Competitive climber Angela Eiter wrote climbing history in 2005: a string of World cup wins, victory at the World Championships in Munich, victory at the World Games in Duisburg and now also a record holder. “It’s all about concentration”, says the petite Tyroelan athlete.
Angela Eiter has every reason to be satisfied with the current year: the World Championship title at the beginning of July and victory at the World Games in mid-July. Between the two, she passed her school-leaving exams with flying colours. A record-breaking performance meant overall victory in the World Cup: she won eight of the nine competitions of the 2005 World Cup. The first place in Marbella (Spain) on 17 September meant not only her second successive World Cup title, but also her seventh successive win in World Cup competitions: a feat no other female climber has ever achieved before.
Angela’s success story is marked by an impressive sense of purpose: she has been climbing in the top league since she was runner-up at the Youth World Championships in 2001. She repeated this success in 2002, and a year later was ranked third in the World Cup, which she went on to win – as has already been mentioned – in the following two years. Angela’s dominance, especially in 2005, is anything but coincidental: at the moment she is effectively unbeatable tactically and approaches each climbing wall with a sense of self-confidence that springs from technical perfection as much as from inner tranquillity.
Well grounded
Competitive climbing is demanding for the whole body – including the brain. “A route,” says Angela, “has to be read like a book. Just like an author has a plan, the person who laid the route had a certain idea in mind, too. That’s what I try to find out. When I’m able to find it out, then I’ve almost already won.” Despite her success, Angela remains well grounded. She knows the source of her success. “I train up to 30 hours a week. Climbing, running, meditating.” Climbing is a question of “climb intelligence”, as Angela calls it. Either you have it, or you don’t. You can develop it through hard work, just like you can develop your concentration. “When I’m on the wall, I don’t think about anything else. The wall is my opponent, not the other climbers”, Angela says.
Climbing or Football?
Eight years ago, when she was eleven, Angela entered the sport school in Imst (Austria) and was faced with the decision between climbing and football. Fortunately for the climbing scene, she didn’t pick football, although she confesses that “sometimes knocking the ball around with friends can be a lot of fun.” That’s also true for other sports: snow-shoeing, running, skiing and, of course, climbing a rock wall under an open sky – always secured – are the challenges she pursues when not competing. With the same sense of purpose as in climbing, Angela also prepares for her future profession. She has yet to make the decision between studying foreign languages (French, Russian) or a job in the health industry. As it turns out, life itself is a route that has to be read.Happy Angela Eiter after her victory at the Freeclimbing World Cup 2005 this weekend in Kranj, Slovenia.
