Former IFSC World Cup season champions Mina Markovic and Domen Skofic concluded their 2018 tenures by setting the high points in qualifications and finals on Wednesday. Markovic climbed at least five moves higher than her competitors on every route and was the only woman in Moscow to clip the top chains. Skofic broke a four-way tie after qualifications and cracked the code to the crux sequence in finals to make it back-to-back wins for Slovenia.
The spotlight turned the following four days to the host nation of Russia. Aleksandr Shikov and previous world champion Anna Tsyganova recorded the fastest times in Speed qualifications and finals on Thursday and raced to first place in the standard record format. Shikov edged Amir Maimuratov of Kazakhstan in a close men’s big final by eight hundredths of a second. Less than one second decided the women’s big final as well, and Tsyganova maintained a steady pace to best Youth Olympian and compatriot Elena Krasovskaia.
One missed top was all it took to fall out of the running for first place in Bouldering. Krasovskaia and Aleksei Rubtsov set the bar high in qualifications on Friday and finals on Saturday by topping every problem. Rubtsov fell just once in the men’s qualification and showed perseverance in the final, using 13 attempts to top four problems and completing the sole top of the last problem for the victory. Krasovskaia showed equal spirit, fighting for tops until the very end to stand atop the podium. Austria also excelled in Bouldering and placed three athletes on the podiums.
Regarded as the home of Speed climbing, Russia featured a throwback to the classic format before the closing ceremony on Sunday. Athletes raced up two non-standardized routes of similar difficulty and were compared at each stage based on their aggregate time across the two routes. Krasovskaia and Evgeniya Lapshina guaranteed a win for Russia by reaching the women's big final, and Lapshina saved one second to take the victory. Shikov again met Maimuratov in the big final, claiming his second gold medal and sixth for Russia after a fall from Maimuratov.
More results, news and video highlights can be found on the Moscow event page for the World Military Championships, and follow the link below to see more than 500 pictures of the event on IFSC Flickr.
