Jernej Kruder & Miho Nonaka win first stage of the Bouldering World Cup

Japanese climber Miho Nonaka won the first stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2018 at the debut in Meiringen, Switzerland last weekend by beating Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret - in the final for the 26th time in 27 international competitions - and teammate Akiyo Noguchi. All three had managed to send the four final problems and were separated by the number of attempts needed to match the last hold:: 5 secured gold, 7 silver and 9 bronze. They were trailed somewhat surprisingly by 16-year-old Austrian Sandra Lettner whose international senior debut could hardly have been better. French champion Fanny Gibert climbed superbly but her podium hopes ground to a halt on problem #4, sending her into 5th place ahead of 2017 World Cup winner Shauna Coxsey who, after a finger injury and the doctor's OK only two weeks ago, certainly didn’t expect to be in World Cup final quite so quickly.

In the men's competition Jernej Kruder was on fire and the Slovenian won his first ever Bouldering World Cup, sending 3 problems with his usual power and aggressiveness. Kruder qualified last for the finals but immediately demonstrated that it was going to be his day, and his interpretation of the dyno on problem #2 was nothing short of spectacular. Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki settled for second place with 2 tops in 4 attempts and 3 attempts to reach the bonus zone, 2 attempts less than Russia’s Aleksei Rubtsov who won bronze after having surprised everyone by sending the dyno on #2 statically. Jakob Schubert, the best after the semi-final, finished fourth ahead of Japan’s Tomoaki Takata, and 2017 World Cup winner Jongwon Chon, while despite fighting valiantly French champion Manuel Cornu slipped into 6th place.

It's worth noting that during Friday’s qualifiers sending all five blocs didn't suffice for many male athletes in group 2, where the route setting was simply too easy meaning that greats such as Keita Watabe, Gabriele Moroni and Alexander Megos failed to qualify. No doubt they’ll try their best to make amends in the next stage of the Bouldering World Cup, scheduled to take place in Moscow on 21 and 22 April.

Results men Meiringen 2018
1 Jernej Kruder SLO 3T4z78
2 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 2T4z37
3 Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 2T4z513
4 Jakob Schubert AUT 2T3z69
5 Tomoaki Takata JPN 1T3z35
6 Jongwon Chon KOR 1T2z12
7 Manuel Cornu FRA 0T3z09
8 Rei Sugimoto JPN
9 Yuji Fujiwaki JPN
10 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN
11 Rolands Rugens LAT
12 Kokoro Fujii JPN
13 Sergii Topishko UKR
14 Mickael Mawem FRA
15 Alban Levier FRA
16 Kai Harada JPN
17 Nathaniel Coleman USA
18 Jan Hojer GER
19 Baptiste Ometz SUI
20 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
21 Taisei Ishimatsu JPN
21 Nathan Phillips GBR
23 Thilo Jeldrik Schröter NOR
23 Keita Watabe JPN
23 Kaito Watanabe JPN
26 Sean Bailey USA
27 Gabriele Moroni ITA
27 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS
29 Kevin Heiniger SUI
29 Anze Peharc SLO
29 Simon Unger GER
32 Kai Lightner USA
33 Nimrod Marcus ISR
33 Alexander Megos GER
35 Matthew Cousins GBR
35 Keita Dohi JPN
37 Sean Mccoll CAN
37 Jan-Luca Posch AUT
39 Nicolas Januel FRA
39 Hannes Puman SWE
41 Petar Ivanov BUL
41 Sergio Pastor Martínez ESP
43 Georg Parma AUT
43 Riccardo Piazza ITA
45 Ryuichi Murai JPN
45 Jules Nicouleau Bourles FRA
47 Domen Skofic SLO
47 Loïc Timmermans BEL
49 Nils Favre SUI
49 Don Van Laere NED
51 Marcello Bombardi ITA
51 Sergio Verdasco Urizal ESP
51 Gregor Vezonik SLO
54 Alfons Dornauer AUT
55 Simon Lorenzi BEL
55 Dimitri Vogt SUI
57 Alex Khazanov ISR
57 Sergei Skorodumov RUS
59 David Firnenburg GER
59 Stephane Hanssens BEL
59 Jason Holowach CAN
59 Sebastien Lazure CAN
59 Nicolas Pelorson FRA
59 Aidan Roberts GBR
65 Stefan Scarperi ITA
66 Jonatan Flor Vazquez ESP
67 Nicolas Collin BEL
68 Andrea Zanone ITA
69 Florian Klingler AUT
69 Max Prinz GER
69 Nathan Smith CAN
72 Philipp Martin GER
73 Filip Schenk ITA
73 Martin Stranik CZE
75 Lukas Franckaert BEL
75 Elias Weiler AUT
77 Franz Krakenberger SUI
77 Marco Müller SUI
79 Maxwell Ayrton GBR
79 Sergei Luzhetskii RUS
81 David Barrans GBR
81 Zan Sudar SLO
83 Ram Levin ISR
83 Eric Lopez Mateos ESP
85 Ben Abel AUS
85 Vojtech Trojan CZE
87 Jerome González Gutiérrez ESP
87 Christoph Hanke GER
89 Benjamin Blaser SUI
89 Pouya Shafenejad IRI
91 Jakub Konecny CZE
91 Rolf Fredrik Serlachius SWE
93 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
93 Nikola Petrov BUL
95 Hossein Familrohani IRI
95 Tyler Landman GBR
95 Stepan Stranik CZE
98 Matthias Erber AUT
99 Štefan Bednar SVK
99 João Evora POR
101 Lukas Geukens BEL
101 Róbert Luby SVK
103 Hristo Altanchev BUL
103 Jakub Jedlicka CZE
103 Meirāns Pēteris LAT
106 Ricardo Coimbra POR
107 Manuel Filipe Carvalho POR
107 Nadav Gropper ISR
109 Miloš Němý SVK

