While Julien Clémence won the gold medal in bouldering for the third time in a row with today's victory at the SAC Swiss Climbing Cup in Domat/Ems, Petra Klingler is celebrating her eleventh championship title in her flagship discipline. In the U18 category, this year's titles go to Katharina Tchassanti and Gilles Meili.
Petra Klingler offered until the very last second of this year's Swiss Boulder Championships Sport climbing at its best and left the audience excited. With two tops already under her belt, after a few failed attempts on the fourth and decisive final boulder, she climbed to the top within the last 20 seconds and was able to keep her grip on the last buzzer hit. With a total of three tops, her final result meant a confident victory ahead of Sofya Yokoyama and Marilu Sommer.
Being able to win this title again in what is officially my last year as a professional means a lot to me.
Petra Klingler
It remains to be seen whether she will take part in the SAC Swiss Climbing Cups and Swiss Championships in the future. Last summer, the 32-year-old announced her retirement after the 2024 Olympic Games. Her last big goal is to take part in the Summer Games and this is where her entire focus will be for the coming weeks.
“Today’s victory gives me further motivation for the remaining training before the decision is made at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest at the end of June as to who will receive one of the last tickets for Paris,” says Petra Klingler.
Hat trick for Julien Clémence
After celebrating his title in Lausanne in 2022 and in Bulle in 2023 Julien Clémence today the gold medal in bouldering for the third time in a row. “Securing this hat trick means a lot to me. Of course, I was already aware of this possibility before the competition and felt a certain pressure. But it was important to take boulder by boulder and stay focused. I managed that very well today,” said Julien Clémence happily.
Next on the agenda for the 22-year-old is the World Cup in Innsbruck, followed by his personal highlight in the summer: the European Championships in Villars. Nino Grünenfelder became runner-up Swiss champion and Sascha Lehmann secured the bronze medal.
U18 title for Katharina Tchassanti and Gilles Meili
After qualifying, Katharina Rabia Tchassanti led the interim rankings for the U18 women and was the only one to top all three other routes in the final, apart from the first boulder, in the first attempt. Like Flawil, Charlotte Perney was also able to get three tops and four zones, but needed more attempts to achieve this result.
Sarina Hartmann achieved the third best result with two tops and three zones. Since Charlotte Perney is French, she took second place in the daily ranking, but in the Swiss championship ranking, the runner-up title went to Sarina Hartmann. Lucie Dvorak secured bronze.
Gilles Meili, who took fifth place after qualifying, topped two boulders in the U18 men's final and secured this year's title thanks to four additional zones ahead of Davide Torroni, who had reached one zone less. Dan van Bokhoven bouldered in third place.
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Credits: Article SAC, cover photo SAC/ Romy dispute