Natalia Grossman, Kokoro Fuji crowned Boulder World Champions 2021 at Moscow

The Boulder World Championship 2021 was won on Saturday night by a nigh impeccable Natalia Grossman from the USA who after dominating the Semifinal went on to win the Final with 4 tops in a mere 7 attempts. Despite the pressure of performing last the 20-year-old season revelation managed to flash three of the four problems, always with a beaming smile of joy and disbelief that things were coming together so perfectly. With 9 medals in just one World Cup season this is undoubtedly Grossman’s standout year, and it will be fascinating to see her compete against the undisputed queen of climbing competitions Janja Garnbret who, after winning gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and claiming the 2021 Lead World Cup had decided not to participate in Moscow. In the thrilling and tense final Camilla Moroni from Italy produced the performance of a lifetime sending all 4 problems, too, but requiring 6 attempts more than Grossman; her scream of elation on bloc #4 said it all. 23-year-old Stasa Gejo battled her way to bronze with 2 tops and 4 zones, and this is now her second bronze after the 2018 Boulder World Championships in Innsbruck. Her failure to match top #3 was both heartbreaking and costly. Elena Krasovskaia of the CFR placed an impressive fourth, Brooke Raboutou of the USA started superbly but eventually settled for fifth and Andrea Kümin of Switzerland, in her first ever finals, completed the lineup sixth.

In the men's competition Japan somewhat unsurprisingly led the field with Kokoro Fujii sending all four final problems, two of which flash. He was the only athlete to achieve this feat and his victory was more than deserved and even more impressive when you consider the fact that he beat teammate and Olympian Tomoa Narasaki, who had won the World Champion title at Hachioji in Japan in 2019 and in Paris in 2016. Frenchman Manuel Cornu roared back into the international limelight with a strong performance - his flash of problem #2 was a stroke of genius and he followed it up with a flash on #4 to secure bronze - his second after securing bronze on home soil at the 2016 edition of the championships in Paris. Veteran Aleksey Rubtsov delighted the crowd with a fourth place that, had it not been for the five attempts more than Cornu, could even have been bronze, while Israel’s Marcus Nimrod and Slovenia’s Anze Peharc finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

1 Natalia Grossman USA 4t4z 7 7
2 Camilla Moroni ITA 4t4z 13 11
3 Stasa Gejo SRB 2t4z 5 7
4 Elena Krasovskaia CFR 2t3z 2 4
5 Brooke Raboutou USA 2t3z 3 4
6 Andrea Kümin SUI 1t3z 3 3
7 Fanny Gibert FRA
8 Chloe Caulier BEL
9 Viktoriia Meshkova CFR
10 Lucka Rakovec SLO
11 Ayala Kerem ISR
12 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
13 Futaba Ito JPN
14 Mao Nakamura JPN
15 Vita Lukan SLO
16 Natsuki Tanii JPN
17 Kylie Cullen USA
18 Elnaz Rekabi IRI
19 Johanna Färber AUT
20 Franziska Sterrer AUT
21 Holly Toothill GBR
21 Afra Hönig GER
23 Hannah Meul GER
23 Roxana Wienand GER
25 Madison Fischer CAN
25 Ekaterina Kipriianova CFR
27 Ryu Nakagawa JPN
27 Eliska Adamovska CZE
29 Mia Krampl SLO
29 Sienna Kopf USA
31 Mailys Piazzalunga FRA
31 Alma Bestvater GER
33 Jennifer Wood GBR
33 Rahil Ramezani IRI
35 Katja Debevec SLO
35 Jessica Pilz AUT
37 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
37 Chaehyun Seo KOR
39 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
39 Hung Ying Lee TPE
41 Oriane Bertone FRA
41 Emilie Pupko ISR
43 Tamara Ulzhabayeva KAZ
43 Margaryta Zakharova UKR
45 Valentina Aguado ARG
45 Hana Koike JPN
47 Vana Piccini CRO
47 Tara Hayes GBR
49 Mahya Darabian IRI
49 Ingrid Kindlihagen NOR
51 Irina Kuzmenko CFR
51 Polina Kulagina CFR
53 Sunniva Eik Haave NOR
53 Anastasija Teriochina LTU
55 Thea Wulff USA
55 Maya Dreamer ISR
55 Alejandra Contreras CHI
58 Grace Crowley AUS
59 Thais Makino Shiraiwa BRA
59 Marketa Janosova CZE
61 Noa Shiran ISR
61 Zoe Garcia Molina ARG
63 Nika Potapova UKR
63 Aida Torres Illamola ESP
65 Ignacia Mellado Quinteros CHI
65 Hsiu-Ju Lin TPE
65 Yael Taub ISR
68 Puntarika Tunyavanich THA
69 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
69 Agniete Seibokaite LTU
71 Yevheniia Cherniavska UKR
71 Riley Galloway CAN
73 Maryia Vernikouskaya BLR
73 Patrícia Antunes BRA
73 Assel Marlenova KAZ
73 Gülay Balik TUR
73 Tetiana Kolkotina UKR
78 Duru Güneş Yalcin TUR
78 Margarita Agambayeva KAZ
78 Camila Flores BRA
78 Carmen Contreras CHI
dns Sunniva Øvre-Eide NOR
dns Andrea Rojas ECU

