Miho Nonaka and Jernej Kruder win Bouldering World Cup 2018

The Bouldering World Cup 2018 has come to a close and was won, after seven stages and by the narrowest of margins in front of a 4000-strong crowd in Munich, by Japan's Miho Nonaka and Slovenia’s Jernej Kruder.

After years of competing in the shadow of the greatest, Miho Nonaka made 2018 her season, debuting in Meiringen with a victory and then always finishing second in the remaining 6 competitions. Despite these amazing results the 21-year old found herself vying off her teammate Akiyo Noguchi, winner of four previous World Cups and, this season, with three victories, two third places and a hunger for that historic fifth overall win.

Remarkably, the duel between the two lasted right up to the final boulder problem; Noguchi had sent all four boulders and in order to win her first World Cup Nonaka was obliged to send problem #4. While her nervous smile perhaps betrayed the tension she was under, she nevertheless displayed nerves of steel to flash the final hurdle before falling onto the mattress and crying tears of disbelief. Season’s second went to her great rival and friend Noguchi, while Fanny Gilbert won bronze. The Frenchwoman placed fourth in Munich ahead of Slovenia’s Katja Kadic and Russia’s Ekaterina Kipriianova. The final stage was won by Slovenia's Janja Garnbret who managed to flash all four boulder problems. Nothing else needs adding to this impeccable performance.

The men’s competition was full of unexpected twists and turns, too. Before the Munich showdown those vying for the title were 2016 World Champion and 2016 World Cup winner Tomoa Narasaki, and explosive Jernej Kruder, on a mission to secure his first overall victory. Narasaki needed to place 9th or better and ahead of Kruder to retake the title but much to everyone’s surprise he crashed out in the semis, finishing 9th overall. Before starting the final round Kruder had therefore already achieved his longterm dream, winning, as it happens, Slovenia's first ever Bouldering World Cup. The 27-year-old obviously isn’t one to rest on his laurels and after a powerful evening he placed 2nd in Munich, ahead of Austria’s Jakob Schubert, the two Japanese Yoshiyuki Ogata and Yuji Fujiwaki, and France’s Mickael Mawem, while Kruder’s 23-year-old teammate Gregor Vezonik clinched his first stage victory. Talk about another dream come true.

Munich 2018
Female
1 Janja Garnbret SLO 4T4z44
2 Miho Nonaka JPN 4T4z55
3 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 4T4z76
4 Fanny Gibert FRA 1T4z18
5 Katja Kadic SLO 1T2z15
6 Ekaterina Kipriianova RUS 0T3z05
7 Futaba Ito JPN
8 Karoline Sinnhuber AUT
9 Petra Klingler SUI
10 Mao Nakamura JPN
11 Mei Kotake JPN
12 Alma Bestvater GER
13 Berit Schwaiger AUT
14 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
15 Mélanie Sandoz FRA
16 Clementine Kaiser FRA
16 Franziska Sterrer AUT
18 Jessica Pilz AUT
19 Nanako Kura JPN
20 Emily Phillips GBR
21 Chloe Caulier BEL
21 Evgeniya Lapshina RUS
23 Aya Onoe JPN
23 Ashima Shiraishi USA
25 Kyra Condie USA
25 Urska Repusic SLO
27 Afra Hönig GER
27 Julia Pinggera AUT
29 Lilli Kiesgen GER
29 Julija Kruder SLO
31 Stasa Gejo SRB
31 Saeko Sugimura JPN
33 Momoka Kaneko JPN
33 Irina Kuzmenko RUS
35 Camille Faille FRA
35 Saki Kikuchi JPN
37 Flavy Cohaut FRA
37 Katrine Vandet Salling DEN
39 Charlotte Andre FRA
39 Vera Zijlstra NED
41 Natalie Bärtschi SUI
41 Frederike Fell GER
43 Isabell Adolph GER
43 Johanna Färber AUT
43 Romy Fuchs GER
43 Tiba Vroom NED
43 Jennifer Wood GBR
43 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
49 Valeri Kremer ISR
50 Johanna Holfeld GER
51 Valiantsina Chamiakina BLR
51 Hannah Meul GER
53 Maya Madere USA
53 Alyssa Weber CAN
55 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA
55 Tjasa Slemensek SLO
57 Anastasiia Evgeneva RUS
57 Andrea Kümin SUI
59 Andrea Ebner ITA
59 Sunniva Eik Haave NOR
61 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
61 Rahil Ramezani IRI
63 Lisa Chulich USA
63 Rebecca Frangos CAN
65 Tan Shi Hui SGP
65 Jara Späte SUI
67 Karina Bilkova CZE
67 Anna Tsyganova RUS
69 Amour Paz ISR
69 Olivia Wyett CAN
71 Mª Carmen Alarcón Grau ESP
71 Patrícia Antunes BRA
71 Klaudia Buczek POL
71 Celine Cuypers BEL
71 Lucia Dörffel GER
71 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS
71 Agniete Seibokaite LTU
71 Thais Makino Shiraiwa BRA
79 Katrin Amann SWE
79 LINDA Sjödin SWE
79 Holly Toothill GBR
82 Nóra Király HUN
83 Elfe Claes BEL
83 Rhoslyn Frugtniet GBR
83 Yael Taub ISR
86 Yevheniia Cherniavska UKR
87 Sandra Jonsson SWE
87 Luana Riscado BRA
87 Itziar Zabala Zurinaga ESP
90 Sara Engqvist SWE
91 BEGÜM Işik TUR
91 Alise Zvigule LAT
93 Lotina Diana LAT
93 Cirvele Katrīna LAT
93 Daniela Kotrbova CZE
96 Patrycja Chudziak POL
96 Sevda Geyik TUR
96 Lara Özak TUR
99 Heeyeon Park KOR
100 leah Jeffries AUS
101 Ivanova Inta LAT
101 Anna Krajushkina EST

