The 2018 IFSC Boulder World Cup series kicked off in Meiringen, Switzerland this weekend. A new wave of young athletes, new rules and new formats ahead of the Olympics made for a highly anticipated and exciting event.
© IFSC/Eddie Fowke
Prior to 2018, attempts to tops in Bouldering broke ties in tops, followed by bonus holds if still tied. Now, bonus holds (called "Zones" in 2018) break ties in tops: Number of Tops (T) / Number of Zones (Z) / Number of attempts to Tops / Number of attempts to Zones. This season, a format change will mean that finals run separately for men and women, rather than simultaneously.
Results below highlights video (don't scroll if you don't want to know!!)
IFSC Climbing Worldcup (B) - Meiringen (SUI) 2018
Team GB's Shauna Coxsey placed 6th in a strong field whilst visibly cautious following recovery from her recent finger injury. She commented on Instagram: 'I definitely didn't feel ready to compete for first place. It's just a bit too soon for me to be up there with the girls fighting for gold. But I tried hard. I had fun. And I'm walking away with a smile! My finger feels good! Now I need to spend some time climbing and get used to competition boulders again.'
Leah Crane qualified for semi-finals and finished in 9th, narrowly missing out on a place in the finals. Nathan Phillips was one place away from semis in 21st.
Jernej Kruder (SLO) took home his first Gold in an IFSC Boulder World Cup and Miho Nonaka (JPN) and teammate Akiyo Noguchi gave Janja Garnbret (SLO) a run for her money. Sandra Lettner (AUT) placed 4th in her first IFSC World Cup and is one to watch out for in the rest of the 2018 season.
The next round is in Moscow, Russia this weekend.
Full finals replay below:
Comments
It's interesting that after making the effort to reduce the time of finals by axing the 4+ rule they've now almost doubled it by running the men's and women's final separately.
But it did make it more predictable, which I assume was the objective.
Except it was shorter because too many women flashed their problems.
And it was longer because the clocks in Switzerland aren't what they're reputed to be!
:-)
Could someone explain what the first paragraph actually means to a dense person?
Cheers
1. Highest no. of top-outs wins.
2. If tied, highest no. of zones (a.k.a. bonuses) wins.
3. If tied, fewest attempts to achieve successful top-outs wins.
4. If tied, fewest attempts to achieve successful zones wins.
The order of nos. 2 & 3 above has been reversed since last year, so zone success is now more important than top-out attempts.
Previously the scores were ranked thus:
1. Number of tops (more is better)
2. Number of attempts to top (fewer is better)
3. Number of bonus holds (more is better)
4. Number of attempts to bonus holds (fewer is better)
So a climber A who achieved 3 tops in 7 attempts and 3 bonuses in 3 attempts (3t7 3b3) would beat a climber B who achieved 3 tops in 10 in attempts and 4 bonuses in 4 attempts (3t10 4b4). They got the same number of tops, but A took fewer attempts - there is no need to drop down to bonus holds at number of attempts to top were not tied.
This year the bonus hold has been renamed the 'zone' hold (which it was originally called anyway I believe, but don't quote me on that, and the order has been changed thus:1. Number of tops (more is better)
2. Number of zones (more is better)
3. Number of attempts to tops (fewer is better)
4. Number of attempts to zone holds (fewer is better) The same two climbers' scores would now be A - 3t3z 7 3, B - 3t4z 10 4, and this time climber B wins. They got the same number of tops, but B got more zone holds - there is no need to drop down to attempts as number of zones were not tied. NB if you don't know, the zone / bonus hold is single hold on each problem, somewhere half way up, marked as such.