The third IFSC Boulder World Cup and the second Speed World Cup rounds of 2019 took place in Chongqing, China this weekend. In the speed event, records were shattered across the board, as China's YiLing Song set a new women's world record of 7.101 seconds - over two tenths of a second faster than Anouck Jaubert and Iuliia Kaplina's jointly held previous record of 7.32 seconds. Slovenia's Janja Garnbret and Manu Cornu of France topped the boulder podiums, with Cornu taking his first ever World Cup win.

The GB Bouldering team was represented by Dave Barrans in the semi-finals, who made his first World Cup semi-final since Vail 2016 and finished 19th. Jen Wood narrowly missed out on semis by one zone hold attempt, finishing in 21st. In the speed competition, both William Bosi and Emily Phillips set new British speed records, with times of 7.079 and 10.898 seconds respectively. Alfian Muhammad of Indonesia took gold in the men's speed event ahead of Kostiantyn Pavlenko (UKR) and new record holder YiLing Song (CHN) won the women's speed final ahead of Aleksandra Rudzinska (POL).

In the men's boulder final, a diverse set of problems split the field but kept the scores close up until the last, deciding problem. Problem 1 involved a coordination jump and a tricky mantle to finish, which Sasha Lehmann (SUI) and Anze Peharc (SLO) flashed. Tomoa Narasaki (JPN) and Alexei Rubtsov (RUS) flashed the steep compression moves on problem 2. Manu Cornu (FRA) flashed problem 3 - a slab boulder involving balance and precision. With the scores relatively level, it all came down to the final problem, which forced the athletes to jump into a horizontal toe-hook before compressing into some awkward final moves. Only Peharc managed to complete the problem, which put him in 3rd place. Cornu's successful flash attempt to reach the zone placed him ahead of Narasaki, who also flashed to the zone but failed to top. An illegal start on problem 3 unfortunately cost Narasaki a valuable attempt and ultimately, the win.

The women's final was equally changeable, with a mix of old-school crimpy problems and new-school compression and jumps between volumes. The fingery problem 1 was flashed by Futaba Ito (JPN), Jessica Pilz (AUT), Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) and Janja Garnbret (SLO). Probem 2 caused each climber to question their method on the crimpy starting sequence, with some awkward body positions complicating the top moves. Pilz was the first athlete to top, followed by Noguchi and Garnbret. Requiring one more attempt to score the zone than Noguchi, Garnbret was provisionally ranked 2nd behind Noguchi heading into the third problem. Petra Klingler (SUI), Noguchi and Garnbret all topped problem 3 by negotiating an off-balance manoeuvre from a shoulder-press onto a slab. Garnbret's flash earned her one more attempt in which to complete the final problem. Both Pilz and Noguchi topped the 'fridge-hugging' compression problem up the 55 degree overhang, with Noguchi putting the pressure on Garnbret to top in 6 attempts or fewer. Garnbret fell on the first move, but smoothly solved the powerful movements on her second attempt to comfortably take the win.

The next round is in Wujiang, China, 3rd-5th May.

IFSC Climbing Worldcup (B,S) - Chongqing (CHN) 2019