UKC

IFSC commentator Matt Groom reports on all the action from the first Boulder World Cup of the season in Meiringen, Switzerland.

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Exquisite!

Great write-up Matt, many thanks!

We tried to watch the Eurosport coverage here in Germany, and it was nothing short of appalling. The supposedly live coverage of the men's semis started 30 min late, some competitors were simply left out, and the (Austrian?) commentator was terrible (Tomoa drops down to a good hold to rest and chalk up; excited shout: "Ooh, he's got to be careful now!"). 

We then tried to watch the men's final on the Olympia channel; it got taken down just as Round 4 was about to start. There's a lot to be improved upon here.

But thanks again, both for the article and the commentating. Keep up the good work!

Fantastic view on it! I thought the format of splitting over the two days for more camera time worked well, although some action was still missed when the camera crew focussed on getting fancy shots through the crowds phones which was funny at first but got irritating after the 4th time. 
 

The monetisation of viewing has me in two minds. I fully agree for the sport it could be a great thing, but are we really a big enough sport currently to be putting up a pay wall of £6.99 a month? I know this wasn’t the focus of the article so I’ll leave it at that. 
 

Overall the weekend was fantastic and such a great effort from the GB team, especially max who was so close to making the finals plus the Buzzer beater finish to add to the drama!

Final thoughts, your commentary was missed greatly on Eurosport and I’ve heard many complaints over them using other commentators instead of your own commentary that was being broadcast anyway. #bringbackmattgroom should have been a hashtag for the weekend.

"There was a rule change this season where photos of the boulders were available to the athletes in the isolation zone for the qualifying and semi-finals. However, after some disagreement a discussion between officials and coaches took place, the rule was reversed. There were no pictures shown for the men's semi-final."

Is that right? The IFSC changed the rules mid-competition!?!?

Yeah, but it was decided upon before the men's round, so the men and the women had equal competition conditions respectively. Still a bit rubbish for the women, though!

Agree, the Eurosport commentary was terrible. Clearly no idea what was going on.

On the paying front, paying by the month is about the most expensive way you could pick. There are regular offers for 20 or 30/year for Eurosport - way better to pick up one of those.

Stasa Gejo is one hell of a guest commentator. Her deep understanding of climbing and route setting, as well as her unique ability to explain things in a simple way, make her really stand out... and she's doing it in what is for her a foreign language. Total respect for her.

Orrrr pick up a VPN and watch the broadcast with actual commentary and no late starts. ProtonVPN has free American servers and if you want to pay for a VPN, it's probably much better value for money than Eurosport.

Just a thanks for not mentioning any spoilers in the article title, gave me time to watch the finals before reading the article.

Yeah but I want to watch cycling too - so Eurosport it is. Obviously the old free IFSC model is better.

Is cycling a sport now? 😈