UKC

IFSC Boulder World Cup Meiringen: Report

© IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing

The IFSC Bouldering World Cup kicked off its season in style over the weekend with the first round in Meiringen, Switzerland. Without the likes of Anna Stöhr, Jan Hojer and Sean McColl (who failed to make the final), we were treated to some relatively fresh faces. Not least, sixteen year old Janja Garnbret, who never failed to podium in the junior category. Ultimately the gold medals were won by Russian Alexey Rubtsov and Britain’s very own Shauna Coxsey.

The women's podium  © IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing
The women's podium
© IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing

Tyler Landman finished 6th overall after a close final.  © IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing
Tyler Landman finished 6th overall after a close final.
© IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing
The men’s qualification round offered no real surprises, with favourites Rustam Gelmanov, Sean McColl, last year’s winner Jongwon Chon and Jan Hojer all comfortably booking their places in the next round. The women’s qualification was similar, except for the glaring omission of Anna Stöhr, who missed out on the semi final by two attempts.

Team GB had one of their best competitions since the days of Andy Earl, Mark Croxall and Gareth Parry. There were five climbers from the UK in the semi finals, Tyler Landman and Dave Barrans for the men and Shauna Coxsey, Michaela Tracy and Leah Crane for the women.

The semi final was where the upsets began to happen. Last year’s overall winner Jongwon Chon failed to make a dent in the results coming 16th. Other notable scalps include Jan Hojer (9th), Rustam Gelmanov (12th) and Sean McColl (20th). Great Britain’s Tyler Landman performed superbly and qualified for the Final in 1st. Dave Barrans finished 16th, a score which does not accurately represent his round, as he got further on the first problem than any other competitors.

Watching the Brits in the bouldering World Cup is often similar to those Wimbledon knock out rounds with Tim Henman. Shauna failed to complete the first two problems, meaning she had to complete the last two to have a hope of reaching the final. The country watched through their fingers as she comfortably topped them – what were we worried about?

Perhaps the most impressive performance was from the young Slovenian – Janja Garnbret. As mentioned, Janja’s previous competitions have never seen her come lower than second. Garnbret dominated the semi final, completing all four boulder problems – perhaps showing a glimpse into the future. Michaela Tracy and Leah Crane finished 8th and 11th respectively.

Michaela Tracy looking suitably happy  © IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing
Michaela Tracy looking suitably happy
© IFSC/Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing
The Women’s final round was a close battle between Melissa Le Neve (FRA) and Shauna. The competition came down to the final problem, where Le Neve could have flashed the climb to win. Despite coming extremely close on dynamic slab, Le Neve was unsuccessful leaving Shauna with the gold medal.

Shauna told UKC that "After months of training and hard work over the winter it felt amazing to stand on top of the podium at the first World Cup of the season. All of the sessions spent indoors on perfect grit days and hanging of a beastmaker in the cellar when the sun was shining outside are worth it for moments like that though. I can't wait for the second World Cup."

She also explained that "the season's going to be really long, but my coach has planned the training so I can cope with that, and I put all my trust in him and clearly he knows what he's talking about, so that's good!"

This was the first time in a Bouldering World Cup where Great Britain had a competitor in both the Men’s and Women’s Final. Tyler Landman put in a fantastic display of technique and power in his skinny trousers, leaving him within sight of the gold medal when he walked out to try the final problem. Tyler had to complete the climb in two attempts to finish top and came agonisingly close, staring at the finishing hold. Unfortunately, he could not finish the problem and came 6th overall; a score which does not represent how close the competition was.

The next round of the World Cup takes place this weekend (23rd and 24th April) in Kazo, Japan.

There were a few problems with the live streaming of the event. Commentator Charlie Boscoe said:

"The only disappointment from the weekend was the problems with the Youtube live streaming. Having covered quite a few World Cups in various capacities, this was my first time as IFSC lead commentator and although I was blissfully unaware of any issues during the final, it was frustrating to find out afterwards that we had only been live sporadically. The technical team at the IFSC has been strengthened considerably over the winter, which makes the issues (which I'm told were related to the venue's internet connection) doubly annoying because we were hoping that the days of live streaming problems would be over. 

This weekend we head to Japan for Round 2 and I'm assured that the live streaming will work just fine this time around; here's hoping. For those keen enough to miss a night's sleep, we are live from midnight (UK time) until 2.am on Sunday morning with the semi finals and then again from 5am until 9am (ish, the exact time will depend on how long the climbers take on the boulders) on Sunday with the finals. If you'd rather get some sleep and watch the replays, they will be on youtube a few hours after the end of the competition. Let's hope Round 2 can live up to the action from last weekend."

Watch a short highlights film of the finals below. For the full highlights of the finals click HERE

Men's Final Results

#

NAME

NATIONALITY

SCORE

1 RUBTSOV Alexey RUS 2t6 3b10
2 STRANIK Martin CZE 2t6 2b6
3 VERHOEVEN Jorg NED 2t7 4b10
4 LEVIER Alban FRA 1t1 2b2
5 SCHUBERT Jakob AUT 1t3 3b14
6 LANDMAN Tyler GBR 1t3 2b4

 

Women's Final Results

#

NAME

NATIONALITY

SCORE

1 COXSEY Shauna GBR 3t5 4b6
2 LE NEVE Melissa FRA 2t4 4b6
3 MASCARENAS Megan USA 1t1 3b3
4 NOGUCHI Akiyo JPN 0t0 3b7
5 GARNBRET Janja SLO 0t0 2b2
6 KAISER Clementine FRA 0t0 1b3

 

For full results click HERE

 


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18 Apr, 2016
In the opening paragraph it says Sean McColl wasn't there, then it talks about him going out in the semis in 20th spot. I'm confused.....
18 Apr, 2016
I think it means in the sense that they didn't make it through to the finals ... all of those athletes, were competing. LL
18 Apr, 2016
Ah...ok. I think that might need re-writing then as that's not how I rad it! Great to see such a good British turn out and so many in the semis. I'd like to hear a bit more about the Brits in the semi-finals, Leah and Tracey seem to be added as an end note.
18 Apr, 2016
Am I right in saying that Martin Stranik would have jumped from 2nd to 1st if he had just reached down and touched the bonus hold (that he was stood on) with his hand on the final boulder? That must have been pretty frustrating when he realised!
18 Apr, 2016
No, you are wrong. He would have had to 'use' the bonus :-) A small but significant difference :-)
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