Have fun at the Junior Cup in Brixen. © Chasper Cadonau

Brixen in bouldering fever

Last weekend, Brixen was firmly in the hands of the young climbers: With the Junior Cup Bouldering, the sport climbing competition series “Junior Cup” started the 2024/25 season.

17 October 2024

From: pm/det

Over 200 young athletes from South Tyrol and Trentino gathered on October 12 and 13 in the outdoor area of ​​the Vertikale climbing center in Brixen. The bouldering competition marked the start of the 2024-2025 Junior Cup season. The climbers born between 2005 and 2015 competed against each other in "Raduno" mode. Instead of the previous categories U10 to U20, the athletes were divided into the categories U11, U13, U15, U17, U19 and U21 for the first time.

Saturday morning began with the U21 men, where the home advantage clearly came into play: Samuel Perntaler from AVS Brixen took first place, second was Davide Pertlana from Trento Boulder and third was another Brixen native, Florian Unterfrauner. In the U19 men, which took place at the same time, the AVS Meran dominated, with Fritz Engele (first) and Alex Pichler (second), followed by Libero Feller (Trento Boulder). The Meraners were also in the fast lane in the U17 men's competition held at lunchtime: Dario Cadonau won, followed by Pier Giulio Paglierani and Daniel Oberrauch (all three from AVS Meran).

Things got serious in Brixen.

While the weather was still autumnally cool and cloudy in the morning, the athletes competing in the afternoon were able to climb in the sunshine. Arco Climbing had a strong presence on the podium in the U21 women's category: first place went to Agnese Fiorio (Arco), second place went to Elsa Giupponi (AVS Meran), followed by Lucia Furlani (again Arco). At the same time, the U19-F competed against each other, with Matilda Liu' Moar (AVS Brixen) climbing to first place, followed by Emma Benazzi (AVS Meran) and Veronika Cagol (AVS St. Pauls). The South Tyroleans also dominated the following U17F competition: Nadia Insam from AVS Meran came first, Vanessa Atz and Emmy Lang (both AVS St. Pauls) second and third. The first day concluded with the U15M competition, where Gabriel Schuen (AVS Bruneck) won, while second and third place again went to climbers from St. Pauls: the athletes Anton Moser and Benedikt Egger.

The awards ceremony always took place immediately after each category. In total, the athletes had to master eight boulders with zone and top. The order was judged according to the number of tops and zone holds achieved, as well as the number of attempts for the tops and zone holds. A maximum of five attempts were allowed per boulder.

The second day of the competition, on Sunday 13 October, continued with great enthusiasm. The categories U13-F and M and U15-F competing on this day were particularly well represented, with around 40 athletes each. The competitions were therefore split into two groups. The day started under Brixen control: Annalena Ranalter from AVS-Brixen won the U15-F, her teammate Vera Nagler came third, while Chiara Franceschi (Arco Climbing) took second place. In the U13-M that followed, another Brixen resident, Simon Fill, won, followed by Emil Weiss (AVS Bozen) and Patrick Valcanover (Trento Boulder). The competition weekend concluded with the U13-F competition, which Sophie Pederiva (AVS-Brixen) won, while Lisa Mair (AVS St. Pauls) and Johanna Hofer (AVS Brixen) took second and third place.