World Climbing Championships Paris 2016 final report

France’s capital city hosted the biggest sport climbing competition of the last two seasons last week and the climbing that was put on display, across all disciplines by the 386 Athletes from 53 countries, was nothing short of spectacular. Here’s our round-up of the action which, if this World Championship is anything to go by in the run-up to Tokyo 2020, demonstrates that sport climbing well and truly deserves its place as an Olympic sport.

BOULDERING
The atmosphere in Paris was electric and rendered even more charged with the inclusion of three French athletes in the Men’s Bouldering finals. Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki came out first and immediately put his rivals under immense pressure by sending boulder #1 on his third go. His teammate Tsukuru Hori got it 6th go and France’s Manuel Cornu required 7, but Mickael Mawem and Jeremy Bonder then dampened French spirits by failing to make any headway whatsoever. After some initial tribulations, Adam Ondra sent it 5th go. Cornu and Mawem got back in the running by being the only athletes to send boulder #2, but Narasaki steered clear of the pack on boulder #3 on his second go. Only Ondra managed to keep up, but Narasaki proved absolutely unstoppable on Saturday night, producing an insane flash across the long, overhanging, dynamic traverse and delicate finish on boulder #4. The 20-year-old winner of the Bouldering World Cup 2016 fully deserved the World Championship title, as Ondra settled for 2nd place, ahead of Manuel Cornu, 3rd. Mickael Mawem finished 4th, Jeremy Bonder 5th and Tsukuru Hori 6th.
The Women’s Bouldering finals will be remembered for the tears of joy shed by surprise winner Petra Klinger. The 24-year-old Swisswoman had only won an international competition once previously and she rose to the occasion, producing the climb of a lifetime just when it mattered most. Klinger clinched victory on the last boulder problem and ousted Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi who had dominated standings until then. The Japanese’s failure on the last problem cost her dearly, as her teammate Miho Nonaka slipped into second to win silver, ahead of Megan Mascarenas 4th, Anna Stöhr 5th and Elena Krasovskaia 6th.

SPEED
The Men’s speed on Saturday proved breathtaking, literally, with Poland’s Marcin Dzienski clocking up the staggering time of 5.83 in the final race against Iran’s Reza Alipourshenazandifar. The small final for third and fourth place was won by Aleksandr Shikov from Russia, who beat crowd favorite Bassa Mawem from France.
The Women’s Speed on Sunday, shortly before the Male Lead Grand Finale, looked like it would have it’s fairy-tale ending: France’s Anouck Jaubert, winner of the Speed World Cup 2015 and currently world #1, had qualified for the decisive race against Russia’s Anna Tsyganova. A few minutes earlier the Frenchwoman had slipped but nevertheless beaten the fastest woman on the planet, Russia’s Iuliia Kaplina, who was forced to beat Poland’s Aleksandra Rudzinska and settle for bronze, and the 8000 spectators fell into complete silence as they waited for the French dream to come true. The buzzer rang and Tsyganova on the left and Jaubert on the right shot upwards, in perfect sync, one hold after the next. Jaubert appeared to be ahead but then, 5 meters from the top, Tsyganova powered past to clinch gold and win her second, mighty gold medal after winning the European Championships in Chamonix in 2013. Tsyganova won in 7:52 seconds, while Jaubert gracefully accepted silver after 7:97. For the record, had Paris been a certified wall, Tsyganova would also have beaten the world record by 1 hundredths of a second…

LEAD
The Women’s Lead on Saturday was a battle of titans and anything but gentle. Immensely powerful moves past burley slopers proved fatal for four athletes, namely Alina Ring, Magdalena Röck, Claire Buhrfeind and Julia Chanourdie who all fell relatively low, and it took Jessica Pilz to first break through this crux section before falling heartbreakingly high, off the penultimate hold. Anak Verhoeven then powered her way convincingly to the top, while Jain Kim and then Mina Markovic both fell off the penultimate hold. Last out was 17-year-old Janja Garnbret who has proven practically unstoppable in her debut season and, once again, she stole the show. The Slovenian topped out like Verhoeven and won on count back to the Semi-Finals, where Verhoeven had climbed two holds lower. So gold went to Slovenia by the smallest of margins, while Verhoeven took silver and Mina Markovic took bronze, once again due to count back to the Semis. Jain Kim placed 4th, Jessica Pilz 5th, Julia Chanourdie 6th, Magdalena Röck 7th, Claire Buhrfeind 8th.


