Uznik and Piazzalunga winners in Klagenfurt

Nicolai Uznik from Austria and Mailys Piazzalunga from France won the first European Cup in 2021, held in Klagenfurt. Both were, climbing-wise, quite superior in the final and Uznik also won the semi. Uznik, who did two 8C's last month, lives only 15 minutes from the gym.

"I must admit I was pretty nervous especially before the semifinals. It was difficult to stay focused and because climbing at home makes you wanna show your best performance even more! I‘m so glad it worked out. The route setting overall was good except maybe the semifinal round was a bit too hard. The finals I enjoyed the most, really cool boulders and also kind of my style!" Besides Uznik, it seemed like a disadvantage to start last in a bouldering round. None of the only three males to top all four in the qually, including Jakob Schubert, made it to the final. Among the females, it was pretty much the same in both semi and the final. The two best in the semi, Franziska Sterrer and Leonie Lochner, who also started last in the final, were the two last in the final.

Why do you think it is like this and how did you handle this?
I think in this situation you need to stay calm and show strong nerves. Many climbers feel like it‘s easier for them to climb in finals if they are not leading but for me, I must say it‘s different. I like coming out last because it gives me more confidence!

It can be mentioned that Uznik, even if he won the semi, did just manage to do one boulder and that you made it to the final by just doing four zones. Overall, only three climbers were able to reach all zones. In other words, when Schubert started last out in the semi, as he won the qualification, the holds had probably been used like 100 times each meaning that the friction might have been worse for him.