Bouldering World Cup: Stöhr & Sharafutdinov victorious in Vienna

The Vienna verdict? Stöhr and Sharafutdinov supreme. But before analysing how the two 2007 Bouldering World Champions won in Austria, let's start with Friday's Qualification when the man to beat - Kilian Fischhuber - failed to progress to the next round. It's been years since one of the most successful boulderers of all times has failed to get past the Qualifiers and with the leader out of action, the remaining athletes jumped at the chance. These included, above all, Klemen Becan (SLO), Dmitry Sharafutdinov (RUS), Loïc Gaidioz (FRA), and Jernej Kruder (SLO) who all qualified for the decisive round on Saturday evening, along with Lukas Ennemoser who kept Austrian hopes alive.

In the men's final none of these athletes managed to send any of the first three problems and just when it looked as if it had been set simply far too hard, Dimitry Sharafutdin pulled the rabbit out of the hat and astounded everyone by sending the last problem. In truth, that he is capable of such a feat shouldn't have surprised anyone as apart from the Bouldering World Championship title in Aviles in 2007, the Russian has consistently performed well and won numerous World Cup stages throughout his career. Klemen Becan, usually more comfortable with a rope than with a bouldering mat, also managed the impossible but he had to settle for second place as he had needed one attempt more than the Russian for that lone top. Lucas Ennemoser pleased the home crowd by producing his best performance to date and his three bonus zones netted him bronze, while Gaidioz, Kruder and Gelmanov placed 4th to 6th respectively and were separated by the number of attempts needed to reach their two bonus zones.

In the women's event Austrian champion Anna Stöhr won in front of her home crowd with a devastating run of four tops which left absolutely no room for her adversaries and steers her well clear in the provisional ranking. Alex Puccio from the USA stood on the silver step for the second time this season thanks to her 2 tops, while 2005 Bouldering World Champion Olga Shalagina from the Ukraine won bronze with just one top and 3 bonus zones. One top is all the remaining finalists managed and they were therefore separated by the number of attempts needed and their bonus zones: Jain Kim from Korea narrowly missed the podium in Vienna (after winning in Milan a few weeks ago) to finish fourth, just ahead of Anne-Laure Chevrier from France and Petra Klingler from Switzerland.

The next stage of the Bouldering World Cup will be held in Canmore, Canada on 27-28 May.

Bouldering World Cup – 3rd stage in Vienna, Austria
Men
1. Sharafutdinov Dmitry RUS
2. Becan Klemen SLO
3. Ennemoser Lukas AUT
4. Gaidioz Loïc FRA
4. Kruder Jernej SLO
6. Gelmanov Rustam RUS
Women
1. Stöhr Anna AUT
2. Puccio Alex USA
3. Shalagina Olga UKR
4. Kim Jain KOR
5. Chevrier Anne-Laure FRA
6. Klingler Petra SUI


Bouldering World Cup – Provisional ranking after the 3rd stage in Vienna, Austria
Men
1. Sharafutdinov Dmitry RUS 231 points
2. Fischhuber Kilian AUT 172 points
3. Glairon Mondet Guillaume FRA 171 points
4. Becan Klemen SLO 143 points
5. Gaidioz Loïc FRA 142 points
Women
1. Stöhr Anna AUT 280 points
2. Puccio Alex USA 192 points
3. Noguchi Akiyo JPN 178 points
4. Kim Jain KOR 155 points
5. Le Neve Melissa FRA 112 points<