Munich 2018
Male
1 Gregor Vezonik SLO 2T4z213
2 Jernej Kruder SLO 2T3z97
3 Jakob Schubert AUT 2T3z911
4 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 2T3z1113
5 Yuji Fujiwaki JPN 2T2z55
6 Mickael Mawem FRA 1T2z13
7 Kokoro Fujii JPN
8 Rei Sugimoto JPN
9 Keita Watabe JPN
9 Tomoa Narasaki JPN
11 Alexander Averdunk GER
12 Jan Hojer GER
13 Taisei Ishimatsu JPN
14 Aleksei Rubtsov RUS
14 Alfons Dornauer AUT
16 Manuel Cornu FRA
17 Tomoaki Takata JPN
18 Gabriele Moroni ITA
19 Yuki Hada JPN
20 Yannick Flohé GER
21 Matthew Cousins GBR
21 Anze Peharc SLO
23 Marcello Bombardi ITA
23 Max Kleesattel GER
23 Alexander Megos GER
23 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS
27 Sean Bailey USA
27 Keita Dohi JPN
29 David Firnenburg GER
29 Jonatan Flor Vazquez ESP
31 Rudolph Ruana USA
31 Zan Sudar SLO
33 Stefan Schmieg GER
33 Stephan Vogt GER
35 Kai Harada JPN
35 Sascha Lehmann SUI
35 Aidan Roberts GBR
38 Matthias Erber AUT
39 Alban Levier FRA
39 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
39 Thilo Jeldrik Schröter NOR
42 Nathan Phillips GBR
43 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA
43 Kim Marschner GER
43 Georg Parma AUT
46 Jan-Luca Posch AUT
47 Chi-fung Au HKG
47 Baptiste Ometz SUI
47 Simon Unger GER
50 Ruben Firnenburg GER
51 Hannes Puman SWE
51 Stefan Scarperi ITA
51 Martin Stranik CZE
51 Don Van Laere NED
55 Nathaniel Coleman USA
55 Rolf Fredrik Serlachius SWE
57 Philipp Martin GER
57 Ryuichi Murai JPN
59 Alex Khazanov ISR
59 Sergii Topishko UKR
61 Benjamin Blaser SUI
61 David Fitzgerald IRL
61 Fedir Samoilov UKR
64 Colin Wills USA
65 Nicolas Januel FRA
65 Eric Lopez Mateos ESP
65 Vadim Timonov RUS
68 Kipras Baltrunas LTU
69 Bjørn Arnel Iisager DEN
69 Clement Ozun FRA
71 Nils Favre SUI
71 Sergio Verdasco Urizal ESP
73 Felipe Ho Foganholo BRA
73 Konstantin Mitin RUS
73 Max Prinz GER
73 Christoph Schweiger GER
77 William Ridal GBR
77 Elias Weiler AUT
79 Maxwell Ayrton GBR
79 Joseph Diaz USA
79 Jean Ouriques Gutiérrez BRA
82 Jerome González ESP
83 Jakob Elliott CAN
83 Rolands Rugens LAT
85 Moritz Hans GER
85 Pedro Ferreira Nicoloso BRA
85 Josef Sundakov-Krumins AUS
88 Florian Klingler AUT
89 Lukas Geukens BEL
89 Nathan Smith CAN
89 Andrea Zanone ITA
92 Florian Wientjes GER
93 Diego Lequerica PER
93 Ciarán Scanlon IRL
95 Cesar Grosso BRA
95 Sean Mccoll CAN
95 Sergio Pastor Martínez ESP
95 Meirāns Pēteris LAT
95 Stepan Stranik CZE
100 Sergei Luzhetskii RUS
101 Stefan Bednar SVK
102 Hossein Familrohani IRI
102 Cheuk-hei Ho HKG
104 Elias Iagnemma ITA
104 Ram Levin ISR
104 Yuval Shemla ISR
107 Pouya Shafenejad IRI
108 Zoltán Komjáti HUN
109 Ben Abel AUS
109 Nadav Gropper ISR
109 David Trudeau CAN
112 Sarp Sahin TUR
113 Szymon Pecikiewicz POL
113 Mykola Silevych UKR
115 Theis Lindegren Elfenbein DEN
115 Robert Luby SVK
115 Jakub Jiri Svub SVK
118 NURİ Muhammetaydemi̇r TUR
118 John Brosler USA
118 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
118 Maciej Dobrzanski POL
118 Benjamin Hanna USA
118 Pavel Kratochvil SVK
118 Maksim Lind EST
125 Dombrovskis Artūrs LAT
125 Jakub Jedlicka CZE
125 Yarden Pilpel ISR
125 Övgün Yildirim TUR


