Thousands of fans gathered in the beautiful AccorHotels Arena to celebrate all four disciplines of Sport Climbing and the final day of the 2016 IFSC Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championships in Paris.
Bouldering: Tears of Celebration from Klingler
The emotional grand finale started with Women Bouldering Finals at noon. Nearly every finalist stuck the crowd-pleasing dyno on W1 and, although none of the six Athletes matched on the slippery finishing sloper, their wrestling with massive spherical volumes still energized the audience. Five Women solved W3, but only Petra Klingler, Akiyo Noguchi and Megan Mascarenas did so on their first attempts. With many Athletes tied at two Tops apiece, the medal distribution came down to W4. The crowd erupted when Klingler powered through the crux and lunged for the concluding jug. She hugged her coach with full eyes, having earned a spot on the podium. That place turned into first place when Noguchi could not Top W4, but the veteran Japanese Athlete’s effort to reach bonus still bumped Mascarenas out of third. Nonaka made it two medals for Japan with the other Top on W4.
Paraclimbing: Guardia Ferrer Inspires
Men AL-2 (leg amputees) finalists impressed at the AccorHotels Arena on Sunday as well. Julien Gasc got the crowd roaring by passing the high point of American Ronald Dickson, runner-up at the IFSC World Championships in 2014. The Frenchman wore the Silver medal this year and was also awarded with a wealth of support from his home crowd. Two Athletes from Spain joined him on the podium. Iván Germán Pascual fell at Dickson’s mark but won Bronze due to a countback to Qualifications. Expectations of what was possible on this Finals route changed after Albert Guardia Ferrer’s inspiring performance. The Spaniard climbed more than ten holds further than the field, and the fans in Paris showed their appreciation with a standing ovation.
Speed: Tsyganova World’s Fastest
Anouck Jaubert of France faced-off in the semi-final against Russian Iuliia Kaplina, the current Speed World Record holder. Jaubert slipped early on, but the leader of the 2016 Speed World Cup rankings was resilient and caught up to Kaplina just in time. Anna Tsyganova looked strong all week and didn’t stop on Sunday, besting a very quick Aleksandra Rudzinska of Poland. In the final, thrilling race, both Jaubert and Tsyganova showed their best and posted times under eight seconds. In the end, Tsyganova claimed the world title with a jaw-dropping time of 7.52. Kaplina rounded out the podium with a victory in the small final.
Lead: Back-to-Back Titles for Ondra
It is hard to imagine a better finish to these IFSC World Championships than what took place in the Men Lead Finals. A dyno at the base of the route started the applause, followed by powerful steep climbing in the middle section and a taxing final traverse on crimps and slopers. Romain Desgranges set a new high point on the top panel for the French crowd, and not long after his teammate, Gautier Supper, marched into the last crimp section for Bronze. Supper fell just short of the mark of Austrian Jakob Schubert, winner of the 2012 IFSC World Championships in Paris. The story of the round, though, was the performance of the final Athlete to step onto the stage today: Adam Ondra of the Czech Republic. All eyes were on the reigning Lead world champion, who made quick work of the Finals route. Not only did Ondra surpass Schubert’s impressive high point, the legendary Athlete stuck the succeeding dyno and turned around to wave for more support. Ondra clipped the chains for the sole Top, with over seven thousand fans standing in awe.
Combined: McColl Repeats, Krasovskaia World Champion at Sixteen
Sean McColl, 2014 IFSC World Championships winner in the Combined result (Bouldering, Lead and Speed), defended his spot atop the podium. Joining him was Manuel Cornu of France in second and David Firnenburg of Germany in third. For the Women, Russian Elena Krasovskaia was officially given the Gold medal which she secured yesterday. Claire Buhrfeind of the USA picked up the Silver, and Charlotte Durif of France completed the podium.