The Men’s Lead route has been defined as one of the best routes ever in a Lead Final and this coordinated bouldering on a rope, past highly committing moves with no chance for second-go’s, proved as spectacular as it was ruthless. After having been allowed to preview the route, Japan’s Keiichiro Korenaga got the men got underway with a great display of acrobatic power. Italy’s Stefano Ghisolfi climbed to his absolute max and when he fell, he knew he had produced an outstanding performance. Ramon Julien Puigblanque fell unexpectedly, after a mere 9 holds on a dyno left as he went for a part of the hold non of the other competitors used. Next out Sean McColl had absolutely no problems whatsoever as this climbing seemed to suit his style perfectly, but then powered out just one hold higher than Ghisolfi. France’s Desgranges got one hold higher still, then Jakob Schubert powered past - despite fumbling a clip - to add a massive 4 hold lead. Cheered on by the deafening home crowd Supper climbed one hold lower and into provisional second place. Current World Cup leader, Slovenia’s 22-year-old Domen Skofic, seemed undisturbed by the route’s intensity, but as he reached Desgranges highpoint his elbows suddenly turned and he lobbed off. Last out was Adam Ondra, the defending World Champion, intent of improving on his silver medal he had secured in the Bouldering event the previous day. And Ondra put on the show of his life, quickly reaching Schubert’s highpoint. Even the Czech struggled with those fateful tiny crimps but somehow he turned and stuck an impossible looking dyno. As he landed he instantly knew he’d done it, he turned and screamed in joy and cheered to the spectators who rose and went wild, absolutely wild in Paris. Domen Skofic placed 4th, Romain Desgranges 5th, Sean McColl 6th, Stefano Ghisolfi 7th, Keiichiro Korenaga 8th, Ramón Julian Puigblanque 9th.

PARACLIMBING
20 countries were represented in the Paraclimbing World Championships and for many of the 8000 strong crowd this was a first, touching insight into the extraordinary world of very special climbers. An absolute hush fell over the stadium as coaches communicated via radio with the visual impairment athletes, and later as the amputee athletes fought their ways up the wall the spectators screamed in appreciation and granted them a standing ovation.

VIDEOS
IFSC World Championships Paris 2016 - Finals - Men Bouldering & Paraclimbing B1


IFSC World Championships Paris 2016 - Finals - Women Bouldering & Men Paraclimbing AL-2


IFSC World Championships Paris 2016 - Speed - Finals - Men


IFSC World Championships Paris 2016 - Speed - Finals - Women


IFSC World Championships Paris 2016 - Lead - Finals - Men


IFSC World Championships Paris 2016 - Lead - Finals - Women


FINAL RANKINGS
WOMEN LEAD
1 Janja Garnbret SLO Top
2 Anak Verhoeven BEL Top
3 Mina Markovic SLO 43+
4 Jain Kim KOR 43+
5 Jessica Pilz AUT 43+
6 Julia Chanourdie FRA 25+
7 Magdalena Röck AUT 23+
7 Claire Buhrfeind USA 23+
9 Alina Ring SUI 19
10 Christine Schranz AUT
10 Mathilde Becerra FRA
12 Salomé Romain FRA
13 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
13 Katharina Posch AUT
13 Yuka Kobayashi JPN
13 Charlotte Durif FRA
17 Margo Hayes USA
17 Heloïse Doumont BEL
19 Hannah Schubert AUT
19 Delaney Miller USA
21 Rebeka Kamin SLO
21 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
23 Nolwenn Arc FRA
23 Hélène Janicot FRA
25 Molly Thompson- Smith GBR
26 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS
27 Netta Fredman ISR
27 Tjasa Kalan SLO
29 Andrea Ebner ITA
29 Elena Krasovskaia RUS
31 Asja Gollo ITA
31 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
33 Viktoriia Meshkova RUS
33 Kajsa Rosen SWE
35 Haimi Cho KOR
35 Minseon Kim KOR
37 Katherine Choong SUI
37 Kyra Condie USA
37 Grace Mckeehan USA
40 Bimini Horstmann USA
41 Celine Cuypers BEL
41 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
43 Mariia Musienko RUS
43 Alannah Yip CAN
45 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS
45 Elnaz Rekabi IRI
47 Gahee Lee KOR
47 Stella Plantin SWE
49 Roxy Perry AUS
49 Lenka Slezakova CZE
51 Galina Terenteva RUS
51 Nikki Van Bergen NED
53 Seuran Han KOR
53 Michelle Kim Theisen DEN
55 Tamara Kuznetsova KAZ
55 Gabriela Vrablikova CZE
57 Veronika Simkova CZE
57 Alison Stewart- Patterson CAN
57 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
60 Christy Spurrell CAN
61 Aniek Lith NED
61 Jiwon Yang KOR
63 Katrin Amann SWE
63 Andrea Pokorna CZE
65 Suzu Jeffery USA
65 Muriel Ruíz De Larramendi Arangoa ESP
67 Annie Chouinard CAN
67 Ana-Maria Zaharia ROU
69 Janine Cardoso BRA
69 Ayşe Narmanli TUR
71 Fatma Basoglu Kabran TUR
71 Olga Fedyuk POR
73 Sevda Geyi̇k TUR
73 Jaylene Pratt CAN
75 Iroda Rapikova UZB

