Bouldering World Cup 2008: Dmitry Sharafutdinov and Akiyo Noguchi win in Montauban

Kilian Fischhuber and Anna Stöhr have won the Bouldering World Cup 2008 one stage ahead of schedule. The two Austrians surprisingly failed to qualify for the final in Montauban last weekend finishing "only" 7th and 8th, but despite their worst performace in 2008 overall victory is mathematically theirs.

Fischhuber commands the World Cup by a comfortable102 point lead ahead of closest rival David Lama, after having won twice, placed second three times and now finished seventh. His teammate Anna Stöhr enjoys an even greater margin: 165 points ahead of Noguchi after a devastating run of 4 victories, one third place and one eighth. If David Lama continues to climb as well as he can do to take overall silver, the Austria's domination of the Boudlering Wolrd Cup is nigh too complete.

Having said that, bouldering is a fickle game, especially at the highest levels and nothing can ever be taken for granted. Dmitry Sharafutdinov once again proved that he is second to none also for his obstinacy and ability to produce when it counts. The extraordinary 21 year old from Russia is currently placed 4th in the overall ranking with just 3 world cup appearances which netted him 2nd in Hall and victory in both Grindelwald and Montauban.

Sharafutdinov was the last to qualify for the final but he pulled out all the stops in the last round, sending 3 tops in 4 attempts. Teammate Rustam Gelmanov (another 20 year old to watch out for) sent 2 tops in 2 attempts,  placing second in France and leaping to 5th overall. Davi Lama placed third with 2 tops in 4 attempts, ensuring that he is a certain candidate for the final podium and, increasingly, an athlete capable of performing to the highest standards both in bouldering and lead competitions. Sean McColl from Canada placed 4th with 1 top first attempt, beating Tsukuru Hori by one attempt. Gabrile Moroni from Italy finished 6th having failed to top out on any of the boulders in the final, after having led the qualification and placed provisional 5th in the semi-final.

The first round of the women's competition was dominated by Natalija Gros with 5 tops in 5 attempts, and she was followed by a group of climbers, each with 5 tops but separated by the number of attempts, which included Noguchi (3rd to qualify) and Stöhr (10th). Gros once again dominated the second round with 4 tops in 5 attempts and she was followed (with 4 tops but more attempts) into the final by Katharina Saurwein, Yulia Abramchuk, Akiyo Noguchi, Angelica Lind and Anna Galliamova. Nina Caprez from Switzerland was unlucky and first to be excluded from the final despite her 4 tops, while "big" Stöhr finished a surprising 8th with 3 tops.

In the Final the vice-World Champion set the pace and sent the last 4 problems in just 5 attempts, one less than Abramchuk who finished second ahead of Gros. She was separated by Lind by just one attempt, while Saurwein finshed 5th with 2 tops and Galliamova sixth with 1 top. Worth mentioning the excellent route setting by Alberto Gnerro and his team which included Mister Godoffe.

All that is left to do now is wait for the final act, scheduled to take place after an extremely long rest in Moscow at the start of October.

Results men Montauban (FRA)
1 Dmitry Sharafutdinov RUS
2 Rustam Gelmanov RUS
3 David Lama AUT
4 Sean McColl CAN
5 Tsukuru Hori JPN
6 Gabriele Moroni ITA
7 Kilian Fischhuber AUT
8 Gérome Pouvreau FRA
9 Antoine Vandeputte FRA
10 Lucas Preti ITA
11 Klemen Becan SLO
12 Stephane Julien FRA
13 Jonas Baumann GER
14 Michele Caminati ITA
14 Tomasz Oleksy POL
16 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA
17 Ludovic Laurence FRA
18 Markus Hoppe GER
19 Jorg Verhoeven NED
20 Blaz Rant SLO
complete results

Results women Montauban (FRA)
1 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
2 Yulia Abramchuk RUS
3 Natalija Gros SLO
4 Angelica Lind SWE
5 Katharina Saurwein AUT
6 Anna Galliamova RUS
7 Nina Caprez SUI
8 Anna Stöhr AUT
9 Silvie Rajfova CZE
10 Marine Thévenet FRA
11 Katja Vidmar SLO
12 Emilie Abgrall FRA
13 Juliane Wurm GER
14 Vera Zijlstra NED
15 Maud Ansade FRA
16 Melissa Le Neve FRA
17 Chloé Graftiaux BEL
18 Audrey Seguy GBR
19 Mélanie Son FRA
20 Cecile Avezou FRA
21 Olga Bibik RUS
complete results