Speed Climbing Ovchinnikova Takes 3
Shamy Sees Future in Leapfrogging
Wednesday, June 24
Usually speed climbing involves
either the ladder method that alternates right, left (like running up a
ladder) or the method of disregarding your feet altogether and pulling
yourself wildly and letting your feet find their way (Free your hands
and your feet will follow).
Men
Aaron "Ribbit" Shamy made himself the spectacle today by busting out a technique
rarely seen in speed climbing. He lunged at holds above his reach, leaving the wall completely and skipping multiple holds in the process. He leapt
over three-time X Games speed freak Hans Florine and nearly caught
today's champion Vladimir Netsvetaev.
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"So her friend
went up and did 51, but she didn't speak English well and the marines almost had to pry her off the bars..." |
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Florine seemed to lose his
momentum after losing the big kahuna to Vladimir. He later lost the bronze medal
round to Chris Bloch.
"It bums me out. I like to be up on the podium,
but my friends won because they were faster than me. I can't be mad at
them. With the exposure, the competition is going to get better and
better," Hans said after finishing fourth.
Vladimir was focused on the
gold and said "I wanted to win very bad, I've always beaten Hans, but
this is the first time at the X Games."
But again it was Shamy who gave the crowd something to cheer about
with his springing leaps upward. He not only confirmed that he is a
Mormon to be reckoned with, but gave the X Games crowd a glimpse of what
the future of speed climbing is all about.
Women
When Elena Ovchinnikova stepped to the wall for her final ascent she
looked like no other climber. Most of the previous climbers had approached the wall like caged
animals, hopping around and flinging their arms around, while all the while their eyes were bouncing off their temples.
Ovchinnikova stared forward, focusing on nothing.
She breathed slowly and would glance up just before exploding upward,
extending her long frame in every direction and continually accelerating.
"I was very concentrated because you have to give your
maximum effort in a twenty second run," she said after winning Gold. And with such a competitive field, she didn't have it easy. Ovchinnikova's comrade Venera Tcherechneve took third and the Asian X Games speed
climbing winner, Yu Yun Yuniar, in a close race, grabbed silver.
Everyone thought the wall was easy, but the competition was incredible.
The real fun began later when Shamy got the climbers to check out the
marine chin-up station where they were giving out dog tags and T-shirts
for the most pull-ups.
Mi Sun stepped up and after 50, the marines
realized she could do this the rest of the day and told her to let the
other girls try it. The announcer informed the crowd that she does 600
sit ups a day. Like the crowd wasn't impressed enough. So her friend
went up and did 51, but she didn't speak English very well and the marines almost had to pry her off the bars.
Then the guys made the marines blush
with their one handed and extra wide variations. I'll wait till tomorrow
to try with the rest of the humans.
Hans Prosl, Xtremely humbled for The Mountain Zone
Mountain Zone [Climbing] [Snowboarding]
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