Shauna Coxsey wins Bouldering World Cup 2016, Megan Mascarenas and Kokoro Fujii win in Vail

Shauna Coxsey has won the Bouldering World Cup 2016. With an astounding run of 4 victories and one 9th place, the British ace had completely dominated the 2016 season and her 118 point lead prior to the sixth and penultimate stage in Vail on Friday and Saturday meant not only that she was tipped hot favorite to win the overall standings, but also that she might make British sport climbing history one stage ahead of schedule. The 23-year-old made it into the finals by the skin of her teeth by qualifying last but then, after having placed second in 2015, she made sure she wouldn’t waste this golden opportunity; her second place makes her the first UK climber to win a Bouldering World Cup overall title! Her good friend John Ellison would have been very proud indeed.

Coxsey finished second behind America’s rising star Megan Mascarenas who evidently has a penchant for Vail: the 18-year-old won here in 2015 and last night she produced a nigh-perfect run of a mere 5 attempts needed for all 4 tops, including the tricky slab on problem #3 which only she managed to send. Coxsey finished second with 3 tops, while Anna Stöhr returned to World Cup podiums by beating Mélissa Le Nevé by a tiny margin: although both secured two tops in the finals, the Austrian needed three attempts less than the Frenchwoman to reach a bonus hold. Miho Nonaka, prior to Vail the only athlete still in with a chance of winning the overall title, piled the psychological pressure on in the Semis by qualifying provisional first, but then slipped into fifth place, just ahead of Alex Puccio who celebrated her return to fighting form after her injury here in Vail a year ago.

In the men’s event the race for overall victory prior to Vail was still wide open, above all between Tomoa Narasaki, Kokoro Fujii and Alexey Rubtsov, meaning that this round would prove absolutely crucial to the overall standings. Fujii gained vital points by topping two problems - the only athlete to do so - and in doing so he leapfrogged into provisional first, at the expense of his teammate Narasaki who finished second in Vail after flashing 1 top and reaching 4 bonuses in 7 attempts. Alexey Rubtsov, Yoshiyuki Ogata and Rustam Gelmanov all flashed the same top as Narasaki and so third, fourth and fifth place were split by the number of attempts needed to reach the bonus holds. Further proof of how tricky these finals were came from Canada’s Sean McColl, who battled valiantly yet finished sixth with no tops and three bonuses.

Fujii, Narasaki and Rubtsov are now separated by a mere 62 points and the overall title will be decided in the last stage of the Bouldering World Cup, which will take place in Munich, Germany on August 12th-13th.

IFSC Climbing Worldcup (B) - Vail (USA) 2016
1 Kokoro Fujii JPN 2t4 3b5
2 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 1t1 4b7
3 Alexey Rubtsov RUS 1t1 4b10
4 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 1t1 3b3
5 Rustam Gelmanov RUS 1t3 3b5
6 Sean Mccoll CAN 0t 3b5
7 Martin Stranik CZE
8 Keita Watabe JPN
9 Gabriele Moroni ITA
10 Tyler Landman GBR
11 Jernej Kruder SLO
12 Jorg Verhoeven NED
13 Jongwon Chon KOR
14 Stefan Scarperi ITA
15 Daniel Woods USA
16 Baptiste Ometz SUI
17 Moritz Hans GER
18 Alex Khazanov ISR
19 Rolands Rugens LAT
19 David Barrans GBR
21 Jan Hojer GER
21 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
23 Will Anglin USA
23 Alfons Dornauer AUT
25 Alexander Averdunk GER
25 Tsukuru Hori JPN
27 Austin Geiman USA
27 Masahiro Higuchi JPN
29 Jason Holowach CAN
29 Gregor Vezonik SLO
31 Nathaniel Coleman USA
31 Andre Difelice CAN
33 Nicholas Milburn USA
33 Vasya Vorotnikov USA
35 Benjamin Hanna USA
35 Atsushi Shimizu JPN
37 Palmer Larsen USA
37 Carlo Traversi USA
39 Michael O'rourke USA
39 Cole Skinner USA
41 Kevin Heiniger SUI
41 Kyle Owen USA
43 Yuji Fujiwaki JPN
43 Elias Weiler AUT
43 Andrea Zanone ITA
46 Dalton Bunker USA
47 Josh Larson USA
47 Eric Sethna CAN
49 Jonathon Gonzalez USA
49 Luke Muehring USA
51 Will Johnson CAN
51 Martin Kuhnel USA
53 Tristan Chen USA
53 Gavin Johnson CAN
53 Erick Morales GUA
53 Alex Pearlstein USA
53 Scott Williams CAN
58 Anzor Gurasashvili GEO
59 Alessandro Palma ITA

FEMALE
1 Megan Mascarenas USA 4t5 4b5
2 Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t4 4b7
3 Anna Stöhr AUT 2t5 3b4
4 Melissa Le Neve FRA 2t5 3b7
5 Miho Nonaka JPN 1t1 2b4
6 Alex Puccio USA 1t3 1b3
7 Petra Klingler SUI
8 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
9 Berit Schwaiger AUT
10 Monika Retschy GER
11 Kyra Condie USA
12 Karoline Sinnhuber AUT
13 Charlotte Durif FRA
14 Michaela Tracy GBR
15 Margo Hayes USA
16 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA
17 Stacey Weldon CAN
18 Sol Sa KOR
19 Vera Zijlstra NED
20 Katharina Saurwein AUT
21 Leah Crane GBR
22 Michaela Kiersch USA
22 Ayari Sakamoto JPN
24 Molly Rennie USA
25 Alannah Yip CAN
26 Lily Canavan USA
27 Emily Ziffer USA
28 Allison Vest CAN
29 Julija Kruder SLO
29 Mingxin, Judith Sim SIN
31 Grace Mckeehan USA
32 Meagan Martin USA
33 Anna Laitinen FIN
34 Maddy Morris USA
35 Zoe Steinberg USA
36 Claire Buhrfeind USA
36 Maya Madere USA
38 Elise Sethna CAN
39 Lilli Kiesgen GER
40 Mária Čelková SVK
40 Lisa Chulich USA
40 Pia Graham CAN
40 Ayleen Guaré GUA
40 Miwa Oba JPN
40 Sarah Pearce USA
40 Juliana Price USA
40 Lia Wieckowski CAN