In an exciting finale to the World Cup season, Shauna only just lost out to Japan's Miho Nonaka for the gold medal, settling for silver and the 2016 overall title. Meanwhile, the GB Climbing Team's dedication and performance this year earned them the bronze medal. Read on for the full report.
Munich, the last World Cup of 2016
For the past five years, Munich has played host to the conclusion of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup series and this year the tradition continued. The Olympic stadium, which was built for the 1972 Olympic Games, welcomed more than 290 climbers – the highest number of competitors ever seen at a Boulder World Cup.
Representing the GB Climbing Team were Shauna Coxsey, Leah Crane, Tara Hayes, Tyler Landman, Dave Barrans and Nathan Phillips.
After a long break since the last event, our athletes were psyched for the last World Cup of the season.
Leah Crane, GB Climbing Team member, said: “The Bavarian capital is up there on the list of the best comps of the season. The crowd and the venue simply cannot be beaten.”
Qualifiers
It was an epic day and the longest qualifying round in IFSC history at more than 12 hours long; starting at 8am and ending around 8.30pm. Lots of tops were seen which mean there was no margin for error.
Leah said: “For the men, topping the blocs in few attempts really counted. Three competitors topped all five blocs, but were pushed out of a semi-finals spot due to taking too many goes. It's a tough comp when it's like that!”
Each problem was flashed and the placings for semi-finals came more down to attempts rather than tops, especially as 18 male competitors topped all five blocs. This led to a number of crowd favourites and finals veterans not even making it through to semis – Jan Hojer, Rustam Gelmanov, Tyler Landman, Rolands Rugens, or Tsukuru Hori. Meanwhile it was interesting to note that Kokoro Fujii, one of the contenders for the overall title, barely made semis and tied for 9th in his group.
“The Team GB boys did a good job of putting a few blocs away in a flash or a couple of attempts, unfortunately not enough tops to get them through," said Leah. "Tyler finished in 16th, Dave in 29th and Nathan in 34th.”
Later in the day it was time for the women’s qualifiers, which was even tighter than the men’s.
“Temperatures for qualifications were cooler than they've been in the past at Munich and you could really tell," said Leah. "The classic slopers and volumes were super grippy which made attempts on the blocs count even more so than in the men's round.”
Five female athletes tied for first by flashing every problem, including BMC ambassador Shauna Coxsey. Leah Crane made it through to semis with five tops in six attempts, while Tara Hayes was only one bonus hold away from making it through and finished in 21st place.
Leah said: “The blocs were brilliant, all the competitors agreed how fun they were to climb on.”
It was exciting to see that Evgeniya Lapshina, the 19-year-old from Russia, flash every single problem in her first ever senior competition, marking her as one to watch in the future.
Semi finals
Another round of easy problems, especially for the male competitors, saw a few surprising upsets that opened the door to a number of first and second timers to a senior World Cup final.
“The semi-final blocs had a tough act to follow, but the setting team did another great job and delivered fun, powerful blocs but not too high in difficulty,” said Leah.
In the men’s, with eight of the athletes topping all four boulders, the field was once again split by the number of attempts.
The fact that Kokoro Fujii ended up in eighth position, failing to make it through to the final, meant that the winner of the overall World Cup Series would be a foregone conclusion and the gold medal would be going to Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki. However, the standings for second and third place could still be shaken depending on the performance of Alexey Rubtsov who qualified for the final in third place.
In the women’s, five of the six women that qualified for finals topped all the boulders, but it was only Miho Nonaka that flashed all four problems to qualify in first place.
A tricky slab problem saw a slip for Shauna, but she went on to flash the rest of the set to qualify comfortably for finals in second place. Meanwhile, Leah Crane came heartbreakingly close to making finals too.
Leah said: “In the end, I was agonisingly close to the slab problem, with both hands on the top hold for a second, but not in control. It became apparent how close I was to joining Shauna in the finals, if only I had held the slab.
“I was really pleased with my climbing and was even happier to look at the board and see that I would place eighth in this comp. My best score of the season and securing me 11th place in the world ranking.”
As we’ve known for weeks now, Shauna Coxsey would be taking the crown of World Cup Champion this year no matter her performance in Munich, as she amassed enough points with a silver medal in Vail to make her lead insurmountable. But, in a similar vein to the men’s final, second and third places were still up for grabs.
Final
Despite already knowing who would top the overall podiums, there was still a palpable air of excitement and tension heading into finals.
“The sun started to set, the stands filled up as the crowds piled in, the DJ started to play and the finals got underway,” said Leah.
The men’s final was a showcase of athleticism and determination, not to mention a tough lesson on celebrating too early for Manu Cornu of France who had turned to wave at the crowd before matching the top hold when a foot-slip caused an unexpected return to the mat with no successful top recorded.
“To make it worse, he couldn’t get back up there again. Ouch. A lesson for any aspiring comp climber: match first, celebrate second,” said Leah.
But it was the Japanese team who stormed to success, with Tomoa Narasaki taking the win ahead of Jongwon Chon of Korea, confirming his status as overall World Cup Champ, with Alexey Rubstov of Russia in third.
The women’s final started off with an unsolvable bloc where every competitor failed to make the last move, essentially turning it into a three boulder competition. Shauna went on to flash the next boulder alongside Miho Nonaka and Akiyo Noguchi of Japan, which meant it all came down to the last problem.
Akiyo failed to make the bonus hold, and due to countback to semis would be taking the bronze medal. That left it down to Miho and Shauna to see who would take home the last gold medal of the season.
Leah said: “The first move seemed a little obscure with many unsuccessful attempts from the girls. But it was Miho that found a way through and, on her last attempt as the buzzer sounded, she stuck the bonus hold and climbed her way to victory.”
Shauna Coxsey Boulder World Cup Champion
Shauna takes the overall title and celebrates with Leah Crane. Photo: Liam Lonsdale
So Miho took home the gold medal and Shauna settled for silver, but after an amazing season Shauna took the title of Boulder World Cup Champion 2016 the product of a stunning series of performances that included four gold medals and two silver.
Also amazing to see was the GB Climbing Team taking a bronze medal in the overall team rankings, a great achievement and testament to the hard work everyone’s put in this year.
“Team GB is on the up, with Shauna leading the way and inspiring a new generation of climbers," said Leah. "It demonstrates what is possible with a lot of hard work, passion and determination; and a dream.”
Congratulations to all the athletes for their astounding performances this season. We can’t wait to see the next brilliant event: the World Championships in Paris.
WATCH: Highlights of the IFSC Boulder World Cup finals in Munich
VIDEO
Munich results
Women's:
Miho Nonaka (JPN)
Shauna Coxsey (GBR)
Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)
Melissa Le Nevé (FRA)
Stasa Gejo (SRB)
Julija Kruder (SLO)
Men's:
Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)
Jongwon Chon (KOR)
Alexey Rubtsov (RUS)
David Firnenburg (GER)
Mickael Mawem (FRA)
Manuel Cornu (FRA)
2016 overall results
Women's:
Shauna Coxsey (GBR)
Miho Nonaka (JPN)
Melissa Le Nevé (FRA)
Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)
Monika Retschy (GER)
Fanny Gibert (FRA)
Men's:
Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)
Kokoro Fujii (JPN)
Alexey Rubtsov (RUS)
Jongwon Chon (KOR)
Rustam Gelmanov (RUS)
Sean McColl (CAN)
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