UKC

Following a very successful IFSC European Bouldering Championship just two weeks ago in Innsbruck, Austria, the World Cup tour kicked off in Toronto, Canada this weekend. In a competition which thoroughly shook the field and knocked out some top performers, Austria's Anna Stöhr and France's Alban Levier took Gold.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=69759

In reply to UKC News:

Very exciting final to watch for both men and women. It was so close I think Ondra would've won if he'd just stuck the finishing hold on the last problem. I thought Nathaniel Coleman was very impressive in climbing consistently well throughout the comp and along with Levier it will be interesting to see how they do in Vail this weekend.

The women's was very close and it was interesting to see Miho Nonaka do so well again. She definitely looks like one of the strongest women climbers at the moment and so young still, interesting to see how she develops.

It was also cool to see the slab problems being a key part of winning making technique important and not just raw power.

The commentary was just about acceptable but far too much ad-libbing, it was obvious the guy didn't really know what he was talking about. Fine for non climbing viewers but I suspect there are very few of those watching these events. Definitely a mistake that they didn't hang onto Daniel Finn for commentary who I thought was much better and so knowledgeable you would easily think he was a climber himself.

Looking forward to Vail which will hopefully see a return of the Russians too.

In reply to stp:
Yeah, I watched the final yesterday, enjoyable viewing. I was a bit worried the issue with the out of sight "out of bounds" area on the first women's problem would impact on the results but it would appear not to have been the deciding factor and the best woman won.

It looked frustrating for the guys when they seemed to be on the cusp of sending only to be sent spining to the mat after failing to latch the last hold.

With the unfamilar names in the mens final it seems quite an open competition this year.

Strangely, I quite like the commentator despite his lack of knowledge. The slightly amateurish feel seems in keeping with the sport of climbing but he doesn't do too bad a job. I've heard worse on the BBC.

In reply to JLS:


I had exactly the same thought. That would have been terrible if that had been the decider.