UKC

Shauna Coxey has a very good chance of taking the overall World Cup title on Saturday at Vail. Pretty exciting, not least because that will be the first time this century a Brit has taken the overall title in any climbing event. A potentially historic weekend.

Also a huge team of Americans (nearly 40!) including Daniel Woods and Alex Puchio (but no Ashima which is a shame considering she's climbed at a higher level than anyone else).

Semis are at 5pm and the finals at 11.30pm: youtube.com/watch?v=XxZpoF0Bgao&

Some more info: http://onbouldering.com/2016-vail-bouldering-world-cup-preview/

In reply to stp:

Astonishingly Ashima is still too young to compete. Next year, when she turns 16, will be her first chance to compete at senior level.

Also finals are at 09:30 BST I believe - and the semis at 03:00.

In reply to WillRobertson:

Let's hope Ashima's not past it by then

She beat Puchio in a national comp not long ago so a shame she can't compete at this.

As for the times I got them directly off the Youtube IFSC channel which I presume was adjusted to BST.

According to the IFSC the local times for starting are 10am (semis) and 4.30pm (finals). I think we're 7 hours ahead making those Youtube times correct. Though it's possible the IFSC have not have accounted for Vail's daylight savings in their local times.

In reply to stp:
Wasn't Nadin overall world champion in 89/90?

Andy F

Edit: Which was the last century. Note to self, read the OP.

In reply to andy farnell:

Our one and only champion?

In reply to stp:


Until Saturday. Hopefully.

Andy F

In reply to stp:

Apologies, I'm an idiot. You're right about the times.

You would not believe I've just finished a maths degree.

In reply to stp:

We have also had a European Champion in Lead (The Darwen Weasel).

And winners of individual World Cups: Mark Croxall (Birmingham 2006?) and Andy Earl (Reunion 2007).

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

2005. Shame on you

In reply to stp:


If I calculate correctly, if Shauna is on the podium in Vail then she is world champion, even if Miho wins Vail and Munich.

65 points for third would put Shauna on at least 502 - more if she places better in Munich than she did in Mumbai.

Two wins minus 14th in Meiringen would put Miho on at most 495.

In reply to stp:

Looks like 2 British men have made the semis: Dave Barrans and Ty Landman both through ahead of some stiff competition. Jan Hojer, Tsukuru Hori, and Nathaniel Coleman didn't make it.

The women are just starting and Shauna has flashed the first problem.

In reply to stp:

Looks like Shauna has qualified in first place, very closely chased by Megan Mascarenas (the only two to get 4 tops, though Puccio is still climbing.) Leah Crane missed the cut by just one place at the moment. Michaela looks safely through in twelfth.

In reply to stp:

Shauna has been made an MBE!

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Wow. Thought you might have been kidding there for a moment. So that was just last night?

First rock climber to get one I'm guessing. Certainly the first plastic climber, surely?

There's an audio interview with her and Leah from Thursday on Chalk Talk:
http://ctclimbingpodcast.com/shauna-coxsey-leah-crane-ifsc-bmc-climbing/

In reply to stp:

Cool semi final. Thought Shauna was out there. Exciting finish. Great to the Pooch cranking too.

In reply to stp:

Could not have cut it finer. Impressively cool under the circumstances, though it would be less stressful for us lot if she was in her usual total crush mode.

In reply to stp:


Apart from the two-time world para climbing champion, Fran Brown.

In reply to stp:


Joe Brown is a CBE as is Chris Bonington (admittedly less noted for his rock climbing achievements, although he did do the odd thing between expeditions)

In reply to stp:

Well massive congrats to Shauna. I wonder if she can win the World Championships too now?

A great final with some great and tragic moments. Alexey's failure to hold the match on P2 was a great shame and cost him the comp ... and possibly the title? Sean McColl's failure on 3 was even more heartbreaking. Rustam's sneaky routefinding on P3 and eventual top was a treat.

Thought the commentators were a little out of order after Megan's win. They seemed to be putting her victory down the fact she came from a higher elevation a bit too much I thought. Sure that may have been an advantage but basically she is a world class climber, one of very few women to have climbed 8b and flashed 8a, and P3 was a style that suited her and no one else could do.

Also thought it was a bit off the commentator suggesting that Shauna's victory might be the most dominant ever. Anna Stöhr's victory just 3 years ago was even better winning every comp but one in which she got silver and thus amassing 700 points. Considering Anna was on the podium last night too that was a pretty shoddy oversight.

In reply to stp:

Anna is such a class act.

See for example her reaction in Innsbruck last month when she had a top disallowed for touching a heel out of bounds: get back on, use a different sequence, nail it.

In reply to AlanLittle:

If the judges hadn't let he go again then the crowd would have rioted! I am no expert on the rules, but I feel that she benefited somewhat from a home advantage. Anna is a class act. Very impressive she got on the podium despite clearly having a strapped A2 pulley and unable to crimp.

In reply to teapot:

You are totally wrong. She had to go again because she hadn't topped, she didn't didn't get an extra go , she had another go. No home advantage.

