of the specialty in Winthertur, Switzerland) and Riccardo Scarian, Chris Sharma (USA), Tomasz Oleksy (Poland). Among women: Olga Bibik, Elena Chomilova, and Natalia Novikova (Russia), Tanja Bauer and Nicola Haager (Germany), Sandrine Levet, Myriam Motteau, and Corinne Theroux (France), Giulia Giammarco (Italy), Natalia Perlova (Ukraine). The athletes will compete in pairs on two identical, parallel walls.
They will have five minutes and an unlimited number of attempts to climb the “boulder” (the rock). The round passes whoever climbs the highest. The Rock Master, that is the classic competition, will be divided into two rounds: a “blinded” round on Saturday morning at 10:00, and a “worked” round on Sunday, also at 10:00. The winner will be determined based on the total meters climbed.
Preparation and international competitions
International route setters have prepared two extreme itineraries, pushing the limits of current possibilities. Registered competitors include: Yuji Hirayama (Japan), Bernardino Lagni, Cristian Brenna, Luca Zardini, Alberto Gnerro (Italy), Eugeny Ovtchinnicov (Russia), Serik Kazbekov, and Maxim Petrenko (Ukraine), Andreas and Christian Bindhammer (Germany), Francois Legrand, Paul Dewilde, David Caude, Francois Petit, Francois Lombard (France).
Among women: Muriel Sarkany (Belgium), Martina Cufar (Slovenia), Cloë Minoret, Liv Sansoz, and Stephanie Bodet (France), Mi Sun Go (Korea), Annatina Schultz (Switzerland), Luisa Iovane and Jenny Lavarda (Italy), Elena Ovtchinnicova (USA), Marietta Uhden, and Katrin Sedlmayer (Germany), Bettina Schopf (Austria). On Sunday afternoon, the four finalists will compete for the Ennio Lattisi Trophy in pairs, on two identical, parallel routes.
Saturday evening at 8:30 PM, it will be the speed specialists’ turn: Tomasz Oleksy (Poland), Alexei Gadeev, Vladimir Netsvetaev, Iacov Soubottine, and Vladislav Baranov (Russia), Vladimir Zakharov and Andrei Vedenmeer (Ukraine), Csaba Komondi (Hungary), Riccardo Scarian (Italy). They will ascend the wall with the speed of cats. The record, 12 seconds and 10 hundredths, belongs to Oleksy.
A special prize will be awarded to whoever manages to climb in under ten seconds. The Arco facility, built last year, is considered the most beautiful in the world. Two polycarbonate and steel wings support and protect the competition wall, which, with a height of 18 meters and a 15-meter overhang, is the largest ever constructed.
