UKC

RAB CWIF Finals Report

© Nick Brown

The Rab CWIF 2017 is over and it certainly didn't disappoint. With a long list of seasoned IFSC World Cup competitors as well as some seriously strong outdoor boulderers, there was talk of this year's event being a 'World Cup plus'. German star Alex Megos became the first male to regain a CWIF Champion title and Mélissa le Nevé of France broke Shauna Coxsey's 5-time winning streak in her absence. Michaela Tracy and Matt Cousins did their home crowd proud, finishing in 3rd and 4th place respectively.

Women's Podium: Le Nevé, Klingler and Tracy  © Nick Brown
Women's Podium: Le Nevé, Klingler and Tracy
© Nick Brown

Alex's participation in all stages of the competition was uncertain, thanks to a lingering finger injury that is clearly causing him some issues. Jongwon Chon had dominated the qualifying and semi-final rounds and initially looked set to take the win in the finals as he floated up a seemingly impossible jump problem, but the slab on Men's 3 wasn't to his liking.

Fortunately for Alex, two slab problems saved the day throughout the event: the one that qualified him for finals and the one that he topped to win in the final. Having struggled on some of the steeper, crimpier problems due to his injury, Alex then excelled on the filthy slab that - luckily for him - appeared to have no holds on it anyway. The only climber to top this problem, Alex bowed down to the slab at the end of the event...with a cup of tea in hand. Only two tops were achieved in the entire men's final, showing the difficulty of the problems that were expertly set by Percy Bishton and his team. Great Britain's Matt Cousins put in a valiant effort throughout the round to finish in 4th place behind Italian dark horse, Michael Piccolruaz.

Alex Megos floats in mid-air whilst falling off on the flash of Men's 3  © Natalie Berry
Alex Megos floats in mid-air whilst falling off on the flash of Men's 3
© Natalie Berry

Matt Cousins in deep concentration on the slab  © Natalie Berry
Matt Cousins in deep concentration on the slab
© Natalie Berry

Alex Megos bows down to the slab that helped him to victory...  © Natalie Berry
Alex Megos bows down to the slab that helped him to victory...
© Natalie Berry

Men's Podium: Chon, Megos and Piccolruaz  © Nick Brown
Men's Podium: Chon, Megos and Piccolruaz
© Nick Brown

In the women's final, current World Champion Petra Klingler was the one to watch, having topped the leaderboard in both of the previous rounds. Complete with a 'robotic' knee support following an injury at the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup in January, Petra didn't seem too phased by her injury. In the final round, however, it was Mélissa le Nevé who came out on top; clearly demonstrating her current form after ticking her first 8B+ in Font last week.

Mélissa takes the win with problem 4 (CWIF 2016)  © Nick Brown
Mélissa takes the win with problem 4 (CWIF 2016)
© Nick Brown

The last women's problem was topped only by Mélissa, which sealed her victory after a close-fought round with Petra. Team GB's Michaela Tracy put her trademark enthusiasm to good use, constantly smiling and enjoying every minute of the final as she climbed to third place behind Petra and just ahead of former World Champion Jule Wurm.

In the team event, there was a joint winner with Team Scarpa UK (Michaela Tracy, Nathan Phillips, Matt Cousins and Dave Barrans) and Team J-WAD (Jimmy Webb, Jernej Kruder, Julia Kruder and Jongwon Chon) achieving equal scores.

Now all eyes are on the 2017 IFSC Boulder World Cup circuit, which kicks off on 7th April in Meiringen, Switzerland.

Michaela fighting hard on women's 4  © Nick Brown
Michaela fighting hard on women's 4
© Nick Brown

photo
Men's results

photo
Women's results

Watch the replay of the finals below:


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20 Mar, 2017
If I'm reading the scoreboard correctly Megos won due to less attempts on the problem he climbed, even though he trailed Chon on bonus holds ? Has this always be the case - it seems the wrong way round to me.
20 Mar, 2017
didn't actually catch the final, but its always been that the most top outs in fewest goes wins. Bonus holds are just for tie breaks
20 Mar, 2017
It was a strong field, but the setting in the men's finals was really awful, with uninteresting movement and single show-stopper moves that shut down the climbers. The women's problems were a little better, but not by much. At least we can look forward to World Cup season soon. Go Shauna!
20 Mar, 2017
It has always been like this because Tops have primacy. That is what climbing is all about, getting to the top. BTW bonus is the term used because Tie Break Hold (which is all it is) is less easily understood across the world and it is too long to fit onto results screens etc.
20 Mar, 2017
I thought it was about having fun :) Obviously tops have primacy, but it's the second decider which I was surprised at. I didn't realise the number of failures counted against you, or rather it counts more than getting the bonus hold on another problem. So Megos wins by virtue of getting one problem 2nd go, as opposed to Chon who got his 4th go, yet Chon got to the bonus hold on 2 other problems rather than Megos on one. What constitutes an attempt - both feet off the floor ?
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