Anna Stöhr and David Lama win 5th stage of the Bouldering World Cup in Fiera di Primiero

Well yes, it seems as if bouldering belongs to Austria. Not only because the last weekend's World Cup in Fiera di Primiero was won by Anna Stöhr and teammate David Lama, but also because after 5 stages the provisional ranking sees Austria firmly in first place. Naturally the men's field is led by "Mister boulder" Kilian Fischhuber who placed second in Fiera behind his young, "star" teammate. Even more naturally, the women's field ius led by reigning World Champion Anna Stöhr. After winning in Aviles the young Austrian has failed to make even the slightest of mistakes, winning 4 stages out of 5 (in Vail she placed 3rd) and demonstrating her absolute, incontestable supremacy.

So could everything have been taken for granted before the comp? No, seeing that apart from unpredictable Lama's lead right from the start, Fiera di Primiero was the scene of some intense battles which went right down to the wire. Gabriele Moroni from Italy missed the podium by a hair's breadth yet again, and his current 3rd place overall could even turn into silver. Katja Vidmar (sister of the more famous Maja Vidmar and winner of the World Cup Lead) surprised all by winning precious silver. And France "almost completely disappeared"... But let's start at the very beginning.

As mentioned Lama took the lead from the outset, topping out on 5 boulders first go and copied (to some surprise) by Rustam Gelmanov from Russia. In the women's event Akiyo Noguchi from Japan topped 5 in 6 attempts, placing provisional first ahead of even Stöhr and Johannesen from Norway and Lind from Sweden. This just goes to show that bouldering is certainly an unpredictable game, even if at the end of these "terrible" three rounds the best usually make it to the top... In fact, both the Norwegian and Swede failed to make it past the Semi-final, just like the vast majority of the field.

The biggest surprise was Noguchi's second-round elimination and although she still holds provisional second in the world ranking after this unexpected faux-pas, her hopes of overall victory have disappeared as Stöhr climbs slowly but surely to victory. In the Final therefore Stöhr battled it out versus Yulia Abramchuk, the "winner" of the semi-final, young Katja Vidmar, eternal Olga Bibik, Silvie Rajfova and the nineteeen year old Anne-Laure Chevrier.

Both Lama and Fischhuber qualified for the final by topping out on all problesm (5 and 7 attempts respectively) and they were joined by 21 year old Sean Mccoll, Rustam Gelmanov, Tsukuru Hori and Gabriele Moroni. Then it was time for the fireworks: Lama was unstoppable and sent the first three problem straight off, then failed to send problem 4. Fischhuber sent problems 1 and 3 straight off, failed on problem 2 but spent three attempts to send number 4. Exactly two more than Lama. In the meantime Moroni, Gelmanov and McColl played it out on the final problem and all three were in the running for bronze.

Up to this point all three had sent two problems and had failed on problem 2. Moroni had taken the lead with 2 tops in 3 attempts, one more than the others. In the end though both Gelmanov and McColl sent the last problem 3rd go, while Moroni needed 4 to set the record straight. The result: Lama diced with destiny to win, failing on just one problem in the entire comp. Fischhuber placed second, while 21 year old McColl (take heed) produced his best performance to date, winning bronze thanks to the bonus on the impossible second problem. Moroni placed 4th, separated by just one attempt, while Gelmanov placed 5th and Hori 6th.

The women's final left little room for anyone, almost. Stöhr topped 4 in 5 attempts, Katja Vidmar topped 3 and Yulia Abramchuk topped just 1 to secure bronze ahead of (separated by just one attempt) the great Olga Bibik, the athlete of a thousand battles. Rajfova and Chevrier finished 5th and 5th respectively, sending just 1 problem and again separted by the number of attempts needed.


The next stage of the Bouldering World Cup will take place in Montauban, France. Although it's hard to make predictions in this fickle game, it's equally unlikely that Stöhr and Fischhuber will lose the direction towards overall victory. But another thing is certain: bouldering is on the move, just look at the names of the top five. And these include young Gabriele Moroni from Italy!

Results Women World Cup 2008 – Fiera di Primiero
1 Anna Stöhr AUT
2 Katja Vidmar SLO
3 Yulia Abramchuk RUS
4 Olga Bibik RUS
5 Silvie Rajfova CZE
6 Anne-Laure Chevrier FRA
7 Cecile Avezou FRA
8 Nina Caprez SUI
9 Katharina Saurwein AUT
10 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
11 Chloé Graftiaux BEL
12 Natalija Gros SLO
13 Therese Johannesen NOR
14 Angelica Lind SWE
15 Aleksandra Balakireva RUS
16 Juliette Danion FRA
17 Ja In Kim KOR
18 Maud Ansade FRA
19 Helena Lipenska CZE
20 Franziska Saurwein AUT

Results Men World Cup 2008 – Fiera di Primiero
1 David Lama AUT
2 Kilian Fischhuber AUT
3 Sean Mccoll CAN
4 Gabriele Moroni ITA
5 Rustam Gelmanov RUS
6 Tsukuru Hori JPN
7 Jonas Baumann GER
8 Akito Matsushima JPN
9 Lucas Preti ITA
10 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA
11 Masatoshi Sugita JPN
12 Salavat Rakhmetov RUS
13 Michele Caminati ITA
14 Mykhaylo Shalagin UKR
15 Martin Stranik CZE
16 Bruno Macias Matutano ESP
17 Matthias Müller SUI
18 Fabien Dugit FRA
19 Christian Core ITA
20 Thomas Caleyron FRA


Bouldering World Cup ranking after Fiera di Primiero
1. Kilian Fischhuber AUT p. 440.00
2. David Lama AUT p. 310.00
3. Gabriele Moroni ITA p. 280.00
4. Dmitry Sharafutdinov RUS p. 180.00
5. Gérome Pouvreau FRA p. 145.00

Bouldering World Cup Ranking after Fiera di Primiero
1. Anna Stöhr AUT p. 451.14
2. Akiyo Noguchi JPN p. 278.36
3. Yulia Abramchuk RUS p. 276.49
4. Juliette Danion FRA p. 257.24
5. Natalija Gros SLO p. 190.75