In the scorching final round of the IFSC Boulder World Cup, Shauna Coxsey blasted her way to gold: flashing every problem in the final and finishing overall second in the world this season. Liam Lonsdale reports.
The final round of the IFSC Boulder World Cup 2015 was held in Munich this weekend. With temperatures way above 30°c in the arena, the record-breaking number of competitors (121 men, 85 women) were up against challenging conditions, as well as some very difficult boulders, courtesy of IFSC Head Setter Manu Hassler and his team.
Men’s qualifiers
Team GB, coached by Mark Glennie, got underway with Dave Barrans in group one, who started well by topping the steep and very dynamic first boulder on his third go. Following his success on bloc one, Dave came out all guns blazing and flashed the second burly bloc. Dave finished his quali-fication (2t4 4b8) in a very respectable 37th place in the competition, put-ting him in 41st position overall for the season. Congratulations Dave.
Next out for the men was newly-crowned British Bouldering Champion Tyler Landman, who was in qualifying group two. Tyler, better known for his rock exploits, made a recent transition back into competition climbing and has been trying his hand at a couple of world cups. After flashing two boulders and topping one second go, it all came down to the last boulder. Tyler needed a top to be in with a chance of qualifying; unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Tyler finished in 29th overall with 3t4 3b4.
Nathan Phillips and Billy Ridal were the younger members of the British contingent and both put in strong performances. Nathan managed to top two of his five blocs finishing with 2t5 3b6 placing him 43rd overall. A special mention for Billy, who, at his first-ever senior world cup and at 18 years old, came out and flashed his first boulder in impressive style, and then came incredibly close to topping the final boulder that so many had struggled with, finishing with 1t1 2b2 putting him 55th in the competition.
Women’s qualifiers
Another challenging set of blocs and Shauna Coxsey was the first GB competitor to get involved. Putting in a consistent and seemingly casual performance, she only struggled with one of the blocs, putting her third in her group with 4t8 4b8.
Leah Crane was the second competitor out for the GB Ladies. Leah put in a determined and tenacious performance, however this wasn’t to be her day. After dropping one problem from the top hold whilst attempting to match it, she finished with 1t2 2b3 and in 49th place overall.
The final GB competitor of the day was to be the young Tara Hayes in her first senior world cup appearance. Tara climbed incredibly well and man-aged to top three of her five boulders, qualifying for a place in semi finals with 3t6 3b5.
Semi finals
Conditions were marginally cooler at the start of semi-finals and with promising young Brit Tara Hayes out first, the rest of the team looked on to see how she would fare. Tara didn’t seem to get into the rhythm of the first dynamic bloc, but didn’t let this distract her. She kept fighting for the second and third, showing tenacity and determination. In her first semi-finals appearance of her senior career, at her first senior world cup, Tara held it together and managed to top her final bloc of the day in eight attempts, a problem that many failed to summit, including overall World Cup Series Winner Akiyo Noguchi. Tara finished in a very respectable 16th place.
Next out for Britain was Shauna Coxsey. Shauna also couldn’t get to grips with bloc one, so would need to pull out a near perfect performance on the next three blocs to be in with a chance of making the finals. Going on to flash bloc two, taking bloc three 3rd go and needing bloc four to be in with a chance of making finals, she topped it on her second attempt, meaning she would now have to wait to see how the remaining competitors, Fanny Gibert (FRA) and Miho Nonaka (JAP), would get on. Fanny topped the bloc with difficulty, but the successful ascent put her in third place. Miho needed to do the bloc in less than four attempts to knock Shauna out, but only managed it in six – meaning Shauna was through to the finals in fifth place. With Miho not making finals this meant that Shauna was guaranteed 2nd place overall in the IFSC 2015 World Cup Series.
Final
After a season of battling with a partial tear of her A2 pulley on her middle finger, Shauna herself admitted she’d been performing at considerably less than 100% across every round, suffering with massive swelling and pain after each competition. Now with her finger healed - just weaker rather than injured, it was time for her to show the world what she could do.
Bloc one of the finals was a powerful and steep boulder on big open holds. Akiyo Noguchi (JAP) was out first, and after dominating all season (already claiming enough points to take the overall championship) she was definitely tipped to win the gold at Munich. When she couldn’t top the first bloc, it meant two things: the boulder was super hard and the field was open. Shauna was second out and waited on the mats looking relaxed and calm. As she pulled through the move that Akiyo had fallen from with with relative ease, the crowd erupted. Shauna cruised her way to a flash of the boulder (1t1).
The other female finalists also struggled with bloc one, only Megan Mas-carenas managing to top it on her second go. Shauna came out to the second bloc and wowed the thousands in the crowd with another flash. She then continued to flash the remaining two blocs, putting in a perfect four tops in four attempts, guaranteeing her the gold medal and second place overall in the championship.
Results
Shauna Coxsey - Munich 1st Place - Overall 2nd Place
Dave Barrans - Munich 37th Place - Overall 41st Place
The GB Climbing Team is supported by the BMC and the Route Setting Association . The GB Bouldering team are sponsored by the Arch Climbing Centre , London.
If you would like to more images from the event you can check out the BMC Instagram feed where photographer and writer Liam Lonsdale took over for the weekend.
www.instagram.com/teambmc
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