8/15/11 - Sasha DiGiulian took first place in the European Youth Lead Cup in Imst, Austria, this past weekend. Competing in the juniors division, DiGiulian was the only female to top the finals route, clinching her win. She had also finished both qualifier routes, ranking first going into finals.
She describes the finals route on her blog: "The route was about 60 moves long, and a solid portion of it climbed through the steep headwall, so it required a lot of endurance. At the top of the route, after the steep headwall, the route got substantially harder with worse holds. I was very happy to stick the last powerful move to the finish."
Click here for the EYC results. The other sole American competing was Brendan Mitchell, who placed 12th in male youth B.
DiGiulian is coming off a hot streak of gold medals from the Arco World Championships in July, where she won the overall gold medal after placing second in bouldering and eighth in the lead competition. She plans to compete in the Youth World Championships, also in Imst, in two weeks. She also might compete in the last Boulder World Cup of the season in Munich this weekend. Comp favorites like Anna Stöhr, Kilian Fischhuber, Juliane Wurm, Dmitry Sharafutdinov, and many others are registered. From the U.S., Alex Puccio, Audrey Sniezak, Courtney Sanders, and Daniel Woods are the only Americans registered. Puccio stands a good chance of medaling in the overall Boulder World Cup; she has stood on the podium in five 2011 competitions.
In October, Movement Climbing + Fitness will host a Lead World Cup in Boulder, Colorado. There is also a LWC planned for Stone Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, in October 2012. The Teva Mountain Games will host another BWC in June 2012 in Vail, Colorado.
