Bouldering World Cup 2013: Stöhr and Sharafutdinov win in Chongqing

China's Chongqing hosted the first stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2013 last Friday and Saturday and the competition was won in the dying stages of the final by Russia's explosive Dmitrii Sharafutdinov and Austria's unstoppable bouldering queen Anna Stöhr.

Sharafutdinov qualified last for the final but the difference between him and best qualifier was truly marginal: all six succeeded in sending the four problems and a mere three attempts separated him from French surprise Thomas Caleyron. In the final though the Frenchman failed to get off to an ideal start, as did his teammate Guillaume Glairon Mondet while Sharafutdinov, Schubert, Hori and Gelmanov powered through the first three problems. At this point reigning Lead World Champion Jakob Schubert and Sharafutdinov found themselves almost completely level and boulder #4 was going to be decisive if the Russian wanted to avoid countback; Sharafutdinov kept his nerve and controlled the powerful dyno and swing on his fourth attempt, while Schubert failed to stick the poor hold to finish second. Japan's Tsukuru Hori finished third having needed just one attempt more than Schubert, while Rustam Gelmanov finished fourth. The only other athlete to send the match-winning problem was Thomas Caleyron, 5th overall and certainly a name to look out for this season, much like Guillaume Glairon Mondet who settled in 6th. For the record, it's worth noting five-times World Cup winner Kilian Fischhuber did not compete in China, just like last year, although he will of course be in the line-up at the next stages.

In the women's event 2012 winner Stöhr qualified for the final with 4 problems to her name, one more than Akiyo Noguchi, Alex Puccio, Momoka Oda, Shauna Coxsey and Monika Retschy who were split by their attempts needed to send these problems. In the final the Austrian maintained her lead on problems 1, 2 and 3 and then pulled away from the field on the last problem, sending it 3rd go where all others failed.

Chongqing also hosted the first stage of the speed World Cup. The women's race was won by Poland's Aleksandra Rudzinska ahead of Yuliya Levochkina and Iuliia Kaplina, while in the men's event Russia's Stanislav Kokorin took gold ahead of Libor Hroza and reinging World Champion and world record holder Qixin Zhong.

The second stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2013 will take place in Annecy-Chamonix from 25 - 29 March 2013

IFSC Climbing Worldcup Boulder Chongqing (CHN) 2013
Men
1 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS 4t9 4b9
2 Jakob Schubert AUT 3t5 3b5
3 Tsukuru Hori JPN 3t6 3b6
4 Rustam Gelmanov RUS 3t9 3b9
5 Thomas Caleyron FRA 2t5 3b7
6 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA 2t15 3b16

Women
1 Anna Stöhr AUT 3t5 4b6
2 Momoka ODA JPN 2t3 3b3
3 Alex Puccio USA 2t3 3b4
4 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 2t5 3b6
5 Shauna Coxsey GBR 1t1 3b3
6 Monika Retschy GER 0t 3b3


IFSC Climbing Worldcup Speed Chongqing (CHN) 2013
Men
1 Stanislav Kokorin RUS 10.00
2 Libor Hroza CZE fall
3 Qixin Zhong CHN 6.22
4 Marcin Dzienski POL 6.45

Women
1 Aleksandra Rudzinska POL 8.43
2 Yuliya Levochkina RUS 9.93
3 Iuliia Kaplina RUS 8.44
4 Anouck Jaubert FRA 8.93