Salt Lake City hosted back-to-back IFSC World Cups in a purpose-built outdoor venue at INDUSTRY SLC. The Bouldering Cup took place from May 21–22, with the Speed/Bouldering Cup being hosted on May 28–30.
South African Olympians Chris Cosser and Erin Sterkenburg received special Visas to attend this World Cup as part of their training for the Olympics, to be hosted in Tokyo later this year. Chris and Erin took the world stage alongside some big climbing names and their future Olympic competitors.
For the ladies, someone other than Janja Garnbret saw a podium at bothWorld Cup. Garnbret has won ten consecutive bouldering events since Alex Puccio won at the Vail in 2018. Shauna Coxsey, team GB bouldering superstar, returned to this IFSC competition for the first time since earning her Olympic berth at Hachioji in 2019.
Both Alex Megos and Adam Ondra competed alongside Canadian climber Sean McColl. Japan climbing superstar and gold medal contender Tomoa Narasaki holds the combined 2019 title and four Bouldering World Cup titles, and proved to be one to watch.
24 May| BOULDER RESULTS
The Bouldering Cup proved to be an action-packed event, with US competitor Natalia Grossman (19) taking her first World Cup gold medal. Natalia was the only woman to top all four problems, closely followed by French climber Oriane Bertone (16) who got three tops and four zones, earning her the silver. Joining them on the podium in 3rd place was Brooke Raboutou (20) with three tops and three zones.
Of her win Grossman said, “It’s a dream! I’m speechless! It was so special to share this moment with my best friend Brooke. To be able to make the World Cup final together is something we have always dreamed of, and it’s so surreal, so exciting to have a crowd.”
On the men’s side, Adam Ondra (28) earned his 21st gold medal, topping all four problems. Second place went to French competitor Mejdi Schalck (17) and the bronze was nabbed by Austria’s Jakob Schubert (30), with both climbers achieving three tops and Mejdi scoring just one more zone than Schubert.
Our proudly local Olympians did exceptionally well, with Chris placing 51st and Erin placing 42nd in a staunch lineup. For the full results, click here. You can find the full livestreams of both the finals and semi-finals on the IFSC’s official YouTube channel.
31 May| BOULDER & SPEED RESULTS
Team USA dominated the Boulder Cup podiums this past weekend, with 25-year-old Sean Bailey winning his first ever IFSC World Cup gold medal after solving the fourth problem to a standing ovation. Bailey was joined by Fujii Kokoro and Narasaki Tomoa on the podium, with the Japanese competitors taking second and third place respectively.
On the women’s side of things, 19-year-old National Grossman bagged her second Gold Medal following her win at the Boulder World Cup on 21/22 May. Slovenian IFSC legend Janja Garnbret (22) got the same score as Grossman – four zones and four tops – but took a higher number of attempts and thus came second to Grossman. In third place was USA’s Brook Raboutou with three tops and four zones.
Find more information and see the final Bouldering scores here.
As for Speed, history was made by team Indonesia, whose climbers broke the men’s Speed world record twice on 29 May. During the qualification round, Kiromal Katibin (20) broke the record with an astonishing 5.258 seconds. Just a few hours later in the finals, his teammate Veddriq Leonardo (24) shot up the wall in a spectacular 5.208 seconds – breaking the world record yet again and securing him first place.
The men have said that they came to Salt Lake City with a goal to break records, rather than win titles, and they have certainly done well by that promise. Marcin Dzienski (28) from Poland nabbed the bronze with a close 5.842 seconds.
On the ladies’ Speed wall, Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw (27) won her fifth IFSC World Cup gold medal with a. time of 7.382 seconds. She was closely followed by American Emma Hunt (18) who topped in just 7.539 seconds, winning the silver and making history by bring home the USA’s first Speed medal. In third place with 8.958 seconds was Japan’s Miho Nonaka (24).
Meanwhile, our local superstars Chris Cosser and Erin Sterkenburg are performing brilliantly alongside their international competitors. Both climbers broke their respective genders’ SA Speed records, with Chris topping the wall in 6.83 seconds, setting new South African record, and Erin hitting the bell in just 12.04 seconds.
For the full results from the weekend, click here.
Break out the popcorn and relive the excitement by checking out the livestreams of both World Cups here.
