The last bouldering World Cup for the season has just ended in Munich, Germany. An exciting finals came down to the last minute and last problem to decide the top places. Instead of taking a million screen shots I live-updated on Facebook for this comp. Not sure how successful it was as a method of recording and sharing, but some seemed to appreciate it as the live feed wasn’t working so well in many places. Luckily for me the live feed worked brilliantly this time around. If you want to read them click here – Munich Live Updates.

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Final Results

Women’s Finals

Mélanie gave a very great effort but came up just short of the finish holds on 3 and 4 and in the middle of 1 and 2, so she ended up in 6th.

Anna Gallaymova ended up climbing all the boulders, but this comp came down to attempts and she took far too many. Nevertheless, she gave a fantastic effort and even flashed final 3! 5th place.

With one fewer try than Anna G for her 4 tops, Melissa Le Neve ended up in 4th. She gave a fantastic effort as well. She easily hiked #1, then barely flashed #2, though it looked like she might fall on the last move. After missing the jump at the bottom of #3 for a while she stuck it and sent. On her flash go she fell near the top of #4, then struggled with the bottom for a while before making it back to the finish hold. 4th place.

Jule Wurm was the hometown favorite, and she climbed well though she had a sudden slip on #2 (commentator’s curse?) and at the bottom of #4 that pushed her back in the ranking. She flashed #1 and #3 for 3rd place.

Anna Stöhr was looking extremely dominant and powerful but an unexpected slip at the bottom of #4 on her first try was all it took for Akiyo to beat her. Akiyo did, flashing all 4 finals for a score of 4/4 to Anna’s 4/5.

Men’s Finals

For the men Briton Stewart Watson was looking quite good to podium until he slipped suddenly at the end of the last problem on his flash go. He didn’t end up sending and ended up in 6th.

Rei Sugimoto didn’t do the first problem but then recovered to do the second and flash the last. Unfortunately #3 also gave him quite the problem so he ended up in 5th. Even though Stewart has more bonuses, Rei has fewer tries to top so I guess that keeps him ahead.

Rustam didn’t look as good as usual, and after a few tries to send #1 he was shut down by the start of #2 when he kept trying a dyno and not sticking it. After many goes he did send the tricky sideways jump/slab of #3 and he flashed #4, but it wasn’t enough to put him on the podium.

Jakob is generally a beast though he looked to be suffering in this comp as well as he barely stuck the end of #1 on his 3rd try and barely got to the top of #2. #3 looked better for him once he figured out the start but he slipped suddenly on the last move and didn’t send. #4 looked like the easiest of the men’s finals and he flashed it powerfully.

Sean McColl came out in 1st position and he climbed quite well. He flashed #1 and did #2 after several tries at the start. He was the only competitor to flash #3, climbing it perfectly. #4 was also a flash, meaning that the number of tries it took him to get through the start of #2 made all the difference. Still, a great comp for Sean.

Finally Dmitrii Sharafutdinov flashed #1, nearly flashed #2 but fell after bonus and had to do it 2nd try. Took several tries for #3, flashed #4. So the falls between #2 and #3 separated Dmitrii and Sean, who were the only 2 to climb all the finals problems.

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Season Final Results

With this competition the overall season titles are also confirmed and awarded. The men’s was actually decided on quali’s day, when multi-time champion (he’s been 1st or 2nd since 2006) Kilian Fischhuber didn’t make semis and therefore lost his first place to Rustam Gelmanov. If Jakob had won this comp he would have bumped Killian even further. The women were in similar straits, with Shauna and Akiyo in a battle for 2nd. Sadly, Shauna was unable to defend her position as #2 since she suffered a broken leg in Magic Wood earlier this summer and so could not compete in this final event.

Team Overall

Men’s Overall

Women’s Overall

Shauna was bumped down to 3rd overall by Akiyo Noguchi, who said she is very sorry to Shauna in her post-comp interview. Also interviewed was Udo Neumann:

If you want to learn about climbing and competition climbing, Udo’s videos are a wonderful resource. It is amazing to watch the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in technique displayed by the world’s best competition climbers.

Udo Neumann’s site – Udini

Setting Blog World Cup Coverage 2012 Season

Here are links to the rest of the coverage we’ve done on the Bouldering World Cups this season.

Munich – Live Updates

#5 – Vail

Vail World Cup 2012 (lots of media all links from this page)

#4 – Innsbruck

World Cup Bouldering 2012 #4 – Innsbruck, Austria – Heiko Wilhelm Photos

Bouldering World Cup #4 – Innsbruck, Austria – Finals Problem 4

Bouldering World Cup 2012 #4 – Innsbruck, Austria – Final Results!

Bouldering World Cup 2012 #4 – Innsbruck, Austria – Semifinals Results + Meet the Finalists

World Cup 2012 #4 – Innsbruck, Austria – Qualifiers Results – UPDATED w/more photos

# 3 – Vienna

Bouldering World Cup Vienna – Great Photos! + Video Links

Vienna World Cup Coverage Wrap-Up – UPDATED (many links from here)

#2 – Log-Dragomer

Log-Dragomer Slovenia Bouldering World Cup Finals Coverage Wrap-Up (many links from here)

Videos – Mina Markovic flashing Sharky! + Highlights

#1 – China

No coverage

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