IFSC Boulder World Cup Sheffield Finals

The Cliffhanger festival took place over the weekend of the 3^rd-4^th July in Sheffield, which was this year host to the sixth round of the IFSC Boulder World Cup.

18 nations took part in the competition which included 55 male and 31 female competitors. Team GB had a fantastic turn out, with 16 climbers in the competition, 7 of these making it through to the semi-finals - including Shauna Coxsey who finds herself in her first year of senior level competition -but despite some fierce climbing and Stew Watson and Gaz Parry qualifying on Saturday in joint 1^st position, none of the GB climbers made it through to the final round.

Leah Crane (GBR) pulling hard in the female semi-finals from Sunday.

Stew Watson (GBR) takes on problem 3 in the male semis.

Of particular interest in the competition was the performance of Kilian Fischhuber (AUT) who, despite being the current number 1 in the world rankings and number 1 in the world cup rankings, failed to make it through the semi-finals, getting shut down on most of the qualifying problems.

Kilian Fischhuber (AUT), although currently ranked number 1 in the world, failed to make it through the semi-finals.

Contorting his way through the semis, Guillaume Glairon-Mondet (FRA) does what he can to qualify.

Showing spectacular form Adam Ondra flashed three of the final four problems, taking 3 attempts to complete the final problem, which demanded some awkward manoeuvring to gain the top half of the route. 17 year old Ondra is currently placed second in the rankings and it's yet to be seen whether Fischhuber, only 14 points ahead, can manage a victory in the final round of the World Cup to be held in Munich on the 30-31^st July, to seal his victory.

The 17 year old sensation that is Adam Ondra (CZE), moving through problem 3 in the men's final seemingly with ease.

Natalija Gros (SLO) tackling the reachy corner moves on problem 2 in the women's final.

In the women's finals Natalija Gros (SLO) looked strong to begin with but was seemingly limited by the reachy nature of a lot of the problems, meaning the taller female competitors perhaps found some of the gymnastic-style stretches a little easier to manage. Japan's Akiyo Noguchi put in some superb performances and looked strong and agile on the wall, however it was  Cloe Graftiaux (BEL) who took first place in the finals and leads the rankings, with Noguchi close behind in second.

 Alex Johnson (USA) manages to stick the swing on the last problem in the women's final taking her to second place. 

Chloe Graftiaux (BEL) takes on the technical overhang which sealed her first place victory.

In the team rankings France sit in first position, with Great Britain second and the Russian Federation in third place.  

Women's podium - Chloe Graftiaux (BEL) 1st (Centre), Alex Johnson (USA) 2nd (Left), and Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) 3rd (Right).  

Men's podium - Adam Ondra (CZE) 1st (Centre), Cedric Lachat (SUI) 2nd (Left) and Mykhaylo Shalagin (UKR) 3rd (Right).

Full results from the finals:

 Women  

1.GRAFTIAUXChloé BEL

2. JohnsonAlex USA

3. NoguchiAkiyo JPN

4. GrosNatalija SLO

5. WurmJuliane GER

6. AbramchukYulia RUS

7. LavardaJenny ITA

8. AVEZOUCecile FRA

Men  

1.OndraAdam CZE

2. LachatCédric SUI

3. ShalaginMykhaylo UKR

4. Glairon MondetGuillaume FRA

5. GelmanovRustam RUS

6. HoriTsukuru JPN

7. McCollSean CAN

8. BecanKlemen SLO

The next and last round of the 2010 Boulder World Cup will be held over the weekend of the 30th-31st July in Munich 

Full details on theCliffhanger festival that hosted the Sheffield round of the World Cup can be found on the website here>>>

Be sure to check out the video of the IFSC Boulder World Cup,Sheffield, produced by planetFear and shot by Lukasz Warzecha of LW Images and Matt Pycroft here>>>

Details of the Dyno World record smashed by Skyler Weekes on Saturday 3rd July can be found on planetFear here>>>

All Images - Dave MacFarlane