Today's duels at the Red Bull Dual Ascent climbing competition were hard to beat in terms of excitement. The fight for places 3 and 4 was won by the Swiss Petra Klingler and the French Louna Ladevant. In the race for first place, Julija tipped the scales.
The multi-pitch competition at the Verzasca Dam entered its final round today. The teams Klingler-Ladevant, Škofic-Lukan, the Kruder siblings and Ginés López-Kazbekova fought for places 1-4.
Petra Klingler and Louna Ladevant faced the Slovenian team with Domen Škofic and Vita Lukan in the small final for third place. The two were neck and neck until shortly before the end. Klingler and Ladevant coped a little better with the sixth and final pitch, the difficulty of which was changed from an 3a to an 8b after the qualifications, and they crossed the finish line 8 seconds ahead.
Jenya Kazbekova made a tactical mistake
The two teams in the grand finale, Alberto Ginés López and Jenya Kazbekova, and Julija and Jernej Kruder, also had a duel that was hard to beat in terms of tension. In the last rope length, Kazbekova and Kruder were similarly far ahead when Kruder fell. Kazbekova, for her part, mastered the section with flying colors and climbed towards the top and thus towards victory. But just a few centimeters before the anchor, she fell completely unexpectedly.
Since Kazbekova decided to accept the penalty point and climb to the finish, Kruder now had enough time to recharge after her fall and climb the last pitch cleanly, which meant victory for her and her brother. «I knew how tired Julija was and was hoping that she would get a chance to rest. Luckily - for us - Jenya also fell, which gave Julija enough time to make the last pitch," said Jernej Kruder after the victory.
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Credits: Cover image Stefan Voitl / Red Bull Content Pool