The 2018 IFSC Boulder World Championships finals in Innsbruck weren't short of suspense and emotion. Team GB's Nathan Phillips qualified for his first IFSC senior final and placed 6th. Hannah Slaney finished a very commendable 11th place in the semi-finals - just a few weeks after her World Youth Championship win in Moscow - while Billy Ridal also qualified for semis and finished in 20th place.

Nathan told UKC:

"Making finals has been a lifetime ambition and it felt amazing to make it a reality. Once I was in, I was just so happy to be there it really didn't matter what position I finished in. More finals to come hopefully!"

Janja Garnbret (SLO) dominated the qualifiers and semis, being the only athlete to flash 3 problems in the tough semi-final round. A complex first final problem involving a multi-move coordination jump was first solved by Staša Gejo (SRB). Garnbret topped the problem to rank in 1st place after boulder 1. No tops were achieved on W2, but Garnbret topped W3 and secured the World Champion title with one problem to spare. Seemingly overcome by the gravity of her achievement, Janja lacked her usual power on W4 and looked distracted. "I just felt so weak!" she told IFSC commentator Charlie Boscoe afterwards. "My coaches were shouting 'You are World Champion!'" When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of her round, Garnbret burst into tears on realising her bouldering goal for the year, having dominated the Lead circuit for so long and placed a disappointing 2nd in the Lead event due to time just days before.

Multi-time World Cup champion Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) placed 2nd, once again coming close to an elusive World Champion title. Staša Gejo completed the podium, winning Serbia's first World Championship medal.

In the men's event, three of the six finalists were Japanese - Kai Harada, Keita Watabe and Kokoro Fujii - alongside Jongwon Chon (KOR), Gregor Vezonik (SLO) and Nathan Phillips. 2018 Boulder World Cup champion Jernej Kruder (SLO) and 2016 World Champion Tomoa Narasaki (JPN), despite leading qualifications, missed one top in semis and were out of the finals. Kokoro qualified in 1st place for the finals, but it was his compatriot Harada who changed up a gear in the finals with 4 tops in 7 attempts - 2 of which were flashes.

Following his visible disappointment in the World Youth Championships last month (where he placed 3rd) Harada burst into tears following a smooth flash of Problem 4 to take the his first Gold medal in a senior IFSC event. Chon achieved 3 tops in 9 attempts to take 2nd place, a feat matched by Gregor Vezonik in more attempts for zones to place 3rd.

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