28-year-old Franziska Schönbächler from Biel sensationally won the gold medal in the Lead discipline at the European Ice Climbing Championships in Saas-Fee. Another local brilliance came from 16-year-old Nils Dolf from Graubünden, who took second place in Speed.
For over 25 years, Saas-Fee has welcomed the world's best ice climbers to its so-called "Climbing Dome." The climbing wall stands in the center of a circular, nine-story parking garage and rises 32 meters high. On January 24th and 25th, a World Cup and the European Championships were held simultaneously. The results of the semi-finals counted towards the European Championship standings.
Climbed higher than everyone else
28-year-old Franziska Schönbächler from Biel climbed the highest of all the women and sensationally won gold. This was Schönbächler's fourth time competing in Saas-Fee. Last year, she finished second in the World Cup. However, she had made small mistakes in the past. Accordingly, she was nervous as the second-to-last athlete to start the climb on Friday – and delivered a brilliant performance. She initially thought the route would be relatively easy and that the goal was to get to the top as quickly as possible to keep up with the other athletes, Schönbächler said. "But then I realized how challenging the moves were and adjusted my approach to climbing with precision." In the end, only the five-minute time limit held her back. By then, Schönbächler had already climbed higher than all the other athletes. "It's a wonderful feeling to win in front of a home crowd," she said afterward. The European Championship title, along with two third places at the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada (2023) and Saas-Fee (2022), is among the ice climber's greatest competitive achievements.
Strong young talent
SAC Swiss Ice Climbing head coach Simon Fasnacht said: "Franziska climbed with focus, speed, and without errors." He added that she delivered a top performance. Another Swiss medal was won by 16-year-old Nils Dolf, who took the silver medal in the Speed ​​discipline at the European Championships. Dolf finished second overall in the youth rankings in the 2023/2024 season and is relatively new to the elite category. Head coach Simon Fasnacht believes even more is to be expected from him in the future: "Nils is a huge talent and can excel in all disciplines." Fasnacht also emphasized the strong performance of the entire SAC Swiss Ice Climbing team, which achieved 12 top-10 finishes at the European Championships.
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Credits: Text: SAC press release | Cover image: UIAA/Kaspar Kellerhals