Bouldering athletes competed before a sold-out crowd in Munich, Germany, for the final round of the IFSC Boulder World Cup 2017. After a breath-taking season finale, Jongwon Chon of Korea joined Shauna Coxsey atop the season podium to be crowned overall champions, and a thrilling never-before-seen end to the European Championships.
A huge number of the world’s elite boulderers descended on the famous Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, possibly the largest gathering for an IFSC World Cup seen yet. And at the same time, many of the European athletes would be competing to take the title of European Champion.
The GB Climbing Team was out in force with 13 squad members, which is likely the largest team we’ve ever fielded. Sterling efforts from everyone that competed, they always do us proud, and top work to the four team members that made it through to semi-finals – some in their first World Cup ever!
Rob Adie, BMC competitions officer, says: “The GB team were awesome in Munich this weekend – they have had a great season and the fact they managed to finish second in the National Team ranking behind Japan is a huge credit to their effort and determination.
“It was great to see Holly Toothill, Jim Pope, William Bosi and Hannah Slaney in their first World Cups and Hannah’s performance in both qualifiers and semi-finals to gain 13th place after battling through the worst thunder storm I have ever seen and still climbing as horizontal rain hit the wall was incredibly impressive!”
European Championships 2017
After a long and arduous qualifying round, which was split into two groups, and then the semi-finals of the World Cup, a number of our other team members got to compete in the final round of the European Championships and move up the rankings. Despite not making semi-finals, Leah Crane came out strong to finish in ninth place in the European Championships, while Will Bosi got to compete in the men’s to come in 19th.
In a historic finale, due to scoring exactly the same Janja Garnbret of Slovenia went head-to-head with Stasa Gejo of Serbia in the first superfinal ever seen. The two athletes threw themselves at a dyno problem to vie for the title, with Stasa just able to climb a few moves further than Janja to be crowned European Champion.
Meanwhile in the men’s, Jan Hojer was on incredible form in front of his home crowd, and easily took the title with three tops in seven attempts, compared to the three tops in 11 attempts that runner-up and fellow countryman Alex Megos managed.
WATCH: The Superfinal of the European Bouldering Championship 2017
VIDEO
Results: European Championships
Men
Women
4: Shauna Coxsey
Final: IFSC Boulder World Cup Munich
With Jongwon Chon of Korea already cinching the overall title in semi-finals, and BMC ambassador Shauna Coxsey already defending her title in the last round, the pressure was off and yet they still came out guns blazing.
Shauna flashed the first bloc, a powerful problem on volumes with a crux dyno, that only Akiyo Noguchi and Janja Garnbret managed to top also. But Janja took the lead with the only top of W2, and then the only top of W3 came from Stasa Gejo. Coming into W4, Shauna needed another top to cement a podium place. Fighting hard, Shauna worked her way through the crux to match the top on her first go, and after Janja also topped the problem to win the gold medal, Shauna claimed silver and Akiyo Noguchi of Japan took bronze.
In the men’s, Jan Hojer continued his incredible run and kicked it into overdrive. After everyone topped M1, he took the lead by being the only competitor to solve the powerful and dynamic M2 problem. Again, M3 was topped by all athletes, and Hojer needed one final top to secure victory. The crowd went wild when he matched the last hold, as Jan Hojer of Germany claimed two gold medals in one day. Tomoa Narasaki of Japan took silver in Munich and in the overall rankings, while his teammate Taisei Ishimatsu took bronze in the final round.
Rob Adie says: “Obviously Janja and Shauna were in a class of their own again this weekend and it was amazing to see Shauna collect her second IFSC Boulder World Cup Overall Title – massive congratulations to her, but the standout performance of the weekend has to go to Jan Hoer who looked completely unstoppable in the final in front of huge roaring German crowd. The ease with which he did the second problem that none of the other finalists could do, and when he topped his final bloc the roar of the crowd was intense!”
WATCH: The Finals Highlights of the IFSC Boulder World Cup Munich
VIDEO
Results: IFSC Boulder World Cup Munich
Men
Women
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