Bouldering World Cup 2013: Jakob Schubert and Anna Stöhr Kitzbühel king and queen

Those who watched the finals of the Kitzbühel Bouldering World Cup on Saturday night know they witnessed something special. Not really because of the exciting women's final, a true "mental battle" as Stöhr described it, where not a single mistake was allowed and during which the two prime players, Anna Stöhr and Akiyo Noguchi, proved their extraordinary worth. Countback was eventually needed to separate the two and while all other adversaries were excellent, they failed to keep up with the faultless duo. No, what made this third stage truly special was seeing World Lead Champion Jakob Schubert prove his true mettle: in difficulty and behind compared to the rest of the field after the first two problems, Schubert pulled out all his grit and determination to win the competition not just once, but twice.

Two times? Yes. To understand how we need to take a step back in time: after the second problem Frenchman Glairon was in the lead, the only top was his, no one had even got close and even boulder #3 seemed impossible in what looked like a final that was simply a touch too difficult for all. But Schubert, somehow, locked off where the others failed, held a crimp against all the rules of gravity and sent this sole top. At this point the crowd went wild, but the Frenchman was still in the lead due to his quick top on #2 a few minutes earlier. To win Schubert had to send the last problem and hope that Mondet would fail.

The last problem proved impossible, for all... for Slovenia's Jernej Kruder, for Switzerland's Cédric Lachat and also for Guillaume Glairon Mondet. But not for Schubert who, on a high from his previous send, stuck the awkward sideways dyno on his fourth attempt. Pure joy, gold was his! Now he could sit back, relax, and see who would take silver and bronze: the last out, Russia's Dmitrii Sharafutdinov and Germany's Thomas Tauporn hadn't sent any problems previously so Schubert's gold was safe and sound.

Not so. While they were climbing the speaker shocked everyone with the following announcement: Schubert's starting position on boulder #3 had been deemed incorrect and therefore, at the end of the competition, he'd have another 2 minutes to try it again! A technical incident, shocking news which obviously changed things completely and which would have upset anyone. The crowd hushed and everyone wondered how Schubert would react, but there was no time to think because regular competition time had just come to an end... And out came the Austria: he knew, it was clear to see, that his time had come and, making the most of the crowd's energy, he transformed the "initial delusion into a new motivation", sending the problem in less than 30 seconds! Gold was his, for the second time! Immediately after the competition he defined that moment at "one of the most special moment I've ever experienced in climbing." Those who watched the competition on Saturday night can easily understand why.





IFSC Climbing Worldcup Boulder Kitzbühel (AUT) 2013
Men
1 Jakob Schubert AUT 2t7 4b9
2 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA 1t2 2b2
3 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS 1t3 3b3
4 Thomas Tauporn GER 0t 4b10
5 Cédric Lachat SUI 0t 3b5
6 Jernej Kruder SLO 0t 3b9

Women
1 Anna Stöhr AUT 4t4 4b, 4t6 4b6
2 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 4t4 4b4, 4t8 4b8
3 Alex Puccio USA 4t6 4b6
4 Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t4 3b3
5 Mina Markovic SLO 2t4 4b5
6 Katharina Saurwein AUT 2t4 3b4