MEN LEAD
1 Adam Ondra CZE Top
2 Jakob Schubert AUT 42+
3 Gautier Supper FRA 41
4 Domen Skofic SLO 38+
5 Romain Desgranges FRA 38+
6 Sean Mccoll CAN 37+
7 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 37
8 Keiichiro Korenaga JPN 28
9 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP 9+
10 Sebastian Halenke GER
11 Dmitrii Fakiryanov RUS
12 Urban Primozic SLO
13 Francesco Vettorata ITA
13 Loïc Timmermans BEL
15 Hannes Puman SWE
16 Fedir Samoilov UKR
17 Sascha Lehmann SUI
17 David Firnenburg GER
19 Georg Parma AUT
19 Alberto Gotta ITA
21 Jihwan Park KOR
22 Kevin Huser SUI
23 Jakub Konecny CZE
24 Masahiro Higuchi JPN
25 Naoki Shimatani JPN
26 Max Rudigier AUT
26 Thomas Joannes FRA
28 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
29 Marcello Bombardi ITA
29 Sergei Bydtaev RUS
29 Meichi Narasaki JPN
32 Sean Bailey USA
33 Christoph Hanke GER
33 Martin Tekles GER
35 Tomas Ravanal CHI
35 Yuval Shemla ISR
37 Martin Bergant SLO
37 Hanwool Kim KOR
39 Seungwoon Cho KOR
39 Ruben Firnenburg GER
41 Stefano Carnati ITA
41 Elan Jonasmcrae CAN
43 Nicolas Collin BEL
43 Minyoung Lee KOR
45 David Barrans GBR
45 Jabee Kim KOR
45 Sergei Luzhetskii RUS
48 Valeriy Kryukov UKR
49 William Bosi GBR
49 Vladislav Shevchenko RUS
51 Manuel Cornu FRA
51 Antoine Kauffmann BEL
53 Yiftach Kushnir ISR
53 Tim Reuser NED
53 Or Wechsler ISR
56 Carlo Traversi USA
57 Stephane Hanssens BEL
57 James Pope GBR
59 Mikhail Chernikov RUS
59 Pan Yufei CHN
61 Austin Geiman USA
61 Joonha Shin KOR
63 Benjamin Hanna USA
63 Eric Lopez Mateos ESP
65 Cheung- Chi Shoji Chan HKG
65 Campbell Harrison AUS
67 Artyom Devyaterikov KAZ
67 Brendan Mitchell USA
69 Štefan Bednar SVK
69 Thilo Jeldrik Schröter NOR
71 Àlex Hernández Castilla ESP
71 Martin Jech CZE
73 Sébastien Berthe BEL
73 Nathan Smith CAN
75 Petar Ivanov BUL
75 Rolands Rugens LAT
77 Tomas Binter CZE
77 Ka-Chun Yau HKG
79 Benjamin Ayala CHI
79 Ronny Escobar CHI
81 Mykhayil Tkachuk UKR
81 Matthew Wellington CAN
83 Iñaki Arantzamendi Irueta ESP
83 Kyle Murdoch CAN
85 John Brosler USA
85 Alistair Earley AUS
87 Rolf -Martin Bjørngaard NOR
87 Nikola Petrov BUL
87 Tosh Sherkat CAN
90 Chi-Fung Au HKG
91 Mark Brand NED
91 Daniel Ungureanu ROU
93 Zorbey Aktuyun TUR
93 Diego Lequerica PER
95 Vanco Naunov MKD
95 Juan Sebastian Prieto Perilla COL
97 Gregory Raymond Borman RSA
97 Bozhidar Lyubenov BUL
99 Niraj Karki NEP
99 Oliver Marx RSA
101 Oğuz Kaan Beğeç TUR
101 Viktor Trpovski MKD
103 Ali Şen TUR
103 Vasil Tasevski MKD