Results women Meiringen 2018
1 Miho Nonaka JPN 4T4z55
2 Janja Garnbret SLO 4T4z75
3 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 4T4z99
4 Sandra Lettner AUT 3T4z55
5 Fanny Gibert FRA 3T3z43
6 Shauna Coxsey GBR 2T4z511
7 Jessica Pilz AUT
8 Katja Kadic SLO
9 Leah Crane GBR
10 Chloe Caulier BEL
11 Aya Onoe JPN
12 Sol Sa KOR
13 Stasa Gejo SRB
13 Petra Klingler SUI
15 Mao Nakamura JPN
16 Berit Schwaiger AUT
17 Mélanie Sandoz FRA
17 Maya Madere USA
19 Giorgia Tesio ITA
20 Mia Krampl SLO
21 Johanna Färber AUT
21 Lilli Kiesgen GER
23 Claire Buhrfeind USA
23 Katharina Saurwein AUT
25 Andrea Kümin SUI
25 Brooke Raboutou USA
27 Futaba Ito JPN
27 Tjasa Slemensek SLO
29 Hannah Meul GER
29 Alannah Yip CAN
31 Sunniva Eik Haave NOR
31 Saki Kikuchi JPN
31 Mina Markovic SLO
34 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA
35 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
35 Mei Kotake JPN
37 Margo Hayes USA
37 Jara Späte SUI
37 Vera Zijlstra NED
40 Rebekka Stotz SUI
41 Natalie Bärtschi SUI
41 Urska Repusic SLO
43 Andrea Ebner ITA
43 Laura Stöckler AUT
45 Camille Faille FRA
45 Vita Lukan SLO
47 Vanda Michalková SVK
47 Emily Phillips GBR
49 Johanna Holfeld GER
49 Hung Ying Lee TPE
51 Maëlys Agrapart FRA
51 Elnaz Rekabi IRI
53 Yael Taub ISR
53 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
55 Momoka Kaneko JPN
55 Celina Schoibl AUT
57 Meagan Martin USA
57 Giulia Medici ITA
59 Lisa Chulich USA
59 Anna Tsyganova RUS
61 Nóra Király HUN
61 Karoline Sinnhuber AUT
63 Valentina Aguado ARG
63 Alma Bestvater GER
63 Julia Chanourdie FRA
63 Nanako Kura JPN
67 Afra Hönig GER
68 Romy Fuchs GER
69 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
69 Elena Krasovskaia RUS
71 Julia Meijer NED
71 Martina Zanetti ITA
73 Charlotte Andre FRA
73 Margaryta Zakharova UKR
75 Katrin Amann SWE
75 Heloïse Doumont BEL
75 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
75 Franziska Sterrer AUT
79 Flavy Cohaut FRA
79 Holly Toothill GBR
81 Madison Fischer CAN
81 Ysa Rakestraw NED
81 Jennifer Wood GBR
84 Mª Carmen Alarcón Grau ESP
85 Nasim Biyarjomandy IRI
85 Marie Colot BEL
85 Lucie Delcoigne BEL
85 Asja Gollo ITA
85 Mie (Marie Therese) Kastet NOR
85 Cirvele Katrīna LAT
85 Alla Marenych UKR
85 Alise Zvigule LAT
93 Zoé Egli SUI
93 Tiba Vroom NED
95 Valeri Kremer ISR
96 Heeyeon Park KOR
97 Itziar Zabala Zurinaga ESP
98 Maja Jonjic Arnautovic ESP
99 Tove Wåhlin SWE