Vail victories for Jongwon Chon and Shauna Coxsey

Vail, Colorado, put on display some great bouldering last Friday and Saturday as 59 male athletes and 55 female athletes lined up for the fifth event of the seven-stage Bouldering World Cup 2017. This promised to be a watershed leg, crucial for vital World Cup points and Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret and Britain’s Shauna Coxsey knew this all too well. The two have been duelling since the start of the seasons and prior to Vail Garnbret trailed by a mere 8 points - a margin which promised Coxsey little comfort.

In the qualifiers Garnbret piled on the pressure and sent all 5 problems, while in the semis things started badly and she failed to make any headway whatsoever on problem #1, resulting in her failing to qualify for the finals (for the first time in her already illustrious career) due to 2 more attempts needed to reach a bonus. This mistake cost her dearly; without the pressure of her rival Coxsey literally flew in the finals and with 3 tops secured her 10th World Cup victory, having beaten Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi and Miho Nonaka, second and third respectively. America’s Alex Puccio delighted the crowd and just missed out on the podium, while young Slovenian Katja Kadic placed fifth ahead of defending Bouldering World Champion Petra Klingler.

Japanese athletes dominated the men’s event, with 9 of the best 10 making the cut in the qualifiers, and 4 of the 6 finalists coming from land of the rising sun. Food for thought in the run up to the Olympics in 2020… 2015 Bouldering World Cup winner didn’t seem in the slightest concerned and, in a league of his own, topped all four problems to beat Meichi Narasaki (not to be confused with his elder brother and current World Cup leader Tomoa Narasaki) and Yoshiyuki Ogata who placed second and third. Russia’s Aleksei Rubstov placed fourth, ahead of Japan’s Kokoro Fujii and Keita Watabe.

1 Jongwon Chon KOR 4t9
2 Meichi Narasaki JPN 3t6
3 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 3t11
4 Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 2t5
5 Kokoro Fujii JPN 2t6
6 Keita Watabe JPN 1t3
7 Tsukuru Hori JPN
8 Jernej Kruder SLO
9 Tomoa Narasaki JPN
10 Rei Sugimoto JPN
11 Sean Bailey USA
12 Jorg Verhoeven NED
13 Sebastien Lazure CAN
14 Kevin Heiniger SUI
15 Yuji Fujiwaki JPN
16 Jan Hojer GER
17 Tyler Landman GBR
18 Alex Khazanov ISR
19 Kai Harada JPN
20 Gabriele Moroni ITA
21 Jeldrik Schröter Thilo NOR
21 Kaito Watanabe JPN
23 Alfons Dornauer AUT
23 Michael O'rourke USA
25 Shawn Raboutou USA
25 Simon Unger GER
27 Jason Holowach CAN
27 Georg Parma AUT
29 Nathaniel Coleman USA
29 Domen Skofic SLO
31 Kai Lightner USA
31 Baptiste Ometz SUI
33 Solomon Barth USA
33 Jesse Taplin CAN
35 Peter Dixon USA
35 Hannes Puman SWE
35 Kyle Struthers USA
38 Benjamin Hanna USA
39 Lukas Geukens BEL
39 Sean Mccoll CAN
39 Haibin Qu CHN
42 Palmer Larsen USA
43 Brian Antheunisse USA
43 Jj Mah CAN
43 Jakob Schubert AUT
46 Ka-Chun Yau HKG
47 Bjørn Arnel Iisager DEN
47 Chi-Fung Au HKG
49 Brendan Mitchell USA
49 Charlie Schreiber USA
51 Yufei Pan CHN
51 Riccardo Piazza ITA
53 Ryan Copeland USA
53 Andrew Lamb USA
55 Kim Marschner GER
55 Nicholas Picarella USA
57 Julien Bourassa- Moreau CAN
57 Tristan Chen USA
59 Joel Zerr USA

1 Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t4
2 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 3t6
3 Miho Nonaka JPN 3t7
4 Alex Puccio USA 3t10
5 Katja Kadic SLO 1t3
6 Petra Klingler SUI 0t
7 Janja Garnbret SLO
8 Sol Sa KOR
9 Brooke Raboutou USA
10 Michaela Tracy GBR
11 Aya Onoe JPN
12 Katharina Saurwein AUT
13 Mei Kotake JPN
14 Berit Schwaiger AUT
15 Alma Bestvater GER
15 Megan Mascarenas USA
15 Chloe Caulier BEL
18 Meagan Martin USA
18 Lily Canavan USA
18 Leah Crane GBR
21 Johanna Holfeld GER
21 Monika Retschy GER
23 Carroll Chauncey USA
23 Kyra Condie USA
25 Bronwen Karnis CAN
25 Grace Mckeehan USA
27 Stasa Gejo SRB
27 Maya Madere USA
29 Lilli Kiesgen GER
29 Eva Thompson CAN
31 Andrea Ebner ITA
31 Franziska Sterrer AUT
33 Ying Lee Hung TPE
33 Alannah Yip CAN
35 Victoria Perkins USA
35 Lamu Renqing CHN
37 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA
37 Hannah Midtboe NOR
39 Lisa Chulich USA
39 Alexis Mascarenas USA
39 Allison Vest CAN
42 Molly Rennie USA
43 Rong Jiang CHN
43 Lila Neahring USA
43 Ann Stirling Lucinda AUS
46 Elise Sethna CAN
47 Johanna Färber AUT
47 Julianna Jimreivat USA
49 Natalia Grossman USA
49 Audrey Miller USA
51 Isabel Gifford USA
51 Zoe Steinberg USA
53 Heeyeon Park KOR
53 Tan Shi Hui SGP
55 Emilie Pellerin CAN