Shamy Shakes It

Today was another step in the evolution of speed climbing as the American men cast a shadow not only on the strong Russians, but also on the Xtremely Hollywood, three-time X Games gold medalist Hans Florine.

Aaron Shamy snapped out a flawless final run against hometown boy Chris Bloch for the win in the shadow of the snowboarding big air kicker. After a silver last year, Shamy said he didn't do anything different. "A week-and-a-half before this competition, I trained really hard and got really fit. I was just excited to be here," Shamy said.

"Us short guys need to train harder, but we can move our limbs faster..." — Chris Bloch

The American women on the other hand suffered the dominance of the Europeans and could only find one place in the top ten (8th, Heather Collins, Nevada City, California). It was Renata Piszczek's day with a perfect final sprint to the top.

"It's very beautiful surprise for me that I won. Russian girls and Ukrainian, they are professional, but they do the difficulty and bouldering, not speed climbing, so I am surprised," Piszczek exclaimed.

Silver medalist Olga Zakharova had been matching her every move half way up the wall when she slipped which cost her the win. The stars were aligned for Renata today; she brought with her her strong status on the World Cup speed circuit and the announcer was openly angling for her win this afternoon. Etta Hendrawati of Yugyakata, Indonesia, took bronze for her proud Indonesian climbing team. After that it was a string of strong Russian women including last year's winner, Elena Ovchinnikova.

Renata Rules It

After the race I asked Chris Bloch if there was any significance to the fact that last year tall people ruled the podium. "Us short guys need to train harder, but we can move our limbs faster," he said. Bloch knew that when it came to the finals, there would be no room for error. "That one slip on the wall cost me the gold," he acknowledged. Bloch summed up the day's races on the infamous European rivalry note.

"Most of the Europeans that were invited have been training for three or four months for this competition, purely because the prize money is about triple or quadruple what a World Cup for Speed Climbing is. Even to them, this is the biggest competition of the year. So, to take first and second, Americans, against these guys, is huge. Absolutely, it's almost historical," he said.

And that's the way it was during this eloquent, dragster, head-to-head spider race. Although the competitors knew their course, they weren't allowed to study it and were brought out only moments before the starting gun. Even then, the racers had to face the crowd until just seconds before the start.

And only then did the methodology emerge. Would it be feet replacing hands where climbers knew where their feet would be? Would they alternate limbs in a swimming-like motion, never sure where their feet were? Then there's the giant leaps of faith that Aaron Shamy employed. Like last year, Shamy leapt past holds, all the while looking for the one big, both handed grab. These giant dynos, along with everyone's ever increasing speed, kept all awaiting the final outcome.

Bouldering beckons us back to the wall on Monday afternoon so stay tuned.

Preview
Thursday, June 23

The need for speed cannot wait for the weekend. By 2:30 today (Friday), competitors will be so jacked up on caffeine and sugar they'll be bouncing all over each other like Mexican jumping beans. Not really, but it's fun to imagine.

Anyhoo.., we ask you to join MountainZone.com by skipping lunch on Friday and ingesting, by any means available, nothing but caffeine while constantly hitting your browser's reload button as fast as possible. So, when the boss asks you why you're sweating profusely, and clicking your mouse uncontrollably, tell him you bet the farm on Hans and he's failing.

If nothing is happening, then maybe I am failing, but it's Hans Florine we're really betting our plane tickets outta here on. We're obviously in no hurry to get back to eternally gray Seattle.

"It's Hans Florine we're betting our plane tickets outta here on..."

The fact is that Hans Florine lost after three straight X golds last year and will be looking to win back his title BIG TIME. Elena Ovchinnikova pulled up the wall in hypnotic flow, faster than any other women last year, but the race was too close to call with Yuyun Yuniar slapping the buzzer only a split second after her rival.

I'll just try and get the names straight and show you what techniques propel people up a wall. So find out what speeding straight up is all about here Friday evening. Finals end at 5:30, so we'll be live for dinner when your coming down off all that sugar.

— Hans Prosl, feasting on wharf rats for MountainZone.com