Switzerland and Germany were represented in the final of the combined competition format at the European Championship. The competition was the last chance to qualify for the Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, both countries came away empty-handed.
The European sport climbing championship in Moscow culminated today in the combined finals of the best eight female and eight female athletes. For the Swiss Sascha Lehmann, the competition ended very bitterly.
At the start, the 22-year-old showed a strong performance in speed climbing and finished this round in 4th intermediate place. The athletes then had to solve three bouldering problems. Thanks to two tops and three zones, Sascha Lehmann climbed to third place.
Lehmann is now in first place in the combined ranking
In the final lead discipline, the Swiss favorite, Lehmann was the second to last athlete to get the most out of it and topped the route. In the meantime, he not only took first place in the lead, but also in the decisive combined ranking and only had to wait for the last athlete to pass.
Shemla Yuval (ISR) climbed the route even faster than the Swiss. As a result, Lehmann was put back to second place in the lead in the very last second.
Alexei Rubtsov gets the last Olympic ticket
As a result, the Russian Alexei Rubtsov ousted Sascha Lehmann from the top position in the combined ranking and secured the gold medal and the remaining ticket for the 2021 Summer Olympics.
It was another long day today. But again it was a lot of fun to climb. I never thought that I would be dissatisfied with a second place at an EM. Sure I'm happy, but in today's combination there was a goal and that was the Olympic ticket. It wasn't enough for that and that's why I'm still disappointed
Sascha Lehmann
Germany with Hannah Meul in the race
For Germany, Hannah Meul was in the final of the combined classification. The 19-year-old athlete finished the qualifying round with 3rd place and moved into the final with this placement. The German finished the final and thus the competition in 7th place. At the top of the women's podium was a Russian, Viktoriia Meshkova, who secured the coveted Olympic ticket.
The finale of the combined format in repetition
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Credits: Cover picture Jan Virt / IFSC
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