1 Kokoro Fujii JPN 4t4z 6 6
2 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 3t3z 6 6
3 Manuel Cornu FRA 2t3z 2 3
4 Aleksey Rubtsov CFR 2t3z 7 5
5 Nimrod Marcus ISR 0t2z 0 9
6 Anze Peharc SLO 0t2z 0 10
7 Hamish Mcarthur GBR
8 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN
9 Zan Lovenjak Sudar SLO
10 Tomoaki Takata JPN
11 Mickael Mawem FRA
12 Minyoung Lee KOR
13 Mejdi Schalck FRA
14 William Ridal GBR
15 Yannick Flohé GER
16 Gregor Vezonik SLO
17 Mathieu Ternant FRA
18 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
18 Nathan Phillips GBR
18 Sascha Lehmann SUI
21 Sohta Amagasa JPN
21 Sergei Skorodumov CFR
23 Vadim Timonov CFR
23 Philipp Martin GER
25 Edvards Gruzitis LAT
25 Nicolas Collin BEL
27 Jakob Schubert AUT
27 Ram Levin ISR
29 Sergei Luzhetskii CFR
29 Christoph Schweiger GER
31 Alex Waterhouse GBR
31 Benjamin Hanna USA
33 Simon Lorenzi BEL
33 Matic Kotar SLO
35 Alex Khazanov ISR
35 Yuta Imaizumi JPN
37 Charles Barron USA
37 Isaac Leff USA
39 Maximillian Milne GBR
39 Nils Favre SUI
41 Geva Levin ISR
41 Fedir Samoilov UKR
43 Nikolai Iarilovets CFR
43 Jan Hojer GER
45 Ross Fulkerson USA
45 Radin Foroughian IRI
47 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
47 Sergii Topishko UKR
49 Alejandro Crespo Cobos ESP
49 Jongwon Chon KOR
51 Guy Mcnamee CAN
51 Kipras Baltrunas LTU
53 Don Van Laere NED
53 Reza Kolasangian IRI
55 Julien Clémence SUI
55 Chia Hsiang Lin TPE
57 Mark Brand NED
57 Jernej Kruder SLO
59 Nicolai Uznik AUT
59 Campbell Harrison AUS
61 Nino Grünenfelder SUI
61 Fredrik Serlachius SWE
63 Stepan Potucek CZE
63 Ben Abel AUS
65 Zach Richardson CAN
65 Carmel Raz Romeo ISR
67 Michael O'neill IRL
67 Winai Ruangrit THA
69 Mykhayil Tkachuk UKR
69 Carlos Granja ECU
71 Teeraphon Boondech THA
71 Nichol Tomas THA
73 Joris Leipus LTU
73 Rosen Ruev BUL
73 Felipe Ho Foganholo BRA
76 Ciarán Scanlon IRL
77 Pedro Egg BRA
77 Vin Sukapanpotharam THA
79 Wonwoo Han KOR
79 Samuel Carlos Da Silva BRA
81 Alexey Panfilov KAZ
81 Muhammet Ali̇ Keski̇n TUR
83 Galo Hernandez ECU
83 Matin Bayat IRI
85 Kostiantyn Pavlenko UKR
85 Aaron Peñaranda ECU
85 Nickolaie Rivadeneira ECU
85 Gaurav Kumar IND
85 Ferhat Bekmez TUR
85 Simon Potucek CZE
85 Alex Mendes Júnior BRA
92 Hritik Marne IND
93 Dzmitry Nikanorau BLR
94 Yaroslav Tkach UKR
95 Jonas Leffeck BRA
96 Joshua Bruyns RSA
97 Ti̇mur Taş TUR
dns Ties Vancraeynest BEL
dns Peter Kuric SVK
dns Colin Duffy USA