Ice climber Janez Svoljšak fifth

At the second event of the 2017 Ice Climbing World Cup, held from January 7 to 9 in Beijing, China, Slovenian representative Janez Svoljšak (AO PD Kranj), last year's European champion in difficulty, claimed an excellent fifth place.



In recent years, Slovenia's most successful ice climber Janez Svoljšak (AO PD Kranj) won the final World Cup event of the previous season in South Tyrol, also securing the 2016 European championship title in ice climbing, and ended the 2016 World Cup season in third place overall in difficulty.



The climber from Škofja Loka has promisingly started this year's World Cup as well, qualifying for the final in both events. At the opening event in December in the American Durango, he finished eighth; at the second World Cup event in Chinese Beijing, he topped both walls in qualifications along with four others, finished fifth in semifinals with an almost-top, and the 23-year-old Slovenian retained this placement in the final as well. "I'm satisfied with my climbing in qualifications and semifinals. In the final, I wasn't relaxed enough, and in a hard route like today's, you can't reach the top that way. Given my climbing, I'm happy with the result," said Svoljšak, who is currently sixth in the 2017 World Cup overall standings in difficulty.



Russian Nikolai Kuzovlev won, second was South Korean HeeYong Park, and third Swiss Yannick Glatthard. In the women's competition, Russian Maria Tolokonina triumphed ahead of Woonseon Shin and Han Na Rai Song from South Korea.



>>> You can watch Janez's final performance in this video from 2:10 onwards.



After the Durango event and before heading to China, Svoljšak repeated the route Saphira (M15-) in Colorado, currently the hardest mixed ascent in America, and with Sara Jaklič (AO PD Kranj), they completed several good ascents in the USA.



The next World Cup event awaits the competitors this weekend, from January 13 to 15 in South Korea (Cheongsong), where Marija Jeglič (AO PD Ljubljana Matica) will also compete alongside Svoljšak; then the ice climbing circuit moves to Europe, with events on January 20 and 21 in Switzerland (Saas Fee) and from January 27 to 29 in Italy (Rabenstein). To end the season, they will compete at the Ice Climbing World Championships from February 3 to 5 in France (Champagny-en-Vanoise).