UKC

Shauna is leading after the qualification round.

4 Brits made the semis. Dave Barrans didn't enter which was a shame but Michaela, Leah and Tyler all go through with Shauna. Michaela is in a very respectable joint 7th place (4th in her group behind Anna Stöhr, Miho Nonaka and Shauna) and Leah in joint 13th (7th in her group). Tyler scraped though in joint 19th with Dmitrii Sharafutdinov. Nathan Philips narrowly missed out in 23rd place.

Some very good climbers didn't make it: Tsukuru Hori, Rei Sugimoto, Jorg Verhoven and Jongwon Chon are all out, though Japan still has 4 men and 4 women in the semis.

I think Shauna has a good chance of winning here again. Janja and Megan Mascarenas didn't enter so the main competition looks like being Akiyo and Anna Stöhr.

The men's field is wide open as always. All 3 Russians are through, Sean Mccoll (in 1st currently), Martin Stranik, Jenej Kruder, Alban Levier, Kokoro Fuji and of course Tyler.

Place yer bets!

In reply to stp:

Any highlights to watch?

In reply to Yorkieboy:

No highlights but you can watch the replay of the whole stream on Youtube youtube.com/watch?v=_xaopll9N94& (women's) and I am sure the men's will be there as well.

In reply to stp:

I bet Jens comes up with at least 16 new variations on his general theme and he will ignore anything that happens that doesn't confirm his ideas.

Doubtless he will read this so can I just ask you Jens "What is your favourite cheese?".

In reply to stp:

Don't forget Le Neve, she's looking super strong at the moment. I'll take a punt at Shauna winning, Melissa second and Akiyo taking third (watch them all miss out on the final now...).

In reply to Graeme Alderson:


Will he? Oh good! I'd like to ask him to get someone who isn't a 14 year old from the mid-nineties to redesign his web-site. Hell - I'd even give it a shot myself. How much worse could I make it?

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Cheers

In reply to Yorkieboy:

As climbers come out 'highest ranked' first in qualifications you get to see the strongest competitors right away and don't have to watch the whole thing.

In reply to stp:

But there is normally always one or two un-ranked athletes who spoil your theory. For example someone who doesn't compete regularly so has no rank such as Daniel Woods if he does Vail, or is coming back from injury such as Michaela last week in Meiringen.

In reply to WillRobertson:

Yeah good point. Melissa climbed really well in the last event. Also Miho Nonaka is placed consistently high up and in front of a home crowd might do well.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

So it's unusual for the qualification round to be streamed. Is this going to be a regular thing now? I see the women's has over 7000 hits already. Shame there's no English commentary for it though.

In reply to stp:

Climbing is, as they say, Big In Japan ( youtube.com/watch?v=tl6u2NASUzU& and wow doesn't that singer look a lot like AP). The least Lead World Cup got mental figures for the streaming.

No, there is no plan that I know of to stream the quals regularly. Japanese TV are there to film the whole thing (hence split finals) so I guess they reckoned the add on cost of streaming was worth it.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:
Shauna wins quite easily having been the only one to do P1 and P3. And that's before P4 has been tried!

Easy flash on P4 so pretty dominant. 4t7 4b7

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Her flash of P3 was extraordinary. Every move looked more solid than every other climber.

Inspirational.

Am I right in thinking that they played the wrong national anthem for Rustam Gelmenov. He looked very uncomfortable on the podium and it certainly didn't sound like the Russian National Anthem.

Alan

In reply to john arran:

She seems to be in a class of her own at the moment. In the interview she says her training has paid off but I can't help thinking that her main rivals are underperforming or simply not present at the moment. No Puccio, Mascarenas or Garnbret. Jule Wurm retired. Anna Stöhr still recovering from injury perhaps? And what happened to Akiyo? Definitely underperforming at the moment.

In reply to john arran:

I though Fanny Gibert would do well on P3. She's got very strong fingers and great technique. Instead she spent almost her entire go resting. That was a really weird thing to do. Not sure what she was thinking but looked like she wasted a go on that problem.

In reply to stp: One of the biggest factors in Shauna's performances is that for the first time in at least 3 years she isn't carrying an injury. Maybe the others aren't underperforming, its just that Shauna is now showing her true form.

Andy F

In reply to andy farnell:

Well I certainly don't want to take anything away from Shauna's impressive performance. I was basing this not on the fact that Shauna is number one, but that her usual rivals aren't even making the finals.

In reply to stp: A changing of the guard?

Andy F