A few years ago Jakob Schubert had to climb again due to an illegal start that wasn't picked up on by the judges but another team appealed. He had 'won' but obviously hadn't. He topped the problem on his next attempt to actually win. That comp was also in Austria (Kitzbuhel). Again no home advantage.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Exactly. Home advantage would have been an Austrian judge not "noticing" it.

In reply to AlanLittle:

The timer was started from when she left the floor on the previous attempt, which means she got time back that she had used on the failed attempt. That was the judges decision. I don't know what the policy is on touching outside the black taped area, but seemed strange that she got the time back she used on the failed attempt.

In reply to teapot:

It was all done totally correctly under the rules. She did not get the time back that she had used. She got the rest of the time that she had left.

She hit the volume beyond the black tape which may have helped her control the swing so she was deemed to have used the volume hence the top was invalid.

In reply to teapot:

I see what you mean. Can't find anything in the rules about timing for disallowed attempts specifically; seems like what was done was something similar to the timing rules for technical incidents (7.11.3 & 7.11.4)

Graeme?

https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/index.php/world-competition/event-regulation

In reply to AlanLittle:

I don't know whether they treated it as a Technical. If they did then she would have been given the time she had left with a minimum of 2 minutes - they would have checked the time left using video/livestream.

So if they didn't treat it as a Technical they would have worked out how long she had left but no 2 minute minimum. But it was in the final wasn't it so as long as she pulled on before the time was up she would be okay to finish.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Looks like I am "not totally wrong about the situation". I have just checked. She thought she had finished W1 in the final (with 55 seconds remaining.) She then restarted with 2 mins on the clock. The commentator said she was starting at a similar time as she started the previous attempt, although he probably was unsure of why the judges did it.

Check the footage at around 1h 45 I think. It is the very start of the women's final. I think this was the event where men and women's finals were one after the other, rather than simultaneously.

In reply to teapot:

You're quibbling about technicalities of the timing in an attempt to argue that Anna somehow had unfair home advantage which, as an argument in general, is utter bollocks.

Anna was pulled up in Austria, by an Austrian judge, for a fault that was definitely not obvious to the live audience in the arena at the time. You can trust me on this, I was there. If anybody in a tightly contested final had felt the handling of time question was in any way dodgy they would have appealed.

Anyway, enough of this. The thread is about Shauna.

In reply to teapot:

When it transpired what had happened and she had to climb it again I just really felt for her. The bottom part was hard and low percentage with no guarantee she could do it again. And a call like that could really sap most people's psyche and will power to even try. After all, by any normal standards she'd just done the problem.

The fact she just took that judgement in her stride, got back on, and did the problem was a great display of mental strength in my opinion, and highlights what a great attitude she has towards the sport. Whether she had two minutes or just one is irrelevant to this point I think.

In reply to AlanLittle:

There is a separate thread congratulating Shauna.

Let's get it clear Anna Stohr is top class. This is not questioning her.

I am however questioning the judges. (Probably perfectly justified, but worth questioning). You were there on the night and clearly thought she only got her remaining time. She got 2 mins, not 55 seconds.

It appears that you don't know why. If I was a judge (which I take it you are), then i would like to know why decisions like this are made. Is it impossible that there is room for bias on decisions like this? No it is not.

I felt for Anna on the night. The crowd there clearly did too. The judges as well. It probably was the right thing to do to give her 2 minutes, but what was the rule that allowed it?

In reply to teapot:

As I said earlier the 2 minutes is because the judges decided it was a Technical Incident, I am not sure why though.

Alan isn't a judge but I am, qualified in 1995 and was Jury President at the first ever BWC and pretty much wrote the original rule book

In reply to teapot:


Of course you can never say that there is no bias but the possibility is removed by having the main officials not being from the host nation.

The Jury President and the Technical Delegate are never from the host nation.

But you are wrong to accuse the Austrian boulder judge of bias as you can clearly see the judge saying no top straight away.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Thanks for your input.

I don't think I specifically mentioned any one judge, Austrian or not. I just meant that having a home crowd and such a well loved boulderer could (notice I said could) have influenced the decision.

This is my comment
"If the judges hadn't let her go again then the crowd would have rioted! I am no expert on the rules, but I feel that she benefited somewhat from a home advantage". Apologies if I mentioned the Austrian judge elsewhere. I didn't even know he was Austrian so I doubt I did.

What is a technical infringement? I saw another recent round when a male (that nice Canadian guy) did something very similar I.e finished the problem, but feet swung outside the black tape area and he had to do it again , with no extra time. He managed it.

I appreciate you admitting you don't know why. I assume the reasons for these decisions must be recorded somewhere.

The no top decision was different from the decision to give her 2 mins. You could feasibly make one decision (no top), then award a technical (whatever that is?) for sympathy reasons.

Referees in football matches seem to do this. One red card, then another to even things out. In this case it seems to happen when there is a home crowd.

The important thing is that in future in every situation when a climber tops a problem and a foot touches outside the area accidentally that the same decision is made. I.e. 2 mins to complete the problem.

In reply to teapot:

I see your point now. Much better articulated in that last post and definitely valid reasoning.