FINAL RANKING 2018
FEMALE
1 Miho Nonaka JPN 500.00
2 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 495.00
3 Fanny Gibert FRA 320.00
4 Janja Garnbret SLO 280.00
5 Katja Kadic SLO 246.00
6 Stasa Gejo SRB 222.00
7 Ekaterina Kipriianova RUS 210.00
8 Futaba Ito JPN 179.00
9 Shauna Coxsey GBR 174.00
10 Alma Bestvater GER 168.00
11 Jessica Pilz AUT 154.00
12 Sol Sa KOR 153.00
13 Kyra Condie USA 136.00
14 Chloe Caulier BEL 132.00
15 Petra Klingler SUI 117.00
16 Mélanie Sandoz FRA 113.00
17 Alex Puccio USA 100.00
18 Johanna Färber AUT 99.00
19 Alannah Yip CAN 97.00
20 Mao Nakamura JPN 94.00
21 Mei Kotake JPN 85.00
22 Berit Schwaiger AUT 82.00
23 Lilli Kiesgen GER 71.00
24 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA 68.00
25 Tomoko Kajima JPN 66.00
26 Franziska Sterrer AUT 64.00
27 Aya Onoe JPN 59.00
27 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS 59.00
29 Sandra Lettner AUT 55.00
29 Urska Repusic SLO 55.00
31 Nanako Kura JPN 51.00
32 Leah Crane GBR 49.00
33 Karoline Sinnhuber AUT 48.00
34 Hung Ying Lee TPE 46.00
35 Michaela Tracy GBR 45.00
36 Mia Krampl SLO 43.00
37 Flavy Cohaut FRA 42.00
38 Saki Kikuchi JPN 40.00
39 Charlotte Andre FRA 38.00
40 Maya Madere USA 36.00
40 Julia Pinggera AUT 36.00
42 Hannah Meul GER 35.00
43 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI 24.00
44 Claire Buhrfeind USA 23.00
45 Saeko Sugimura JPN 22.00
46 Clementine Kaiser FRA 19.00
46 Katharina Posch AUT 19.00
48 Jain Kim KOR 18.00
49 Brooke Raboutou USA 17.00
50 Michaela Kiersch USA 15.00
50 Vanessa Si Yinn Teng SGP 15.00
52 Giorgia Tesio ITA 14.00
52 Vera Zijlstra NED 14.00
54 Elena Krasovskaia RUS 12.00
54 Oceania Mackenzie AUS 12.00
54 Emily Phillips GBR 12.00
57 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR 11.00
58 Afra Hönig GER 10.00
59 Emma Horan AUS 9.00
59 Evgeniya Lapshina RUS 9.00
59 Mina Markovic SLO 9.00
62 Tiffany Melius AUS 7.00
62 Katharina Saurwein AUT 7.00
62 Ashima Shiraishi USA 7.00
65 Bronwen Karnis CAN 5.00
65 Andrea Kümin SUI 5.00
67 Camille Faille FRA 3.00
67 Ida Kups POL 3.00
67 Hannah Schubert AUT 3.00
67 Tjasa Slemensek SLO 3.00
67 Katrine Vandet Salling DEN 3.00
67 Jennifer Wood GBR 3.00
73 Allison Vest CAN 2.00
74 Valentina Aguado ARG 1.00
74 Julia Chanourdie FRA 1.00
74 Julija Kruder SLO 1.00
74 Anna Tsyganova RUS 1.00