WOMEN BOULDER
1 Petra Klingler SUI 3t4 4b6
2 Miho Nonaka JPN 3t9 4b9
3 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 2t2 4b7
4 Megan Mascarenas USA 2t2 4b8
5 Anna Stöhr AUT 2t5 4b12
6 Elena Krasovskaia RUS 0t 2b5
7 Stasa Gejo SRB
8 Clementine Kaiser FRA
9 Lilli Kiesgen GER
10 Katharina Saurwein AUT
10 Alma Bestvater GER
12 Hannah Midtboe NOR
13 Berit Schwaiger AUT
14 Andrea Ebner ITA
15 Chloé Caulier BEL
16 Alannah Yip CAN
17 Mie (Marie Therese) Kastet NOR
18 Melissa Le Neve FRA
19 Marine Thévenet FRA
20 Monika Retschy GER
21 Johanna Färber AUT
21 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
23 Ekaterina Andreeva RUS
23 Fanny Gibert FRA
25 Andrea Kümin SUI
25 Aya Onoe JPN
27 Petra Ruzickova CZE
27 Tjasa Slemensek SLO
29 Julija Kruder SLO
29 Vera Zijlstra NED
31 Olga Iakovleva RUS
31 Tatiana Shemulinkina RUS
33 Charlotte Durif FRA
33 Michelle Kim Theisen DEN
33 Meagan Martin USA
36 Kyra Condie USA
37 Natalie Bärtschi SUI
37 Anna Margolina RUS
39 Valeri Kremer ISR
39 Michaela Tracy GBR
41 Sierra Blair-Coyle USA
41 Claire Buhrfeind USA
43 Mirthe Van Liere NED
43 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
45 Tamara Kuznetsova KAZ
45 Hung Ying Lee TPE
47 Elfe Claes BEL
47 Margo Hayes USA
49 Asja Gollo ITA
49 Karoline Sinnhuber AUT
51 Leah Crane GBR
51 Margaryta Zakharova UKR
53 Giulia Medici ITA
53 Delaney Miller USA
55 Katrine Vandet Salling DEN
55 Stacey Weldon CAN
57 Annalisa De Marco ITA
57 Elnaz Rekabi IRI
59 Maëlys Agrapart FRA
59 Olga Kushch RUS
61 Karina Bilkova CZE
61 Anna Borella ITA
63 Sunniva Eik Haave NOR
63 Grace Mckeehan USA
65 Petya Garbova BUL
65 Allison Vest CAN
67 Nóra Király HUN
67 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
69 Eliska Vlckova CZE
69 Ana-Maria Zaharia ROU
71 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
71 Camila Macedo BRA
73 Katrin Amann SWE
73 Yael Taub ISR
75 Cirvele Katrīna LAT
75 Anastasija Teriochina LTU
77 Olga Fedyuk POR
77 Daniela Kotrbova CZE
79 Fatma Basoglu Kabran TUR
79 Sevda Geyi̇k TUR
79 Ayşe Narmanli TUR
79 Stella Plantin SWE
79 Iroda Rapikova UZB
79 Agniete Seibokaite LTU
85 Dominika Dupalova CZE
86 Crina Ochenatu ROU
86 Alison Stewart- Patterson CAN

