Gabriele Moroni miraculous in Japan!

Grande Gabri! There’s not much else to add to Gabriele Moroni’s historic victory last night in Japan, when the 31-year-old Italian finally celebrated his first-ever World Cup stage victory. Moroni has been on fire this season, demonstrating a return to form and astounding focus by qualifying for a  World Cup final earlier this year. His victory at Hachioji today crowns over 17 years of competitions, always at the top but never at the absolute apex.

After having excelled in youth competitions, Moroni made his devastating debut in the senior World Cup by placing third in the European Bouldering Championship in Lecco in 2004. From that moment on he always remained a force to be reckoned with - winning silver for instance at Fiera di Primiero in 2007, in Vail in 2008, and in Hall and Eindhoven in 2009 - yet a gold medal was conspicuously absent from his trophy collection. Until last night. Put in the greater perspective of the Italian sports climbing movement, gold has not been won since the days of World Champions Christian Core and Mauro Calibani.

Moroni’s victory matured in the semifinals, where he fired into provisional first ahead of Aleksei Rubtsov, Jongwon Chon and the local trio comprised of Tomoa Narasaki, Kai Hamada and Rei Sugimoto who, understandably, were keen to excel on their home turf. But unlike in Moscow a few weeks back Moroni managed to deal with mounting pressure and sent problem #1 - the only athlete to do so - on his second attempt. Problem #2 was sent by Chon only, while only Sugimoto shone on problem #3. It went to the wire on problem #4: Narasaki flashed it and in order to win Moroni needed at least the zone. A few seconds later he stepped into the limelight and sent it straight off, winning, incredulously and deservedly, the competition. A fairytale ending to a sought-after dream.

Akiyo Noguchi won the women's competition, ahead of Miho Nonaka, Ekaterina Kipriianova, Stasa Gejo, Alma Bestvater and Futaba Ito.



Male
1 Gabriele Moroni ITA 2T4z36
2 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 1T3z16
3 Rei Sugimoto JPN 1T3z48
4 Jongwon Chon KOR 1T2z26
5 Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 0T2z04
6 Kai Harada JPN 0T1z08
7 Mickael Mawem FRA
8 Jernej Kruder SLO
8 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
10 Meichi Narasaki JPN
11 Tomoaki Takata JPN
12 Sergii Topishko UKR
13 Yuji Fujiwaki JPN
14 William Ridal GBR
15 Jason Holowach CAN
16 Kokoro Fujii JPN
17 Kim Marschner GER
18 Manuel Cornu FRA
19 Alex Khazanov ISR
20 Anze Peharc SLO
21 Thomas Farrell AUS
21 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS
23 Taisei Ishimatsu JPN
23 Kai Lightner USA
23 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN
26 Nathaniel Coleman USA
27 Yuya Kitae JPN
27 Keita Watabe JPN
29 Marcello Bombardi ITA
29 Masahiro Higuchi JPN
31 Gregor Vezonik SLO
31 Kaito Watanabe JPN
33 Kevin Heiniger SUI
33 Ryohei Kameyama JPN
35 Cheung- Chi Shoji Chan HKG
35 Alban Levier FRA
37 Alexander Averdunk GER
37 Yuki Hada JPN
39 Keita Dohi JPN
39 Nathan Phillips GBR
41 Ryosuke Hibino JPN
41 Josef Sundakov- Krumins AUS
43 Lukas Geukens BEL
43 Makoto Yamauchi JPN
45 Ruben Firnenburg GER
45 Tsukuru Hori JPN
45 Tyler Landman GBR
45 Philipp Martin GER
45 Riccardo Piazza ITA
45 Ka-Chun Yau HKG
51 Ryuichi Murai JPN
52 Chua Dennis SGP
53 Liam Healy AUS
54 Dichong Huang CHN
55 Bjørn Arnel Iisager DEN
55 Sean Bailey USA
55 Zach Richardson CAN
55 Simon Unger GER
59 Joseph Diaz USA
60 Yufei Pan CHN
61 Ben Abel AUS
61 Thilo Jeldrik Schröter NOR
63 Samuel Bowman AUS
63 Rolf Fredrik Serlachius SWE
65 Benjamin Blaser SUI
65 Maciej Dobrzanski POL
67 Chi-Fung Au HKG
67 Chase Gatland NZL
69 Maxwell Ayrton GBR
69 Charles Barron USA
69 Sam Lavender AUS
72 Alistair Earley AUS
73 Nils Favre SUI
73 Hanwool Kim KOR
73 Sean Mccoll CAN
76 Paul Emmanuel Ryan SGP
77 Asher Gavin Chiam Kai Chen SGP
77 Hei-Yeung Lam HKG
79 Jakob Elliott CAN
79 Chia Hsiang Lin TPE
79 Kristoffer Lindbäck SWE
82 Elias Edvardsen DEN
82 Cheuk-Hei Ho HKG
84 Theis Lindegren Elfenbein DEN
85 Ching Huei Chang TPE
85 Jj Mah CAN
85 Yuki Najima JPN
88 Meirāns Pēteris LAT
89 Sergei Bydtaev RUS
89 Christoph Schweiger GER
91 Rafal Halasa POL

Female
1 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 3T3z55
2 Miho Nonaka JPN 3T3z66
3 Ekaterina Kipriianova RUS 2T2z65
4 Stasa Gejo SRB 0T2z05
5 Alma Bestvater GER 0T2z06
6 Futaba Ito JPN 0T1z09
7 Fanny Gibert FRA
8 Michaela Tracy GBR
9 Shauna Coxsey GBR
10 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA
11 Katja Kadic SLO
12 Urska Repusic SLO
13 Alannah Yip CAN
14 Kyra Condie USA
15 Tomoko Kajima JPN
16 Sol Sa KOR
17 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS
18 Claire Buhrfeind USA
19 Johanna Färber AUT
20 Oceania Mackenzie AUS
21 Chloe Caulier BEL
21 Emma Horan AUS
23 Saki Kikuchi JPN
23 Aya Onoe JPN
25 Berit Schwaiger AUT
25 Vera Zijlstra NED
27 Julia Pinggera AUT
27 Brooke Raboutou USA
29 Mei Kotake JPN
29 Anna Tsyganova RUS
31 Nanako Kura JPN
31 Jara Späte SUI
33 Jain Kim KOR
33 Momoka Oda JPN
35 Margo Hayes USA
35 Mao Nakamura JPN
37 Momoka Kaneko JPN
37 Ida Kups POL
39 Johanna Holfeld GER
39 Franziska Sterrer AUT
41 Lilli Kiesgen GER
41 Katrine Vandet Salling DEN
43 Akane Kinoshita JPN
43 Ayari Sakamoto JPN
45 Vanessa Si Yinn Teng SGP
45 Jennifer Wood GBR
47 Hung Ying Lee TPE
47 Meagan Martin USA
49 Romy Fuchs GER
49 Asja Gollo ITA
49 Mingxin, Judith Sim SGP
52 Andrea Ebner ITA
53 Rong Jiang CHN
53 Karin Kojima JPN
55 Katsuki Bamba JPN
55 Roxy Perry AUS
55 Lamu Renqing CHN
55 Saeko Sugimura JPN
59 Yuki Hiroshige JPN
60 Imogen Horrocks GBR
61 Rebecca Frangos CAN
61 Debbie Zi Jing Tan SGP
63 Sarah Hay NZL
63 Justine Mccarney CAN
63 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
63 Wai-Ping Yu HKG
67 Heeyeon Park KOR
67 Wing Sze Yuen HKG