Bouldering World Cup 2001, Gap, the results

The first stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2001 took place in Gap on 30/06 - 1/07 and was won by the French duo Miriam Motteau and Jerome Meyer

Roberto Fioravanti

July 2001

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The start couldn’t have been better. The spectacle that everyone had been expecting turned out to be just that, beneath an intense July sun and a light breeze. And what a spectacle, full of surprises and unknown athletes making names for themselves!

Saturday 30/06. Women’s Final. Names unheard of, predominantly from the east. Thin and muscly female athletes stand modestly beneath the boulders, before devouring them in an instant. But however this may be, first place was taken by a veteran, Miriam Motteau, who proved to have recovered perfectly from her bad accident in Munich last year. Her victory, full of determination and energy, was followed by Sandrine Levet, second, to create and almost total French podium, broken only by the hitherto unheard of Russian Olga Iakovleva third. Olga Bibik and Ioulia Abramtchouk, also from Russia placed fourth and fifth respectively, and in all probability these three will be hot on the current winner’s heels throughout the entire circuit…

Sunday 1/07 – Men’s Final. Another day of intense sunshine welcomed the Men’s final at Gap, which was carried out at breakneck speed, perhaps due to the routesetters’ excellent combination of perfect boulder problems. The crowd loved the show and the athletes, it has to be said, were capable of rising to the occasion to give it their all.

Coming from provisional 20th place, the Frenchman JÃ©rÃ´me Meyer sent five of the six problems to seal victory, ahead of the Italian Mauro Calibani who, as a relative newcomer to competitions, placed an incredible second. Third place was won by the crowd’s true idol Chris Sharma, who started and finished each problem with a smile as if to say “sorry to have disappointed you, I promise I’ll try and do better next time…” The Russian speed champion Tomas Oleski placed fourth, ahead of the tireless Salavat Rakmetov.

Surprises. Eight athletes from Japan and Korea took part in this first stage and qualified for the Final. Not bad for their first competition. But the greatest surprise was the provisional Men’s Semi-final ranking, which excluded famous athletes such as Core, Pons and Golob. As this year’s World Cup is comprised of only four stages, their comeback will prove all the more difficult…

Chamonix will host the next competition. If you have time come and watch. It’s worth it, believe me.

by Roberto Fioravanti

Bouldering World Cup 2001
1st stage Gap (FRA)

Results Men
1 Meyer JÃ©rÃ´me (FRA)
2 Calibani Mauro (ITA)
3 Sharma Chris (USA)
4 Oleksy Tomasz (POL)
5 Rakhmetov Salavat (RUS)
6 Tuscan FrÃ©dÃ©ric (FRA)
7 Macias Bruno (ESP)
8 Bytchkov Dmitri (RUS)
9 Meral Julien (FRA)
10 Fischhuber Kilian (AUT)
11 Hiroshi Okano (JAP)
12 Andrada Daniel (ESP)
13 Son Sangwon (KOR)
14 Stack John (USA)
15 Kazbekov Serik (UKR)
16 Julien StÃ©phane (FRA)
17 Dutray Mathieu (FRA)
18 Parry Gareth (GBR)
19 Jae-Yong Lee (KOR)
20 Vinokur Vadim (USA)

Results Men
1 Motteau Myriam (FRA)
2 Levet Sandrine (FRA)
3 Iakovleva Olga (RUS)
4 Bibik Olga (RUS)
5 Abramtchouk Ioulia (RUS)
6 Giammarco Giulia (ITA)
7 Choumilova Elena (RUS)
8 Aguirre Leire (ESP)
9 Piszczek Renata (POL)
10 Pouget Emilie (FRA)
11 Haager Nicola (GER)
12 Theroux Corine (FRA)
13 Abgrall Emilie (FRA)
14 Giroux Elodie (FRA)
15 Planells Ruth (ESP)
16 Anthoni Kim (BEL)
17 Murphy Claire (GBR)
18 MartÃ Nuria (ESP)
19 Perlova Natalia (UKR)
20 Chenevier Delphine (FRA)