On the 27th and 28th of June was the final round of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup, in Laval France.

British competition star Shauna Coxsey competed alongside a strong team from Britain, coming 5th in Laval putting her overall position at 2nd place - a brilliant result!

This was the event that everyone had been waiting for. Shauna has had a brilliant season, winning two gold medals and leading the pack right up until the penultimate round in Haiyang, China.

Would she win the World Cup?

Shauna looked strong throughout the final event, but was unable to hold off an on-form Akiyo Noguchi in the final who won the Laval event. Akiyo took first place overall, with Shauna taking a very commendable second place, and Anna Stohr taking third place in this year's World Cup.

In the men's event Rustam Gelmanov dominated the Laval competition, but Jan Hojer has consistently been a major player throughout the season and won overall. Russian Dmitrii Sharafutdinov placed second and Frenchman Guillame Glarion Mondet came third in the overall World Cup.

Team GB sent out a large group of competitors including the current British Bouldering Champions Michaela Tracy and Dave Barrans (UKC News Report). Both put in an excellent effort, just missing out on getting into the finals with Michaela placing 11th and Dave 12th.

Michaela Tracy commented on her excellent result:

"For the qualifying round obviously the confidence from winning the BBC was really helpful, and from the training I had been doing with Zippy. I knew that none of the holds were too small or too rubbish for me to hold because I'd been holding onto some really terrible holds in training. 

Getting into the semi-final was incredible! My goal from the competition was to get into the semi-final, but I wasn't sure if I could do it so when I did it was just unbelievable. I kept forgetting that I had to climb again the next day and I was so excited I think I was the first person into isolation in the morning. When I went out I was just really looking forward to seeing what Percy, Jaime and Jacky had in store for us, and I wasn't disappointed! The problems were really interesting, and I couldn't believe it when I actually got to the top of some.

It was such an adrenaline rush, and when I'd finished I was just so happy I didn't really care what the result was. I think it helped that I'd already exceeded my expectations for the competition, and in the semi-final I just wanted to go out and give it hell. I think we were all a little bit disappointed with the result of the women's, but there are many years ahead and I'm sure that this isn't Shauna's only chance to win the World Cup."

Team GB Results:

5th: Shauna Coxsey
11th: Michaela Tracy
12th: dave Barrans
=32nd: Tom Newman
=32nd: Nathan Phillips
33rd: Jen Wood
40th: Jon partridge
42nd: Diane Merrick

We hope to bring you a more detailed interview with Shauna on her World Cup success soon...

You can watch the Finals below:

You can watch the Semi-Finals below: