Janja Garnbret, Adam Ondra win Bouldering World Cup opener in Meiringen

Following a 22-month hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the highly anticipated Bouldering World Cup 2021 took place as per tradition in Switzerland’s Meiringen last weekend and was won by Adam Ondra and Janja Garnbret.

101 men and 70 women took to the mats in the season opener as they battled for the top 20 spots which guaranteed qualification to Saturday morning’s semifinal and, climbing in two sub categories just like in Lead Qualifications to speed things up, this was dominated by Japan’s Kokoro Fujii and Adam Ondra of the Czech Republic, and Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret and Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi. Surprise exclusions from the top-20 cut included star athletes such as Jan Hoyer (23), Jakob Schubert (23), Michael Piccolruaz (27), Petra Klingler (21) and Laura Rogora (29), to name just five who usually cruise through the first round and who have qualified for the Olympics which will take place in Tokyo in less than 100 days time.

Saturday’s semifinals were once again dominated by Janja Garnbret and Adam Ondra, the only athletes to secure 4 and 3 tops respectively, and this paved the way for the finals on Saturday evening which had 3 Slovenian women and 4 Japanese men. Evidently their teams have been doing something right.

The men’s final began with a jump to two pinches followed by a coordination dyno and savage tricep push that fluxed everyone except for Yoshiyuki Ogata who, quite incredibly, stuck the two pinches at the top. Only Tomoaki Takata secured a zone, while last-out Adam Ondra failed just like Kokoro Fuji, Nathaniel Coleman and 20-year-old Sohta Amagasa - competing in his debut IFSC World Cup - before him.

After this savage steep start, boulder #2 provided a technical slab and although Ondra struggled more than anyone else to reach the zone, when he finally did, he cruised to the top effortlessly leaving spectators wondering what all the fuss had been about. Boulder #3 proved the easiest and was impressively flashed by Fuji, while Ogata piled on the pressure and got it on his third attempt, and Takata on his fourth. Ondra kept himself in the running and, visibly elated, sent it third go to place provisional second before the last bloc, just one zone behind Ogata.

The final problem was the most burly of all and here Coleman proved precisely why he’s a Tokyo Olympian, digging in deep to send it on his second go. All the others fared no better than the zone, meaning that to win, Ondra had to top out. And top out he did! He cruised the powerful start and then, as he transformed his kneebar into a dropped knee, he edged his way statically to the top, let out a gigantic power scream and secured his 20th World Cup medal. It was Ondra’s night once again.

Katja Debevec, formerly Katja Kadic, started proceedings in the women’s final and immediately secured a zone, just like Vita Lukana and Natalia Grossman. Akiyo Noguchi, who 16 years after making her international debut seems to be climbing stronger than ever before, got no further than the zone, as did - on the other end of the spectrum - 16-year Oriane Bertone in her debut senior comp. Janja Garnbret had only fallen once up to this point and the 22-year-old continued in precisely the same manner, flashing the problem, though not without a fight.

Grossman sent the spectacular coordination dyno on Boulder #2 on her third attempt and while Bertone needed one go more, the manner in which she deciphered the moves to fit her size and style of climbing was simply mind-blowing, indicating that she is probably to biggest threat to Garnbret’s reign in the future. But not today: Garnbret kept the pressure on and sent it second go, in less than 30 seconds…

Bertone pulled out all the stops on Boulder #3 and became the first to send what looked unsolvable, on her fourth attempt, leaving Garnbret to "tear up the rulebook" as Matt Groom and Stasa Gejo said from the commentary box and send it second go.

Women’s #4 sported a very rare fist jam in women’s competitions which Grossman sent on her seventh attempt to place third overall, and although Noguchi sent the problem, too, she was timed out having hit the top just seconds after the final buzzer. Having climbed superbly all evening, Bertone secured the zone to place second in her first senior World Cup, while Garnbret, after surprisingly slipping off a hold, surprised no one by smiling her way to her record-breaking eighth consecutive Boulder World Cup win and 27th World Cup gold medal.

