Mina Markovič finished second at the penultimate competition

Our best sport climber Mina Markovič yesterday, on November 2, 2013, in the French city of Valence at the seventh and thus penultimate competition of this year's IFSC World Cup in lead climbing of the International Federation of Sport Climbing IFSC, achieved a new success, 2nd place, another of our finalists, Maja Vidmar, achieved 6th place. The other four of our competitors in France finished the competition in the semifinals. Now only the final competition in Kranj on November 16 and 17 follows.



Slovenian competitors, after Mina's victory at the sixth and fifth IFSC World Cup 2013 competition in lead climbing (in between Mina also won the masters in Haiyang, China), measured themselves against the world's best sport climbers at the seventh, penultimate competition of the World Cup in the city of Valence (France). After this competition, only the final event follows – the lead World Cup final in Kranj on November 16 and 17, where Mina will compete for the overall World Cup title in lead and combined for the third time in a row, which no competitor has yet succeeded in doing.



This year, Mina qualified for the final at all seven competitions, stepped on the podium at six, won three times, was second three times, her worst was fourth.

In the overall standings (W) of the World Cup, before the last World Cup competition, Markovič is in second place with 595 points, 30 points behind Kim (625 points), so the Kranj competition will again decide the overall lead World Cup winner. In third place is Japanese Momoka Oda (403 points, third in this competition), who can no longer compete for first or second place. In the men's competition, Domen Škofic is currently 9th in the overall standings (M), Urban Primožič 13th. Japanese Sachi Amma still leads (507 points, sixth in this competition), followed by Austrian Jakob Schubert with 443 points, and the final in Kranj will also decide the winner.



Slovenian colors in France were represented by Mina Markovič, Maja Vidmar, Tina Šušteršič, Katja Kadič, Domen Škofic and Urban Primožič.



All 6 of our competitors qualified from qualifications to semifinals. The best were climbed by Mina Markovič and Domen Škofic, who reached the tops of both qualification routes. In the semifinals, however, Mina and Maja climbed the best, as both qualified for the evening final, Mina as first-placed, who was also the only one among women and men to climb the semifinal route to the top; and Maja as eighth after semifinals. Tina and Katja finished the competition in 12th and 21st place (Katja). This time, surprisingly, neither excellent Domen nor Urban managed to qualify for the final, who joined the climbing caravan later after a summer injury and achieved an excellent 5th place in China (equaling his best result). Domen achieved 11th here in France, Urban 14th.



STATEMENT: "Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the competition. I certainly know I'm capable of climbing better. That I am really in top form, I showed in the semifinals, where I really walked to the top. For the final itself, I'd say I prepared very well and focused on the route and the competition. But the route was somewhat different, more varied, dynamic, throughout the route I felt like solving puzzles and riddles. I got stuck on holds several times, but in the end I still put together such a climb, which unfortunately was only enough for second place," Markovič said to STA after the competition, who can hardly wait for the season's finale in Kranj. "Form and motivation are at a very high level, so I can hardly wait for the remaining two weeks of climbing training and then the final in Kranj. I know I'm capable of preparing very well for the competition and that we can look forward to an interesting and nice weekend in Kranj," added the best Slovenian sport climber.



Our competitors have thus added new results to this year's successes: Mina's title as European vice-champion in lead, success at the first IFSC World Cup 2013 competition in lead climbing in French Briançon, where Mina was silver, Mina's lead victory at the World Games in Cali (Colombia) - Olympic Games for non-Olympic sports - and Mina's victories at the second World Cup lead competition in Austrian Imst and at the Rock Master competition in Arco, Mina's title as European vice-champion in bouldering, Mina's silver at the 3rd World Cup lead competition in Belgian Puurs and Mina's 4th place at the World Cup in Russian Perm.



RESULTS (Source: IFSC)

Women (total competitors: 34)

1. Jain Kim, KOR

2. Mina Markovič, SLO

3. Momoka Oda, JAP

…

6. Maja Vidmar, SLO

12. Tina Šušteršič, SLO

21. Katja Kadič, SLO Men (total competitors: 41)

1. Adam Ondra, CZE

2. Sean McColl, CAN

3. Gautier Supper, FRA

…

11. Domen Škofic, SLO

14. Urban Primožič, SLO



Spectators and fans could watch the World Cup competition LIVE via the website of the International Federation of Sport Climbing IFSC.



IFSC WORLD CUP 2013 – LEAD

19–20. 7. Briancon (France)

9.–10. 8. Imst (Austria)

20.–21. 9. Puurs (Belgium)

27.–29. 9. Perm (Russia)

12.–13. 10. Mokpo (Korea)

19.–20. 10. Wujiang (China)

1.–2. 11. Valence (France)

16.–17. 11. Kranj (Slovenia) – finale