BURSTOriane Bertone and Max Milne are champions of the inaugural Pro Climbing League Championship in London on Feb. 28.
In the women’s final, Bertone had a commanding performance as she faced off against competition GOAT Janja Garnbret.
Bertone dispatched two dynamic foot-cutting moves with ease, flashing the problem immediately. Garnbret made it to the second position out of seven before falling off.
“It’s so great overall, everything was so fun,” said 20-year-old Bertone after the win. “It’s a new format, it’s very interesting.”
Bertone, a French climber, sports an impressive resume. She’s the current number one-ranked female boulderer in the world with 11 World Cup podiums in her career to date.
Garnbret and Annie Sanders are the respective second and third place finishers for the women’s division.
On the men’s side, Scotland’s Milne took the win after an exciting last-minute high point.
Coming into the competition, Milne was known as a skilled, creative showman, but was also perhaps a dark horse.
Right as the clock ran out at the final round, 25-year-old Milne used a novel beta-breaking double hand jam to reach through the crux, literally leaving his hands bloody. He made it to position five out of seven.
His opponent, Colin Duffy, made dynamic attempts to power through the crux, but was left at position two out of seven.
Duffy and Tomoa Narasaki respectively took second and third in the men’s.
The athletes will be taking home first, second and third prizes of £10,000, £5,000 and £2,500 in both men’s and women’s categories.
That’s about $13,500, $6,700 and $3,400 in USD.
The Pro Climbing League has taken a new approach to competition format. Two climbers compete side by side on identical boulder problems. Whoever reaches the top first progressing to the next round.
Sixteen climbers (eight men and eight women) compete head-to-head in pairs across three rounds (qualifying, semi final, and final).
Each boulder had a 4+ minute time limit, meaning that climbers can finish an attempt if they leave the ground within the 4-minute time limit.
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