GROSSMAN, MIROSLAW PLACE STATEMENT WINS IN SALT LAKE CITY
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup Salt Lake City 2023 awarded its first two sets of medals tonight, at Pioneer Park, in front of a booming crowd. Natalia Grossman of the USA and Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland both placed at the top of their respective podium, in the women’s Boulder and Speed events.
WOMEN'S BOULDER
The Boulder final commenced first: Grossman started off the right foot, as she immediately placed herself ahead of her rivals by easily flashing W1 – a problem that every other finalist failed to solve.
Despite missing the top in the opening rotation, France’s Oriane Bertone put pressure on the American climber, coming out first on the mats and topping both W2 and W3. Grossman, however, did not flinch, and after taking two attempts to get to the top of the second boulder, sealed her victory with two flawless flashes on problems number three and four.
“Asia was pretty hard for me, so just feeling physically better was already a huge help for me and my mental game,” Grossman said at the end of the flower ceremony. “It’s cool to be home, I think this is the best crowd from any World Cup I have ever been to.”
For Natalia Grossman it is her first World Cup gold medal of the 2023 season – and the fifth one out of five Boulder competitions in Salt Lake City – while Bertone pocketed her second consecutive World Cup silver after the one she won in Seoul, South Korea.
Also matching her result in Seoul was Grossman’s friend and teammate Brooke Raboutou, who placed third and won bronze with two tops on W2 and W4, and three zones.
WOMEN'S SPEED
Shortly after the women’s Boulder flower ceremony, attention turned to the nearby Speed wall, where Miroslaw cruised towards her eighth consecutive World Cup win – the fourth in Salt Lake City.
Coming out of the qualification round in first place, Miroslaw prevailed over Germany’s Franziska Ritter in the eighth-final, then beating Indonesia’s Nurul Iqamah in the following round. In the semi-final race, the Polish Olympian found herself face to face with China’s Deng Lijuan for the very first time, winning with 6.39 seconds – her fastest time of the night.
A slightly slower climb – 6.43 – was then enough for Miroslaw to secure the win in the gold medal race against Indonesia’s Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, who settled for silver with 6.82. The podium was completed by Deng, who beat Indonesia’s Rajiah Sallsabillah.
“Just like I said in Jakarta, every competition is different, and every time I try to keep my mindset from the beginning to the end of the event, and it’s working,” commented Miroslaw. “Everything we are doing at the World Cups, is part of the preparation for this year’s World Championships.”
The IFSC World Cup Salt Lake City 2023 will conclude tomorrow with another day of great action: the men’s Boulder semi-final will start at 10:00 (UTC-6:00), the men’s Speed qualification at 15:45, the men’s Boulder final at 18:00, and the men’s Speed final at 20:00.
All rounds will be live streamed on the IFSC YouTube channel.
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Weibo and Douyin.
L/R: Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland, Natalia Grossman of the USA
Photo: Slobodan Miskovic/IFSC
