The 8th edition of the La Sportiva Legends Only featured Chon Jongwon, Alex Megos, Jernej Kruder, Chris Sharma, Alexey Rubtsov and Ray Sugimoto. Sharma certainly picked the toughest possible competition to make a come back!
The athletes had worked four of the five problems for three hours two days before the competition - the fifth was a true onsight, i.e no group viewing.
As usual it was quite hard to pick a winner after the work session, but it was obvious Sharma wasn't used to the more "modern" style. It was also obvious he's in good shape so with a little practice he'll get it for sure.
The five problems were very different in style testing everything from foot technique, to crimping, pinching and body tension. At first glance it might look like a parkour style competition, but that's just on the surface and mostly to make it a fun show to watch. In fact, I think the style that was comparably easiest to master for most of the competitors was the coordination stuff, even though problem one featured a triple double dyno meassuring five meters from start to finish.
In case someone's been off the social media grid for the last week, I'm not going to reveal who won it, just watch the video below (results at the bottom of the page).
All in all, I think it was the best edition so far and well worth a watch.
Results:
1. Alex Megos: 5 Tops/5 Zones - 7 Attempts for Tops/6 Attempts for Zones
2. Chon Jongwon: 4/4 -5/4
3. Jernej Kruder: 3/5 - 6/9
4. Ray Sugimoto: 3/4 -5/5
4. Alexey Rubtsov: 3/4 -5/5
6. Chris Sharma: 0/2 -0/2
Comments
I thought it was a really good comp, just watching the live stream. The route-setting was top notch and the action started with a bang from the very first go of the very first problem. After problem 3 the excitement went down a bit I thought, not least because the commentator announced the winner before he'd actually won. So that created a bit of an anticlimax. I felt a bit sorry for Sharma too. Definitely a bit of a fish out of water on these new style boulders.
But overall a great comp. It would have be great to actually have been there. The atmosphere looked fantastic.
Relais Vertical have put together a good little 13m highlights video with some behind scenes stuff and extra interviews. Well worth a watch...
https://youtu.be/HPTskGTheSE