She's 21. She's from Runcorn. And now she's ranked second in the world. Congratulations to Shauna Coxsey on a stunning overall silver place in this year's IFSC Bouldering World Cup.

Thanks to Shauna Coxsey, it's been a nail-biting competition bouldering season this summer. Over the course of eight international events, she's brought home two golds, three silvers, and came within a whisker of winning the overall series.

In Laval, France, this weekend, it was all to play for: if Shauna had finished in the top three, and beaten Japan's Akiyo Noguchi, then she would have taken the overall title.

Sadly, it wasn't to be: if you were watching the webcast, you'll testify that Shauna didn't get off to a good start on problem one, and continued to look nervous for the next couple of problems. She pulled it back in for the last problem, but by then Akiyo's lead was unsurmountable.



Shauna was obviously disappointed: "Boulder problems and the crowd were incredible! I am sad about my performance today but I can not be disappointed with the season I've had!, " she tweeted afterwards.

Her season has been nothing short of breathtaking, but the good news is that it isn't over quite yet: the World Championships are taking place in Munich on 21-23 August, so we could still have a World Champion.

Rob Adie, BMC competitions officer, said: “Congratulations to Shauna for her amazing finish to the World Cup series. She’s gone from third overall in 2012, to fourth in 2013 and now second. This is a fantastic achievement, and Shauna is the first British female climber to achieve such success on the modern World Cup circuit. Here’s looking forward to the 2014 World Championships in Munich.”

Meanwhile, Mina Leslie-Wujastyk reports on Laval:

It’s hard to believe that the eighth, and final, Boulder World Cup of 2014 has been and gone. The travel-crazy season is over. The last event, in Laval, France, was always going to be an interesting one: not only was Percy Bishton the head routesetter (he’s known for his fiendish problems), but also both the male and female overall World Cup titles were still to play for.

In the men’s it was between Jan Hojer and Dmitrii Sharafutdinov for the top spot and in the women’s, it was coming right down to the wire for Britain’s Shauna Coxsey and Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi.

First, came the qualification round on Friday, which saw a strong British contingent of Micheala Tracy, Jen Wood, Diane Merrick, Shauna Coxsey, Dave Barrans, Tom Newman, Jon Partridge and Nathan Phillips.

Some great performances saw Dave, Micheala and Shauna through to semis in 14th, 18th and first place respectively. In a strong field, Jen and Diane placed 33rd and 42nd, while Tom and Nathan placed joint 32nd and Jon placed 40th.

The real shocker from the qualification round was Dmitrii Sharafutdinov placing 11th in his group (joint 22nd overall) – thus not making the semi-finals at all and handing the overall 2014 Men’s World Cup title to Jan Hojer very early on.

Semi-final day arrived, and it was clear that the French team were psyched to be competing on home turf. Some incredible performances saw five French team members make finals. GB’s Michaela Tracy looked really strong and placed a fantastic 11th with Dave Barrans following suit and placing 12th. Shauna climbed all but the last bloc, entering finals in second place just below her adversary Akiyo Noguchi.

The finals were made up of Akiyo Noguchi, Shauna Coxsey, Fanny Gilbert, Miho Nonaka, Anna Stohr and Jule Wurm in the women’s; and Rustam Gelmanov, Jeremy Bonder, GiGi Glarion Mondet, Jan Hojer, Alban Levier and Stephane Julien in the men’s.

The finals were exciting. Rustam really led the way in the men’s, the only competitor to top the first problem, and he did so with apparent ease. Jan looked on top form in the semis, but in the finals he struggled a bit more, and it was GiGi that really gave Rustam a run for his money, with Jeremy Bonder very close behind.

In the women’s, all eyes were on Shauna and Akiyo to see who would take the title, but there were also some very impressive shows from Fanny Gilbert and Miho Nonaka who both at one point had the potential to take the gold.

Right from the start, Shauna struggled more than usual while Akiyo was her usual seamless self, but when Akiyo didn’t climb the third problem it, was suddenly open again on the last bloc.

Shauna cruised the boulder but so did Akiyo, and she had the advantage in attempts thus taking the gold at Laval and the overall 2014 World Cup title too. A special mention must go to Japan’s Miho Nonaka who took silver, aged just 16: definitely one to watch in the future.

Boulder problems and the crowd were incredible! I am sad about my performance today but I can not be disapointed with the season I've had! — Shauna Coxsey (@shaunacoxsey) June 28, 2014

Laval: final results

1st: Akiyo Noguchi and Rustam Gelmanov

2nd: Miho Nonaka and GiGi Glarion Mondet

3rd: Jule Wurm and Jeremy Bonder

4th: Fanny Gilbert and Jan Hojer

5th: Shauna Coxsey and Alban Levier

6th: Anna Stohr and Stephane Julien

Laval: GB Results

5th: Shauna Coxsey

11th: Michaela Tracy

12th: Dave Barrans

32nd: Tom Newman and Nathan Phillips

33rd: Jen Wood

40th: Jon Partidge

42nd: Diane Merrick

Boulder World Cup 2014: final ranking

Women

1 NOGUCHI Akiyo JPN

2 COXSEY Shauna GBR

3 STÖHR Anna AUT

4 WURM Juliane GER

5 NONAKA Miho JAP

6 PUCCIO Alex USA

Men

1HOJER Jan

2 SHARAFUTDINOV Dimitrii RUS

3 G. MONDET Guillaume FRA

4 GELMANOV Rustam RUS

4 FISCHHUBER Kilian AUT

5 MCCOLL Sean CAN

Full results on the IFSC site



Shauna is also a BMC ambassador

WATCH: The Laval finals on Youtube:

WATCH: Shauna's fantastic mid-season interview, exclusive to BMC TV

WATCH: Shauna's video diary

Shauna Coxsey's World Cup Video Diary: Part 1 from team_BMC on Vimeo.

WATCH: Shauna takes silver in Toronto

WATCH: Shauna wins again in Innsbruck

WATCH: Shauna grabs gold in Grindlewald

FIND: Shauna on Facebook

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