IFSC Vail World Cup 2011 Finals Rundown Problems 1 and 2
The finalists, just before finals. | Jackie Hueftle
Finals 1
Finals started off well, with both Angie Payne and Jonas Baumann flashing their first problems.
Angie Payne used the big stretch method to flash women's 1 | Jackie Hueftle
Jonas working out the mantle on men's final 1 | Jackie Hueftle
The rest of the women followed suit on women’s 1, though they used various methods to get to the finish including Jain Kim’s committing jump:
Jain was the shortest female competitor, but she can jump!!! | Jackie Hueftle
Men’s one was easily dispatched by Dmitry as well, but then some trouble started…
Chris Webb-Parsons trying to figure out final 2 | Jackie Hueftle
Guillaume Glairon Mondet suck sideways on men's 2 | Jackie Hueftle
Chris and Guillaume epic-ed trying to stick that orange blob. The both hit the top and barn doored off. Then Guillaume tried grabbing a lower part of the hold.
Gui stuck the bottom and held the swing, but he couldn't move and had to drop off | Jackie Hueftle
Kilian flashed the problem, and then it was left to the #1 qualifier and shortest male competitor Rei Sugimoto. Things started out much as the had for Chris and Guillaume, and Rei fell repeatedly trying to stick the orange blob. Then this happened:
Rei kept trying and eventually made an amazing stick to send the problem | Jackie Hueftle
Finals 2
Women’s final 2 was a balancy mantle followed by an over-the-head dyno to two decent looking jugs, then a campus move and another mantle/lock-off to the finish.
The crowd was ecstatic when Angie stuck the dyno | Jackie Hueftle
Angie finishing finals problem 2 | Jackie Hueftle
Akiyo Nogcuhi showing good form on the dyno | Jackie Hueftle
Unfortunately she was unable to stick it | Jackie Hueftle
Jain Kim did her best, but she couldn't get the distance | Jackie Hueftle
Chris Webb-Parsons trying hard on men's 2 while Jain takes a winger on the dyno | Jackie Hueftle
Even Anna Stöhr took a few good falls here | Jackie Hueftle
Then she stuck it! | Jackie Hueftle
Melissa La Neve also eventually succeeded on this one. Not this try though. | Jackie Hueftle
Alex Puccio had a hard time figuring out her trajectory and didn't stick it | Jackie Hueftle
Men’s 2 was a tension/sloper masterpiece set by French master Jacky Godoffe American master Kynan Waggoner! (During the comp it was wrongly announced as Jacky’s problem. Sorry for the mix-up.) Once again, Jonas came out first and looked strong, but the problem proved to challenge everybody and only Kilian was able to flash it.
Jonas started out strong, falling with his hand on the finish jug | Jackie Hueftle
Chris Webb-Parsons had some trouble with the bottom, then rallied and made a great last-ditch effort, falling just short of the finish | Jackie Hueftle
Guillaume cheated the sequence by crimping the right arete. He had trouble up higher though, and did not finish the problem. | Jackie Hueftle
Kilian flashing men's 2 | Jackie Hueftle
Rei fighting his way up, only to fall off the last move | Jackie Hueftle
To recap problems 1 and 2:
Women’s 1
All flashed
Women’s 2
Angie Payne – 6th go
Akiyo Noguch – No bonus/top
Jain Kim – No bonus/top
Melissa La Neve – 3rd go
Alex Puccio – No bonus/top
Anna Stöhr – 4th go
Men’s 1
Kilian – f
Dmitry – f
Jonas – f
Rei – 3rd go
Guillaume – no top, bonus 1st go
Chris – no top, bonus 2 go
Men’s 2
Kilian – f
Dmitry – 2 go
Jonas – No, bonus 1st go
Rei – No, bonus 1st go
Guillaume – No, bonus 3rd go
Chris – No, bonus 8th go
Problems 3 and 4 and some fun facts and more photos coming soon!
The Spot Route Setting Blog 
Any inside info about the hair of CWP?
Also a photo of the correct push off position for the dyno in W2, and the incorrect push of position of puccio would be highly illustrational.
Ah, yes, well Chris let the Vail Athletic Club youth team give him a haircut for finals. He was a good sport and they were psyched. His head is fully shaved now.
: )
Thanks for the pics Jackie. Just a FYI, Mens Two was set by American setting master Kynan Waggoner.
Thanks Helt! I guess Timmy had it wrong when he announced it. That makes more sense though–the top hold block was definitely a Kynan maneuver. I’ll change it. Nice problem Kynan!
Ok, more info on the hair. If you watched the live broadcast of the Vienna finals you will have heard Chris and Alex Johnson announcing. Chris apparently spent a large part of the time making fun of the Russian mullet sported by Rustam Gelmanov. Graeme Alderson, head of the IFSC, made a bet with Chris that if he made finals he had to let Graeme cut his hair. Chris made finals, so Adam Markert (coach of the VAC team) and Graeme went to iso to give him the chop. Apparently the bet goes both ways though, so if Chris makes finals at the next event in Sheffield, Graeme has to let Chris cut his hair.
I’m sure graeme would like to be head of the IFSC (actually i’m sure he would not) but he is “only” the technical delegate for al bouldering comps.
Well, shoot. I’m just full of wrong information. I’ll blame Adam Markert for that one, and remember to do my research in the future. : )
As for Alex’s jump trajectory, I didn’t have a great angle and I don’t have the pictures to illustrate what was going wrong. Basically instead of jumping straight up (as you can see Jain, Akiyo, and Melissa doing), Alex was pretty much jumping straight backwards. After a few goes she did jump up, but with a twist and only one hand got close to grabbing a hold. Being Alex, I’m pretty sure that if she had gotten that left hand on that jug she could have stuck it one-armed. Unfortunately she was unable to get on the hold before her time was up.