Grossman wins nail-biting Brixen Final

Stasa Gejo flashed the first boulder and was in the lead ahead of Oceania Mackenzie and Natalia Grossman. Then it started to rain and in the background, we could hear and see a heavy thunderstorm just passing south of Brixen but close to 2 500 spectators remained with hundreds of umbrellas. Grossman flashed the second boulder and moved to the first position.

The third boulder was the easiest with two flashes and only Mackenzie failed to top before Grossman's struggle started. On her seventh try, she finally stuck the sideways dyno and she remained in the first position. As Chaehyun Seo flashed the last boulder she overtook the #1 position from Gejo and put some pressure on Natalia starting last. Then, the overall winner 2022, put in cruise control and topped the last boulder with ease and the whole arena and the commentators went wild. (c) Vladek Zumr

1. Natalia Grossman USA 44
2. Chaehyun Seo KOR 34 (3 attempts)
3. Stasa Gejo SRB 34 (5)
4. Ayala Kerem ISR 34 (10)
5. Oceania Mackenzie AUS 23
6. Johanna Färber AUT 12
Complete results

Grossman commented to IFSC; "I’m pretty excited right now. This one was a little challenging. The third boulder gave me a run for my money. I kind of started rapid firing which is something I’ve been trying not to do but I think just knowing I only had a few attempts left, sometimes it just takes me a while to learn a move. It’s just repetition."

It should also be mentioned that overall, the route setting with Matthias Woitzuck in charge, has been great. Several solutions have been possible and used for most of the boulders and talking to him, you understand that he and his team are working hard and put a lot of thought and analyses into their work. Directly after the final, several hundred spectators approached the mattresses and started trying the boulders. There will be another very late night for the route setter as their plan was to set everything for the semifinal before going to bed.