Vienna Bouldering World Cup - Women's Finals - Intro & Problems 1 & 2

Intro

They started off the comp by presenting and interviewing the athletes while background music from The Pirates of the Caribbean played. The announcer spoke in English and Austrian (?). Dmitrii said he wanted to win. Rei Sugimoto said that he wants to have fun. Rustam Gelmanov slept through the presentation. Overall it was pretty funny. It’s nice that they are giving the athletes a little more face time though so the audience knows more who they are cheering for if they are not climbers or do not follow the circuit.

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Women’s 1

As soon as the men’s presentation ended Anna Stöhr, the first female climber, came out and literally ran up problem number 1. Chris Webb-Parsons was back as an announcer, which is always enjoyable. Before they even got started announcing Anna sent. She did it so fast I nearly missed it.

Anna on the flash of final 1

Next Mina Markovic came out and did exactly the same thing.

Seconds later Mina was back in iso and Olga Shalagina came out. I remember Olga from competing in Juniors in 2001. She absolutely dominated my category and also did better than several of the more notable boys as the girl’s category climbed one of their qualifier routes as a semifinal.

Olga came out and immediately slipped off the start foot (I think?). She got the foot brushed and got back on the problem, attempted a double dyno, and fell out of the camera frame in a strange position.

She grabbed her knee and lay on the mat and a physio team quickly hurried down.

More assistants came down and surrounded Olga with a sheet for privacy.

The privacy sheet

After several minutes they moved Olga off the mat behind the sheet so nobody in the audience could see what was happening. They kept updating us via the announcers as to what her progress was throughout the comp, and I put those comments in below.

After the injury the next climber out was Akiyo Noguchi. She deadpointed the first long move, jumped to match the volume, and easily finished the problem.

Akiyo on the volume.

Shauna Coxsey was next and she flashed as well.

Shauna grabbing the last hold.

Alex Puccio came out last and she also hiked it.

Alex doing the volume match at the bottom of the problem.

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Final 2

Chris Webb said that it is very hot out and it’s making it hard to hold the holds. He gave us an update about Olga, apparently she has ligament damage to her knee, and they doubt she will continue with the competition. This is very unfortunate for Olga. Everyone else continued on schedule.

Anna Stöhr nearly flashed problem two, only to fall matching the final hold. She gave it another go and fell grabbing the top volume (where she is in the picture) before the last hold. She shook out and rested, waiting to give it one more go. She got on, then fell unexpectedly in the middle volume at a difficult turn around. With seconds left she got back on the problem and took more care with the volume flip. It seems that again with the heat the volumes are quite slippery. She again stuck the difficult dyno at the top that she fell on 1st go, hit the final hold, and fell off fighting to match it. Apparently that last hold was quite slippery and she was unable to stabilize enough to match it.

Anna at the low volumes.

Mina Markovic was next. She climbed easily but carefully through the bottom using a slightly different method than Anna did.

Mina matching the volume without flipping to the higher edge. She rocked out left and deadpointed the bonus hold (the triangle volume to the left) before flipping her hand.

She stuck the top deadpoint first go, then fell trying to match it. She shook out and waited, then got back on the problem. This time she fell, like Anna on her 2nd go, trying to stick the deadpoint to the top volume. She grabbed it, but slipped right off. 3rd go she again stuck the deadpoint, with a much slower jump. She matched the last volume, grabbed the final hold, hung low with straight arms, and used a left foot toe hook on the bonus volume to stabilize and match for the top points.

Mina in position to jump for the high volume. She stuck it and finished the problem. Her toe was hooked on the volume where her left hand is now when she matched the final hold.

Akiyo came out and after much maneuvering and a couple of very fashionable drop knees fell, like Anna, trying to match the final hold.

Trying one method

And another method

Lots of twisting

Deadpointing to the bonus hold

Dropknee crossing instead of jumping

She matched the top volume and moved out left, but instead of Mina’s left toe hook Akiyo tried a left heel hook, and she also put her right toe hook into the low volume. Still the hold was too slippery and she was unable to match. She fought but you could see her realize she wasn’t going to be able to stay on long enough to match.

She actually fell off from here. So did Anna.

Fighting to stay on

She rested on the mat until her last seconds, asked the crowd for support, and got back on the problem. The second time she moved more quickly through the bottom of the problem though she again used the drop knees and the scary deadpoint to the bonus hold. This time she grabbed the finish hold and matched quickly, before things got slippery. She seemed very relieved and happy with the send.

The second time she hung low on her right hand and moved quickly to match for success.

Shauna came out and powered through the bottom, then stood for a minute trying to figure out the deadpoint to the top volume. After trying some different foot positions she ended up pogoing with her left foot and sticking the hold left handed!

Shauna pogoing to the left hand.

It looked incredible but she was quite spread out after and when she went to match she slipped off.

Falling off matching

She took a rest and headed back up. Next go she again went left hand but with not quite as much of a jump and she missed the hold and fell. Third go she came out and went right hand, which Chris suggested she might have been avoiding because of her hurt shoulder. Shauna stuck the volume and bumped to the jib but again fell matching it.

She actually stuck the volume, not the jib, but couldn't stay on when she tried to match.

Lastly Alex came out. She moved slowly and seemed to be struggling a bit with the low volumes, but she finally committed to the jump to the top, stuck it, and applied her power to match the jib and the finish hold for the flash.

Alex being delicate with the start

A powerful gaston

Standing and trying to figure out how to get to the bonus

Alex making the most of her knee as she leaned over to the bonus hold. She got it as easily as anyone and with great style as well.

Alex stood here for a few trying to figure out how to get to the next hold. Finally she went with the high backstep.

Nice

Alex quickly got her feet up and matched

Then rocked over to the finish and matched that before it became too slippery to hang onto. Nice flash Alex!

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For more: Women’s Finals – Problems 3 & 4 + Podium!

Men’s coming soon!