Yannick Nagel & Anna Apel win gold at the 2025 German Lead Championships

Yannick Nagel & Anna Apel win gold at the 2025 German Lead Championships

At the German Lead Climbing Championships on October 11 and 12, Yannick Nagel and Anna Apel from Team MANTLE climbed themselves to the top of the podium.

To conclude the 2025 DAV competition season, the German Lead Championships were once again the highlight for the nation’s top athletes. At the event hosted by the DAV Section Neu-Ulm, 33 women and 32 men from all over Germany competed for the national title. In the end, two climbers emerged victorious: Yannick Nagel and Anna Apel from Team MANTLE. Congratulations!

Qualification: early favorites emerge

Already in the men’s qualification round, Yannick Nagel was among the front-runners. As one of four athletes, the climber from Mannheim topped both qualification routes. Florian Schweiger also secured a strong position with one top, finishing fifth, followed by his MANTLE teammates Max Dinger and Finn Altemöller.

Among the women, Anna Apel likewise established herself early on as a favorite, topping both qualification routes as one of only two athletes to do so. Her MANTLE teammates Paula Mayer-Vorfelder, Martina Demmel and Alisa Strigo also advanced to the semifinals, all ranking in the upper half of the field.

Semifinals: power and dynamics take center stage

While the qualification routes tested the athletes’ endurance, the semifinals demanded far more power and dynamic movement. Yannick Nagel advanced to the finals in first place, achieving the only top on the challenging semifinal route. Finn Altemöller also delivered an impressive performance, finishing fourth and securing a spot among the top eight men. Florian Schweiger and Max Dinger narrowly missed the final, but still achieved solid results, finishing 11th and 14th respectively.

Among the women, the field also began to spread out in the semifinals. Anna Apel strengthened her position as the favorite and advanced to the finals in first place. Paula Mayer-Vorfelder climbed to sixth place, reaching the final of her first-ever German Lead Championship. Alisa Strigo and Martina Demmel finished in 10th and 13th place, securing strong Top 15 overall rankings.

Second national title for Yannick Nagel, third for Anna Apel

 

In the final, Yannick Nagel and Anna Apel prevailed once more over the competition. Both were the last to climb, with Yannick securing victory by reaching a score of 46 — five moves higher than the high point of runner-up Erik Pollak. A member of the German Armed Forces’ sports program, 19-year-old Yannick has competed regularly in Lead World Cups this year and once again proved that he’s also among the top contenders at home. For Yannick, this marks his second national Lead title since 2022.

In the final, Anna Apel made things a bit more exciting than in the semifinal, where she had secured a ten-point lead over Ronja Witt. Despite a long international competition season, the 20-year-old from Munich climbed to gold at the German Championships with a score of 54+, narrowly ahead of silver medalist Ronja Witt (53+). With this victory, Anna successfully defends her Lead title from last year and secures her third German Championship title since 2024, when she also won gold in Bouldering.

Strong performances by Finn Altemöller and Paula Mayer-Vorfelder

With Finn Altemöller (5th place) and Paula Mayer-Vorfelder (6th place), two more MANTLE athletes delivered strong performances at the German Championships.

The 19-year-old Finn from Frechen has already had an impressive season — he won the North Rhine-Westphalia State Bouldering Championship, took silver at the German Youth Bouldering Cup, and bronze at the Youth Lead Cup.

At just 15 years old, Paula was the youngest competitor in the field and participated in the German Lead Championships for the first time this year. The German Youth Champion in Lead and Vice Youth Champion in Bouldering showed in Neu-Ulm that she already feels right at home competing among the adults.

Season Finale for Team MANTLE

With the German Lead Championships, the competition season comes to an end for the athletes. Team MANTLE wishes everyone a well-deserved break – spending time on the rocks, on vacation or already back in training!

 

All Team MANTLE results at the German Lead Championships:

Yannick Nagel – 1st place

Finn Altemöller – 5th place

Florian Schweiger – 11th place

Max Dinger – 14th place

 

Anna Apel – 1st place

Paula Mayer-Vorfelder – 6th place

Alisa Strigo – 10th place

Martina Demmel – 13th place