Shauna Coxsey and Kilian Fischhuber win in Innsbruck

Coxsey's victory – only her second after her first World Cup win at Grindelwald last week – was fully deserved and came about thanks to her phenomenal start that allowed her to lead from the outset. Having qualified 4th in the difficult previous heat that had eliminated the likes of Juliane Wurm and Alex Puccio, Coxsey came out third after 16-year-old Japanese hope Miho Nonaka and France's Marine Thévenet to send problem #1 in 7 attempts. Just like Nonaka and Thévenet a few minutes earlier, neither Mélissa Le Nevé, Anna Stöhr nor Akiyo Noguchi managed to make any headway on this technical start up a myriad of pyramids and volumes. Coxsey then comfortably flashed the second boulder to further pile the pressure on her opponents; Le Neve sent it second go and Stöhr sent it third, while Noguchi kept herself in the running with a smooth flash. Problem #3 started with a powerful cross-through dyno and once again the Englishwoman was the first to solve this, only to be called down by the judges somewhat belatedly for an incorrect start. This could have caused an upset but Coxsey, unperturbed, kept her composure and sent it third go. Only Stöhr managed to emulate Coxsey's performance and so problem #4 was going to be decisive: a top by Coxsey would result in certain victory, while her failure to do so would mean Stöhr still stood a chance of winning if she topped out in less than 6 attempts. In the end though the final problem proved too difficult for everyone and, despite some impressive displays of raw power by Stöhr and superb technique by Le Nevé, this boulder remained unsolved. Resulting in gold for Coxsey, silver for Stöhr and bronze for Noguchi. From an Italian point of view, Andrea Ebner qualified for the Semifinal and then placed 17th ,ahead of Jenny Lavarda 29th, Giada Zampa 41st and Alexandra Ladurner 59th.

In the men's Semis it's worth highlighting the impressive performance of 18-year-old Italian Michael Piccolruaz climbed superbly, beating the likes of Jan Hojer, Sean McColl and Jernej Kruder to qualify for his first Finals along with Rustam Gelmanov, Dmitrii Sharafutdinov, Guillaume Glairon Mondet, Kilian Fischhuber e Adam Ondra. After having bid farewell to the Boulder World Cup in 2010 Ondra celebrated his return by showing just why he had won the Cup 4 years ago, piling on the pressure right from the start by flashing the first two problems. Only on problem #3 did he begin to leave the others with a ray of hope; the Czech climber needed four attempts to top what Gelmanov, Sharafutdinov and Fischhuber flashed and so it all went down to the wire between Ondra, Gelmanov and Fischhuber on the somewhat too easy final problem. Gelmanov flashed this as did Sharafutdinov and Ondra probably would have done so, too, had he – just like Coxsey earlier – not been called off for a false start. Somewhat surprised Ondra then strolled to the top but this second attempt proved immensely costly: Fischhuber capitalized on the mistake and, with an unbelievable sequence that defies belief, topped out to clinch gold, with 4 tops in 7 attempts, one less than Ondra who took silver and seven less than Gelmanov who took bronze. As mentioned, Piccolruaz climbed well and despite just one top competed superbly alongside the best in the world to finish 6th. His teammate Gabriele Moroni placed 17th, while Stefan Scarperi finished 32nd and Riccardo Piazza 51st.


IFSC Climbing World Cup 2014 - Innsbruck
Men
1 Kilian Fischhuber AUT 4t7 4b6 AUT
2 Adam Ondra CZE 4t8 4b6 CZE
3 Rustam Gelmanov RUS 4t14 4b14 RUS
4 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS 3t8 4b11 RUS
5 Guillaume Glairon Mondet FRA 2t4 4b7 FRA
6 Michael Piccolruaz ITA 1t4 3b10 ITA

Women
1 Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t11 3b10 GBR
2 Anna Stöhr AUT 2t6 3b5 AUT
3 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 1t1 2b4 JPN
4 Melissa Le Neve FRA 1t2 2b4 FRA
5 Marine Thévenet FRA 1t3 1b1 FRA
6 Miho Nonaka JPN 0t 1b4 JPN