An impressive 63 athletes from 14 countries contested the third round of the UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup season.

Following well attended events in Switzerland and Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the city of Brno played host to Round 3 on Saturday 4 December.

Women: Twenty female climbers competed with eight Europeans and the United States athlete Corey Buhay making the final. Last weekend’s top three performers again proved a cut above the opposition albeit in a different order. Finland’s Enni Bertling (photo below) took first place and the Netherlands’ Marianne Van der Steen second, both improving on a position from the event in Zilina. Last weekend’s winner Olga Kosek, Poland, finished third. Bertling (223 points) leads the European season rankings ahead of Van der Steen (176) and Kosek (165).

Men: Virgile Devin (212) leads the overall men’s standings. The 21-year old French athlete finished second and as top European athlete in the 43-strong competition. Following a star turn in Zilina, American Tyler Kempney again stole the show to claim first place. Winner in Bern in round 1, Switzerland’s Nikolay Primerov took third overall (second European). The third best performing European was Dennis Van Hoek, Netherlands. Behind Devin in the overall standings are Primeov (180 points) and Romania’s David Bouffard (178) who failed to reach the final this weekend.

The fourth round of the European season will take place in Utrecht, Netherlands on 11 December. Please visit the event page for further information.

For further details about the event and also the European Cup results with the non-European results included – please visit the dedicated page.

A photo gallery from the event is available here.

Photos: UIAA/Pavel Nesvadba

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