Wednesday, 21 January 2009: Austrian Markus Bendler has drawn first blood in the Daone Ice Master World Cup 2009 with an overwhelming victory in Italy.

Markus Bendler

Patrik Aufdenblatten and Samuel Anthamatten, both from Switzerland finished second and third respectively, while defending champion Simon Anthamatten placed 8th.

Bendler put in a masterful display of climbing and topped out on all five of his routes, leaving him without a doubt the favourite going into the next round to be held in Saas Fee, Switzerland on January 22nd and 23rd.

Twenty-two-year old Russian Maria Tolokonina won the Women's final. She could not have performed better topping out on all three of her routes finishing well ahead of her nearest rival Stephanie Maureau from France.

RESULTS DAONE ICE MASTER WORLD CUP 2009

(Men) Difficulty
1. Markus Bendler (Aut) punti 33,72
2. Patrik Aufdenblatten (Sui) 13,30
3. Samuel Anthamatten (Sui) 12,271
4. Manuel Cordova (Spa) 12,27
5. Alexey Tomilov (Rus) 11,241
6. Jack Mueller (Sui) 20,24
7. Park Hee Yong (Kor) 10,22;
8. Simon Anthamatten (Sui) 7,15.

(Women) Difficulty
1. Maria Tolokonina (Rus) 39 punti
2. Stephanie Maureau (Fra) 16,32
3. Lucie Hrozova (Cze) 16,32
4. Petra Mueller (Sui) 16,312
5. Chloč Grafiaux (Bel) 15,302
6. Barbara Zwerger (Ita) 15,3
7. Angelika Rainer (Ita) 14,29
8. Felicitas Feller (Sui) 6,12
9. Yoon Sun Shin (Kor) 5,102
10. Tanja Grmovsek (Slo) 4,102
11. Jenny Lavarda (Ita) 4,10.

TROFEO CASSA RURALE ADAMELLO BRENTA

(Men) Speed
1. Pavel Gulyaev (Rus)
2. Igor Fayzullin (Rus)
3. Maxim Tomilov (Rus)
4. Dennis Netherlands (Ndl)
5. Nikolay Shved (Rus)
6. Nicolay Primerov (Slo)
7. Matevz Vukotic (Slo)
8. Pavel Batushev (Rus)
9. Urs Odermatt (Sui)
10. Alexey Tomilov (Rus)

(Women) Speed
1. Maria Tolokonina (Rus)
2. Stephanie Maureau (Fra)
3. Anna Torretta (Ita)
4. Radka Petkova (Bul)
5. Chloč Graftiaux (Bel)
6. Maryam Filippova (Rus)
7. Julia Oleynikova (Rus)
8. Liudmila Badalyan (Rus)
9. Nadezda Launits (Rus).

Photo courtesy of Climbing.de