Jernej Kruder and Juliane Wurm win adidas Rockstars 2013

The adidas Rockstar format is a mix between a Masters and a World Cup competition, in which 70 invited athletes competed on a series of boulder problems in three steps: Qualification, Semifinal and Finale. In the last stage the best six athletes battled it out for the so-called Superfinal where the best two "challenged" each other on two parrallel and identical problems, just like in the famous Duel invented years ago at the Arco Rock Master, but obviously without a rope. The Superfinal is played out in just a few seconds, there's no time to check out the boulder and what really counts at this stage is intuition, getting it right first time round.

Before this Superfinal there was a real battle, in particular in the men's competition where the route setters had to invent another problem to separate Gelmanov, Kruder and Sean McColl; the Canadian failed to reach the bonus area that led to the duel. In the end it was Jernej Kruder who won the event, surprisingly beating at breakneck speed 2009 World Champion Gelmanov. In the women's competition two superfinals were needed as the first was simply too difficult for Juliane Wurm and Shauna Coxsey who both failed to top out. Once again the route setters changed some holds and, aafter a short rest, it was home athlete Wurm who won thanks to a great comeback after her somewhat slow start. Third place went to McColl and Akiyo Noguchi from Japan.

It's woth noting Gabriele Moroni's great performance: the Italian finished 4th overall, beating a series of strong athletes who in recent times have always made it to the podium such as Dimitrii Sharafutdinov, Jorg Verhoeven, Sachi Amma, Thomas Tauporn, Guillaume Glairon Mondet ... in short, this is confirmation that bouldering and competitions are part of Moroni's DNA. The punkband Badasstics played live during the competition. Just like real rockstars.

adidas ROCKSTARS 2013



Results Men
1. Jernej Kruder SLO
2. Rustam Gelmanov RUS
3. Sean McColl CAN
4. Gabriele Moroni ITA
5. Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS
6. Jorg Verhoeven NED

Results Women
1. Juliane Wurm GER
2. Shauna Coxsey GBR
3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN
4. Petra Klingler SUI
5. Mina Markovic SLO
6. Alex Puccio USA