Bouldering World Cup 2007: Fischhuber and Shalagina win in Hall

Competing in Austria’s Hall a fortnight ago, Kilian Fischhuber confirmed once again that his sights are firmly set on the Bouldering World Cup 2007. For the third comp running the Austrian gained a podium position, but importantly this time round he won the event, adding this victory to his second place in Erlangen and third place in Sofia. Fischhuber is without a doubt the undisputed leader in this start of the season, just like the reigning Bouldering World Champion Olga Shalagina who, after her 12th place in Sofia, doubles her victory runnings in 2007. Despite having many adversaries hot on her heels, the Ukrainian will prove the woman to beat.

Jorg Verhoeven from Holland placed second ahead of the Japanese revelation Akito Matsushima, third, while the women’s podium was occupied by Natalija Gros from Slovenia, second, ad Alexandra Eyer, third.

Fischhuber had led the competition from the outset to its bitter end, leaving no room for anyone and sending all 14 World Cup problems. In the first round super Tomás Mrázek kept abreast with Fischhuber by sending the 6 set problems, but he needed one attempt more than the Austrian champion (12 instead of 11). Verhoeven, Julien and Sharafutdinov sent 5 to qualify for the Semifinal together with the likes of Daniel Dulac, David Lama, Jérôme Meyer, Gabriele Moroni and Michele Caminati. In the Semifinal only an outstanding Fischhuber sent all 4 problems, and he was followed into the Final by Verhoeven, Moroni, Lama, Matsushima and Sharafutdinov who all sent 3 tops. With just 6 places in the Final, the list of illustrious excluded is a long one: Julien (7th), Mrázek (8th) Dulac (9th), Shalagin (winner of the first stage in 2007) 10th and Jerome Meyer, winner of the World Cup 2006 placed 14th while obviously still searching for his best fighting form.

The Final proved to be an exciting head-to-head with climbing partner Jorg Verhoeven: Fischhuber needed 5 attempts to send the first problem, while Verhoeven needed just 3. Things started to look tight but Fischhuber suddenly upped the ante, onsighting the final 3 problems, while Verhoeven needed 3 attempts on boulder nr. 2 and another 2 attempts on boulder nr. 4. The end result? Fischhuber needed 8 attempts in total, Verhoeven 9… Matsushima placed third with 2 tops (7 attempts), Lama 4th with 2 tops (8 attempts), and Moroni 5th with 1 top.

Olga Shalagina’s victory in the women’s event proved to be a catch-up, since Yulia Abramchuk led both the Qualification and the Semifinal. But as all know, it’s the Final which really counts. While Abramchuk slipped to 5th, Shalagina found herself battling hard agains Gros. Both sent 3 tops in 4 attempts, and their zones were identical, too. To split this perfect draw the judges had to make use of the Semifinal result which was in Shalagina’s favour. Gros placed second therefore, ahead of Eyer and the Asian Difficulty Champion Akiyo Noguchi. World Difficulty Champion Angela Eiter placed 8th, while Juliette Danion from France struggled into 9th after her 8th place in Sofia and 2nd place in Erlangen.

The Bouldering World Cup 2007 continues with another 4 stages: Kilian Fischhuber is firmly in the lead with 245 points ahead of Tomás Mrázek (164) and Jorg Verhoeven (163). The provisional female ranking is led by Olga Shalagina with 228 points, ahead of Yulia Abramchuk (173) and Juliette Danion (157). Worth noting are the Japanese new entries Akiyo Noguchi 5th and Akito Matsushima 8th. Seeing that both have competed in just two instead of three competitions, the question begs whether they will prove to be this year’s revelation …
We’ll know more this weekend after the 4th round on France’s La Reunion…

Results men
1 Kilian Fischhuber AUT
2 Jorg Verhoeven NED
3 Akito Matsushima JPN
4 David Lama AUT
5 Gabriele Moroni ITA
6 Dmitry Sharafutdinov RUS
7 Stephane Julien FRA
8 Tomás Mrázek CZE
9 Daniel Dulac FRA
10 Mykhaylo Shalagin UKR
11 Nicolas Badia FRA
12 David Barrans GBR
13 Wouter Jongeneelen NED
14 Jérôme Meyer FRA
15 Andre Borowka GER
16 Michele Caminati ITA
17 Peter Würth GER
18 Marc Edwards AUS
19 Marian Georgiev BUL
20 Jonas Baumann GER
21 John Bowles CAN
22 Kornelius Obleitner AUT
23 Joackym Ramsamy FRA
24 Kazuma Watanabe JPN
25 Nalle Hukkataival FIN
26 Emanuel Moosburger AUT
27 Markus Hoppe GER
28 Stanislav Kleshnov UKR
full results 

Results women
1 Olga Shalagina UKR
2 Natalija Gros SLO
3 Alexandra Eyer SUI
4 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
5 Yulia Abramchuk RUS
6 Samantha Berry AUS
7 Silvie Rajfova CZE
8 Angela Eiter AUT
9 Juliette Danion FRA
10 Maud Ansade FRA
11 Jenny Lavarda ITA
12 Roberta Longo ITA
13 Ludovine Harmand FRA
14 Katharina Saurwein AUT
15 Anja Hodann SWE
16 Olga Bezhko UKR
17 Aleksandra Balakireva RUS
18 Celine Combaz FRA
19 Barbara Bacher AUT
20 Stella Marchisio ITA
full results