Bouldering World Cup 2007 won by Fischhuber and Danion

The "delayed" epilogue in Brno changed very little of the World Cup ranking set more than 5 months ago after the sixth stage in June. Kilian Fischhuber and Juliette Danion defended their provisional leadership winning the World Cup with a second place and victory in the final stage in the Czech Republic. This is Fischhuber's second World Cup title in three years (in 2006 he won silver behind Jerome Meyer) while Danion crowned an amazing year in which she also won the European Bouldering Championship.

Both athletes managed to make up for the World Championship in Avilés, in which Fischhuber placed 11th and failed to qualify for the final, while Danion placed 5th overall. And it comes as no surprise that their most dreaded opponents were the "heroes" in Avilés, Russian Dmitry Sharafutdinov (the true revelation in 2007 with victory in the World Championship and silver in the World Cup) and Austrian Anna Stöhr who stepped up the pace in the final stages to win the Rock Master bouldering competition and the World Championship, only to finish 2nd in Brno.

But the final in Brno was not to be taken for granted. Although Fischhuber's overall victory was pretty much a mere formality (his 181 point advantage over Sharafutdinov left little room for hope), things looked decidedly different in the women's competition. Danion held a slender 8 point lead ahead of Natalija Gros from Slovenia and Olga Shalagina from the Ukraine: an exciting head to head was in the air. In the end the duel was carried out between Danion and Shalagina, since the Slovenian messed things up just went things were getting serious. At the end of the day Natalija Gros, the Slovenian star of Bouldering and Lead competitions, failed to capitalise on her undisputable class and magnificent season which saw her win in Fiera di Primiero and Grindelwald and finish second in Hall.

In truth things had begun well for Gros, who qualified second with all 6 tops (in 12 attempts). Only Shalagina had done better (6 tops, 8 attempts) while Danion qualified 7th with 4 tops and Stöhr provisional 4th with 5 tops. The delicate and complicated semifinal resulted in Danion provisional first with 3 tops of 4 problems, and she was joined in the final (with 2 tops) by Shalagina, Stöhr, Bezhko, Abramchuk and Bibik. In sending just one problem Gros failed to qualify for the final but, more importantly still, was out of the running for World Cup victory.

Danion rose to challenge with great authority and cold blood: she had to win and she did so with 4 tops in 6 attempts, beating a fantastic Anna Stöhr by just one attempt! A distant third place went to Shalagina who sent just one problem, but this obviously proved enough for second place overall in the World Cup ranking. In the end the Russian finished 6 points behind Danion who, justly, was rewarded for her consistent competition performance throughout the season.

Fischhuber's performance was consistent, too, but only just. The Austrian qualified 3rd for the Semifinal, then only just made it into the Final by placing provisional 6th with 2 tops in 2 attempts. "Veteran" Stephane Julien placed provisional 1st in this round with 4 tops in 6 attempts, ahead of another Austrian bouldering phenomena, 18 year old Lukas Ennemoser.

In the final Sharafutdinov proved just why he was crowned World Champion a few weeks ago and, in doing so, her won his second World Cup stage this season with 3 tops. Fischhuber as mentioned placed second with 2 tops, while Julien placed third (1 top in 1 attempt). The remaining finalists all sent just one problem: Ennemoser finished fourth, Gelmanov fifth and Stranik sixth.

So the Bouldering World Cup Boulder 2007 now draws to a close with Fischhuber and Danion returning home with their gold medals, while Sharafutdinov and Shalagina take silver, and Julien and Gros bronze. Without a doubt Sharafutdinov is this year's revelation, but there are some other young athletes who impressed and who will no doubt be the ones to watch out for next season. 2007 seems to have been a year of change, a year in which fresh new names have timidly appeared on the world stage. A final thought: a glance at the country ranking results in French victory, ahead of Russia, Austria and Italy... the old lady of competitions is no longer the same as a few years back, she no longer sweeps victory. But she, yes, France, is still a force to be reckoned with. The question to be answered in 2008 is the following: in she ready with new talents? And the other nations, what will they rise to the challenge?


Results men Brno
1 Dmitry Sharafutdinov RUS
2 Kilian Fischhuber AUT
3 Stephane Julien FRA
4 Lukas Ennemoser AUT
5 Rustam Gelmanov RUS
6 Martin Stranik CZE
7 Gabriele Moroni ITA
8 David Barrans GBR
9 Gareth Parry GBR
10 Akito Matsushima JPN
11 Matthias Müller SUI
12 Masatoshi Sugita JPN
13 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA
14 Nalle Hukkataival FIN
15 Lucas Preti ITA
16 Karsten Borowka GER
17 Jorg Verhoeven NED
18 Peter Würth GER
19 Mark Croxall GBR
20 Heiko Wilhelm AUT
21 Roddy Mackenzie GBR
21 Casper TenSijthoff NED
23 Jonas Baumann GER
23 Mykhaylo Shalagin UKR
25 Klemen Becan SLO
26 Roland Wagner AUT
27 Thomas Farrell AUS
27 Jacek Matuszek POL
29 Jakub Hlavacek CZE
full results

Results women Brno
1 Juliette Danion FRA
2 Anna Stöhr AUT
3 Olga Shalagina UKR
4 Yulia Abramchuk RUS
5 Olga Bibik RUS
6 Olga Bezhko UKR
7 Tatiana Tarasova RUS
8 Anna Galliamova RUS
9 Natalija Gros SLO
10 Angelica Lind SWE
11 Aleksandra Balakireva RUS
12 Svitlana Tuzhylina UKR
13 Katja Vidmar SLO
14 Silvie Rajfova CZE
15 Katharina Saurwein AUT
16 Maud Ansade FRA
17 Anja Hodann SWE
18 Helena Lipenska CZE
19 Jenny Lavarda ITA
20 Therese Johannesen NOR
21 Katarina Fickuliakova SVK
22 Vera Zijlstra NED
23 Chloé Graftiaux BEL
24 Gürgel Özver TUR
25 Dominika Dupalová CZE
26 Nelly Kudrova CZE
27 Barbara Bacher AUT
28 Amalia Mandru ROU
29 Alisa Gel'fer UKR
30 Anna Cermakova CZE
31 Anna Khudyakova RUS
32 Anamaria Bogaciu ROU
32 Audrey Seguy GBR
34 Diane Merrick GBR
35 Filiz Karakulak TUR
35 Crina Ochenatu ROU
full results