FINAL RANKING 2018
MALE
1 Jernej Kruder SLO 442.00
2 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 400.00
3 Rei Sugimoto JPN 334.00
4 Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 296.00
5 Gregor Vezonik SLO 280.00
6 Kokoro Fujii JPN 260.00
7 Jongwon Chon KOR 247.00
8 Tomoaki Takata JPN 218.00
9 Yuji Fujiwaki JPN 207.00
9 Jakob Schubert AUT 207.00
11 Gabriele Moroni ITA 197.00
12 Alex Khazanov ISR 184.00
13 Jan Hojer GER 172.00
13 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 172.00
15 Mickael Mawem FRA 166.00
16 Kai Harada JPN 129.00
16 Keita Watabe JPN 129.00
18 Manuel Cornu FRA 125.00
19 Taisei Ishimatsu JPN 114.00
20 Sean Mccoll CAN 112.00
21 Ryuichi Murai JPN 99.00
22 Sean Bailey USA 91.00
23 Alban Levier FRA 84.00
23 Sergii Topishko UKR 84.00
25 Anze Peharc SLO 61.00
26 Michael Piccolruaz ITA 50.00
27 Yannick Flohé GER 47.00
28 Nathan Phillips GBR 46.00
29 Nathaniel Coleman USA 43.00
30 Yuki Hada JPN 42.00
31 Thilo Jeldrik Schröter NOR 38.00
32 Rolands Rugens LAT 36.00
33 Meichi Narasaki JPN 34.00
34 Alexander Averdunk GER 31.00
35 Martin Stranik CZE 28.00
36 Nicolas Collin BEL 27.00
37 Alfons Dornauer AUT 26.00
38 Jason Holowach CAN 25.00
39 William Ridal GBR 24.00
40 Kim Marschner GER 19.00
41 Matthew Cousins GBR 18.00
41 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS 18.00
43 Keita Dohi JPN 17.00
43 Elias Weiler AUT 17.00
45 Kai Lightner USA 16.00
46 Jonatan Flor Vazquez ESP 15.00
47 Baptiste Ometz SUI 14.00
47 Aidan Roberts GBR 14.00
47 Kaito Watanabe JPN 14.00
50 Eric Lopez Mateos ESP 13.00
51 Thomas Farrell AUS 9.00
52 Simon Unger GER 8.00
53 Marcello Bombardi ITA 7.00
53 Colin Wills USA 7.00
55 Max Kleesattel GER 6.00
55 Alexander Megos GER 6.00
57 Sebastien Lazure CAN 5.00
58 YuFei Pan CHN 4.00
59 YUYA Kitae JPN 3.00
60 Asher Gavin Chiam Kai Chen SGP 1.00
60 Nils Favre SUI 1.00
60 David Firnenburg GER 1.00
60 Kevin Heiniger SUI 1.00
60 Masahiro Higuchi JPN 1.00
60 Riccardo Piazza ITA 1.00