1 Janja Garnbret SLO 4t4z 7 6
2 Oriane Bertone FRA 2t4z 8 10
3 Natalia Grossman USA 2t4z 10 10
4 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 0t3z 0 7
5 Vita Lukan SLO 0t2z 0 3
6 Katja Debevec SLO 0t2z 0 6
7 Miho Nonaka JPN
8 Andrea Kümin SUI
9 Brooke Raboutou USA
10 Lucka Rakovec SLO
11 Franziska Sterrer AUT
12 Jessica Pilz AUT
13 Stasa Gejo SRB
14 Lucija Tarkus SLO
15 Mia Krampl SLO
16 Roxana Wienand GER
17 Elena Krasovskaia RUS
18 Camilla Moroni ITA
18 Ayala Kerem ISR
18 Julia Chanourdie FRA
21 Petra Klingler SUI
21 Kyra Condie USA
23 Viktoriia Meshkova RUS
23 Alma Bestvater GER
25 Kylie Cullen USA
25 Chloe Caulier BEL
27 Sabina Van Essen NED
27 Afra Hönig GER
29 Anna Zaikina RUS
29 Laura Rogora ITA
31 Johanna Färber AUT
31 Giorgia Tesio ITA
33 Sandra Lettner AUT
33 Clothilde Morin FRA
35 Julija Kruder SLO
35 Fanny Gibert FRA
37 Ekaterina Kipriianova RUS
37 Saula Lerondel FRA
39 Daria Nesterenko UKR
39 Irina Kuzmenko RUS
41 Hannah Meul GER
41 Pleun Frank NED
43 Margaryta Zakharova UKR
43 Eliška Bulenová CZE
45 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
45 Lucie Watillon BEL
45 Tiba Vroom NED
48 Iziar Martínez Almendros ESP
49 Natalie Bärtschi SUI
49 Martina Zanetti ITA
49 Lynn Van Der Meer NED
52 Campbell Sarinopoulos USA
53 Giulia Medici ITA
53 Elza Elizabete Baraka LAT
55 Emilie Pupko ISR
55 Ingrid Kindlihagen NOR
55 Laura Loikas FIN
58 Yael Taub ISR
59 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
59 Celina Schoibl AUT
61 Maya Dreamer ISR
61 Mona Kellner GER
63 Nika Potapova UKR
63 Emma Stöver Wollebaek NOR
63 Aida Torres Illamola ESP
63 Regine Storå NOR
67 Mattea Pötzi AUT
68 Arta Matelsone LAT
69 Adela Bajerova CZE
69 Yael Baharad ISR

1 Adam Ondra CZE 3t3z 10 7
2 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 2t4z 7 9
3 Tomoaki Takata JPN 1t4z 4 12
4 Kokoro Fujii JPN 1t3z 1 4
5 Nathaniel Coleman USA 1t3z 2 5
6 Sohta Amagasa JPN 0t3z 0 4
7 Jernej Kruder SLO
8 Alexander Megos GER
9 Gregor Vezonik SLO
10 Domen Skofic SLO
11 Manuel Cornu FRA
12 Mejdi Schalck FRA
13 Sean Bailey USA
14 Nicolai Uznik AUT
15 Zan Lovenjak Sudar SLO
16 Ross Fulkerson USA
17 Aleksey Rubtsov RUS
18 Sascha Lehmann SUI
19 Yannick Flohé GER
19 Nicolas Collin BEL
21 Rei Sugimoto JPN
21 Anze Peharc SLO
23 Jan Hojer GER
23 Jakob Schubert AUT
25 Yuta Imaizumi JPN
25 Keita Watabe JPN
27 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
27 Sergii Topishko UKR
29 Alex Khazanov ISR
29 Simon Lorenzi BEL
31 Colin Duffy USA
31 Nino Grünenfelder SUI
33 Baptiste Ometz SUI
33 Mark Brand NED
35 Julien Clémence SUI
35 Mickael Mawem FRA
37 Paul Jenft FRA
37 Nimrod Marcus ISR
39 Sergei Luzhetskii RUS
39 Pierre Le Cerf FRA
41 Attila Zsombor Radics HUN
41 Max Kleesattel GER
43 Dylan Chuat SUI
43 Vadim Timonov RUS
45 Edvards Gruzitis LAT
45 Jan-Luca Posch AUT
47 Matic Kotar SLO
47 Don Van Laere NED
49 Soma Strommer HUN
49 Filip Schenk ITA
49 Geva Levin ISR
52 Christoph Schweiger GER
53 Benjamin Blaser SUI
53 Fedir Samoilov UKR
53 Nils Favre SUI
56 Tim Reuser NED
57 Rolands Rugens LAT
57 Fredrik Serlachius SWE
59 Philipp Geisenhoff SUI
59 Axel Lindfors FIN
59 Davide Marco Colombo ITA
62 Nimród Sebestyén Tusnády HUN
63 Ties Vancraeynest BEL
63 Ram Levin ISR
63 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
66 Sergei Skorodumov RUS
67 Nikolai Iarilovets RUS
67 Emil Abrahamsson SWE
69 Yuval Shemla ISR
69 Benjamin Hanna USA
69 Kipras Baltrunas LTU
69 Tamás Farkas HUN
73 Alberto Ginés López ESP
74 Philipp Martin GER
75 Hossein Familrohani IRI
75 Kevin Heiniger SUI
77 Rishat Khaibullin KAZ
77 Ludovico Fossali ITA
79 Love Ymer Alber SWE
79 Alejandro Crespo Cobos ESP
79 Louis Gundolf AUT
79 Hannes Van Duysen BEL
83 Eduardas Jeriomenko LTU
84 Tomas Plevko SVK
84 Rosen Ruev BUL
86 Jakub Jodlowski POL
87 Ádám Bakurecz HUN
87 Joris Leipus LTU
87 Matteo Manzoni ITA
90 Marek Jeliga CZE
91 Leonid Osadchyi UKR
91 Matthaios Valsamidis GRE
93 Stephan Rest AUT
93 Filip Donchev BUL
93 Peteris Meirans LAT
96 Lluc Macià Llobet ESP
97 Andoni Esparta Frade ESP
97 Pjahns Romans LAT
97 Theofanis-Ermis Theocharopoulos GRE
100 Roman Batsenko UKR
100 Jim Zeimes LUX