There is a quote that was born from a USA commercial – ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’. It is used for people who come so close to something, but it never seems to happen.

Japan’s Nakamura Mao could be forgiven for starting to think she was a bridesmaid after finishing fourth on three occasions, but in Salt Lake City, USA, she changed everything by winning a first ever IFSC World Cup gold medal.

Nakamura was in fine form moving through the semi-final earlier in the day with a perfect 100pts score, and she continued that form into the final.

Flashing the first two Boulders of the final, Nakamura was feeling confident. As the penultimate climber she, every other finalist before her had only made the zone on Boulder three. But Nakamura came out and topped it and was the only climber to do so.

Another first attempt to zone and Nakumura had a score of 84.7pts – and as it turned out, a gold medal. An emotional Nakamura hugged her teammates and opponents who all congratulated a worthy winner as the crowd roared for her and the tears flowed.

In her post final interview Nakamura said: “I can’t believe it. I’ve had many fourth places, and I can’t believe I have a medal. So many people were cheering for me, so I just tried to podium for them. I was just so excited. Thank you everyone.”

The last climber of the night was France’s Zélia Avezou who had to top the last Boulder to take the gold following her zone attempt on Boulder three. With a flash to zone, a score of 70pts for Avezou meant a silver medal with her superior semi-final result above two other climbers on the same score.

Avezou secured silver thanks to another 100pts semi-final ahead of USA’s Annie Sanders who already has a World Cup gold to her name this year from the season opener in Keqiao. It meant bronze for Sanders, who edged France’s Oriane Bertone off the podium despite all three finishing on the same points tally.

With 69.9pts, France’s Naïlé Meignan finished in fifth. Just like all before her, Meignan flashed the first two Boulders but fell away from the podium spots on the last two.

Japan’s Nonaka Miho finished in sixth overall with a 69.4pts tally ahead of Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie in seventh on 44.8pts and another Japanese climber, Ito Futaba, who finished in eighth on 44.3pts.

The IFSC Boulder World Cup Salt Lake City will come to a close tomorrow with the men’s semi-final and final rounds.

For the women’s Boulder qualification complete results click here.

News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.