Slovenia First

The past 3 days Moscow has been the capital of Sport Climbing, hosting the 1st IFSC Speed World Cup for the 2019 season and the 2nd stage of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup following last week-end’s performances in Meiringen. In the impressive venue of Moscow, 450 athletes competed head to head demonstrating their speed and their strength.

For the bouldering stage, route setters quickly raised the bar very high only allowing 7 tops in the entire Semi-Finals, creating a real challenge for those wanting to advance to the finals. The finals were a different story. In order for the athletes to have even reached the podium they would have needed to top all 4 problems. Even topping 3 problems like Futaba ITO (JPN), Jessica PILZ (AUT) and Lucka RAKOVEC (SLO) wouldn’t have been enough, all coming out at the bottom with a rank of 6, 5 and 4 respectively. Lucka, 17 years old, was very impressive for her first IFSC World Cup including 3 flashes! A close race between Fanny GIBERT (FRA) and Shauna COXSEY (GBR) was particularly intense as they tied in the finals (4T4z 6 6), but Shauna ultimately coming out on top due to her first-place finish in the Semis. As in Meiringen, Janja GARNBRET (SLO) looked powerful and confident. She flashed all 4 problems and won her 2nd consecutive gold medal in the 2019 competition season.

Her compatriot, Jernej KRUDER finished almost as well with 4 tops (“only” 2 flashes) winning himself a gold medal. Adam ONDRA (CZE) missed his chance to win a second gold medal without topping M4. Yoshiyuki OGATA (JPN) didn’t even reach the zone in M4, but still managed to end the competition on the 3rd step of the podium. With 2 tops and 3 zones, Anze PEHARC (SLO) finished the competition with his best performance in an IFSC World Cup.

Visit the official event page for the full results and highlights from Moscow.