Bouldering
4 takeaways from the IFSC World and Combined Championships
This August saw competition climbing’s biggest events. From Ashima Shiraishi’s fall to Adam Ondra’s surprising defeat, here’s what happened.
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Newsfeeds blew up this past week, with reports by Reuters and top climbing publications worldwide reporting on the IFSC Climbing World Championships and Combined World Championships in Hachioji, Japan. It was competitive climbing’s most significant moment.
Garnbret and Klinger in the Boulder semi-final
© Suguru Saito/Red Bull Content Pool
Broadcasting live, the World Championships kicked off on August 13 where competitors went head to head in Bouldering, Lead and Speed. The Combined event culminated on August 21. Climbers sweated their way up the routes under high heat and humidity, despite the air-conditioned building.
1. 2020 is on for Janja Garnbret, Alex Megos and Shauna Coxsey
Alex Megos and won the Combined World Championships. Shauna Coxsey took third. In addition to Slovenian climber Janja Garnbret’s win at the Combined World Championship, she is also the first climber to take the top qualifying spot in all six Bouldering World Cups in one season.
Alex Megos and Janja Garnbret with their medals
© Suguru Saito
This year she won all three events at Hachioji, including Bouldering, difficulty (Lead) and Combined. In a Twitter post she’s been called “one of the most impressive athletes of our time.” On rock she’s climbed 5.14d. [As] “I started training harder and harder and I realised that I could be the best climber in the world,” she told the IFSC.
Janja Garnbret won all three events at Hachioji
© Suguru Saito/Red Bull Content Pool
In addition to his win, Alex Megos, 26, took second in Bouldering at the World Championships. Megos began climbing at age six and by 10 he was completing multipitch routes. In 2013 he sent the world’s first 5.14d onsight with Estado Critico. With his ascent of Perfecto Mundo, he’s one of few people on Earth to have redpointed 5.15c.
Check out his series The Alex Megos Formula.
Shauna Coxsey, who once said “To win, you have to be in control of your mind even more than your body,” is the most successful competition climber in British history.
This week she took third place at the Combined event. In 2017 she was crowned World Cup Bouldering Champion.
2. Massive Adam Ondra upset
Though he took first in Lead in the Climbing World Championships, Czech superstar Adam Ondra didn’t make the cut (this time; he finished 18th) because of his poor performance in speed and a penalty for stepping on a bolt during Lead at the Combined event which dropped him in points. With his first ascent of Silence, Ondra’s the only climber in the world to have climbed 5.15d.
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3. Ashima Shiraishi face plants
American Ashima Shiraishi, the three-time defending youth world champion, said, “the World Champs did not go well for me and it was the worst lead performance I’ve had at a comp.” At one point she missed a huge throw in Bouldering and face-planted onto the mat. She posted on Instagram that her mind was not in the right place due to a family conflict.
4. Can a sprinter do a marathon?
“As the combined format did not exist previously,” Coxsey said, “athletes were required to do something new and unfamiliar.” The new arrangement requires competitors to step out of their comfort zones, like sprinter Usain Bolt running a marathon race and then doing a potato sack race.
The Combined format is a test of stamina, determination and adaptability
Coxsey and Nonaka during the Combined Final
© Suguru Saito/Red Bull Content Pool
“The Combined format is a test of stamina, determination and adaptability,” said IFSC commentator Charlie Boscoe. In the Combined, it wasn’t fast times but points that secured climbers positions on the podium. Garnbret took sixth in Speed. Polish speed climber Aleksandra Miroslaw (formerly Rudzińska) took first in Speed, but 20th in Lead and 19th in Bouldering, earning her fourth place overall.
Top results for Men Combined:
- Tomoa Narasaki (Japan)
- Jakob Schubert (Austria)
- Rishat Khaybullin (Kazakhstan)
Top results for Women Combined:
- Janja Garnbret (Slovenia)
- Akiyo Noguchi (Japan)
- Shauna Coxsey (Great Britain)
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