MEN BOULDER
1 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 3t6 4b7
2 Adam Ondra CZE 3t11 4b10
3 Manuel Cornu FRA 2t9 3b8
4 Mickael Mawem FRA 1t1 3b5
5 Jeremy Bonder FRA 1t2 2b5
6 Tsukuru Hori JPN 1t6 2b7
7 Alexey Rubtsov RUS
8 Tomoaki Takata JPN
9 Jongwon Chon KOR
10 Gabriele Moroni ITA
11 Jernej Kruder SLO
12 Alban Levier FRA
12 Kokoro Fujii JPN
14 Sean Mccoll CAN
15 Sergii Topishko UKR
16 Tyler Landman GBR
17 Nathan Phillips GBR
18 Rustam Gelmanov RUS
19 Keita Watabe JPN
20 James Kassay AUS
21 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
21 Martin Stranik CZE
23 Gholamali Baratzadeh IRI
23 Alessandro Palma ITA
25 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN
25 Carlo Traversi USA
27 Jan Hojer GER
27 Rolands Rugens LAT
29 Bjørn Arnel Iisager DEN
29 David Barrans GBR
31 Andrzej Mecherzynski- Wiktor POL
31 Vadim Timonov RUS
33 Alexander Averdunk GER
33 Dmitrii Sharafutdinov RUS
35 Nathaniel Coleman USA
35 Alfons Dornauer AUT
35 Eric Lopez Mateos ESP
38 Thilo Jeldrik Schröter NOR
39 Benjamin Blaser SUI
39 Moritz Hans GER
41 Alex Khazanov ISR
41 Baptiste Ometz SUI
43 Jonatan Flor Vazquez ESP
43 Hei-Yeung Lam HKG
45 Pol Roca Lopez ESP
45 Gregor Vezonik SLO
47 Jules Nicouleau Bourles FRA
47 Arman Ter-Minasyan RUS
49 Sungjoon Chae KOR
49 David Firnenburg GER
51 Cheung- Chi Shoji Chan HKG
51 Shawn Raboutou USA
53 Kipras Baltrunas LTU
53 Riccardo Piazza ITA
53 Ciarán Scanlon IRL
56 Lukas Geukens BEL
57 Jakub Glowka POL
57 Pan Yufei CHN
59 Stepan Stranik CZE
59 Ka-Chun Yau HKG
61 Benjamin Hanna USA
61 Stefan Scarperi ITA
63 Nicky De Leeuw NED
63 Austin Geiman USA
65 Stephane Hanssens BEL
65 Sungbo Seo KOR
67 Sebastien Lazure CAN
67 Daniel Ungureanu ROU
69 Younghyun Kim KOR
69 Vilimantas Petrasiunas LTU
71 Arnaud Ansion BEL
71 Seungwoon Cho KOR
71 Tim Reuser NED
74 Campbell Harrison AUS
75 Mykola Silevych UKR
75 Nathan Smith CAN
77 Elan Jonasmcrae CAN
77 Simon Lorenzi BEL
77 Or Wechsler ISR
80 Jan-Luca Posch AUT
81 James Pope GBR
81 Don Van Laere NED
83 Alistair Earley AUS
83 Falco Filotto BOT
85 Sergio Pastor Martínez ESP
85 Hannes Puman SWE
87 Pedro Ferreira Nicoloso BRA
87 Nikola Petrov BUL
89 Thomas Salakenos BEL
89 Övgün Yildirim TUR
91 Chi-Fung Au HKG
91 Rolf -Martin Bjørngaard NOR
91 Artyom Devyaterikov KAZ
91 Petar Ivanov BUL
91 Sergii Karpin UKR
91 Jabee Kim KOR
91 Roman Kucera CZE
91 Wan Tong Lok MAC
91 Yevhen Tkachenko UKR
100 Ben Abel AUS
100 Oldrich Klapal CZE
102 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
103 Oğuz Kaan Beğeç TUR
103 Thomas Holm Blaabjerg DEN
105 Štefan Bednar SVK
105 András Király HUN
105 Adam Ludford RSA
108 Diego Lequerica PER
109 Zorbey Aktuyun TUR
109 Ali Şen TUR
111 Benjamin Ayala CHI
111 Anton Kukhar UKR
111 Vanco Naunov MKD
111 Juan Sebastian Prieto Perilla COL
111 Efe Can Sevil TUR
111 Karoly-Csaba Szocs ROU
111 Viktor Trpovski MKD
111 Chun-Hsiang Wang TPE
119 Oliver Marx RSA
120 Bozhidar Lyubenov BUL
121 Gregory Raymond Borman RSA
121 Ronny Escobar CHI
121 Vasil Tasevski MKD