Rubtsov to Tokyo after Leadspeed drama

Aleksei Rubtsov, Boulder World Champion in 2009, got the ticket to Moscow after a Leadspeed drama that will go to the record books. First out is William Bosi who touches the final jug and then Sergei Luzhetski tops with 3.09 left on the clock. Rubtsov is third last out but as his best ever Lead WC result is #15 and that he was #16 in the Lead qualification, realistically he is fighting for the bronze overall even if he was #5 in Speed and #1 in Boulder. The Russian sets out in Lead Speed mode and does the Lead climb of his lifetime touching the final jug much faster than Bosi.

Next out is the big favourite Sasha Lehmann who needs to top out faster than Sergei in order to get the ticket. After beating the Russian with some 20 seconds the commentator says he thinks this is enough and Sasha's name is on top of the provisional results. Then Yuval Shelma starts running up the route and as he tops out even faster, Rubtsov is the lucky man going to Tokyo and Sasha need to wait until Paris 2024.

Congratulation the Olympian he responds in a text message. "Amazing moment, no words... Yuval is my hero." (c) Nikita Tsarev

1. Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 5 - 1 - 4 (2.42) = 20
2. Sascha Lehmann SUI 4 - 3 - 2 (2.31) = 24
3. Sergei Luzhetski RUS 2 - 5 - 3 (2.51) = 30
4. Nikolai Iarilovets RUS 3 - 2 - 6 = 36
5. Yuval Shelma ISR 8 - 6 - 1 (2.20) = 48
6. Marcin Dzienski POL 1 - 8 - 8 = 64
7. Alex Khazanov ISR 7 - 4 - 7 = 196
8. William Bosi GBR 6 - 7 - 5 (3.20) = 210

The 32-year-old had no sponsors until 2015, besides free shoes from La Sportiva. In his 8a scorecard he has logged a dozen 8B+ and harder and two 9a's out of which one from this summer. Here are some interesting comments from Rubtsov published in Innsbruck 2018

"The brain is the most important part in climbing. Maybe not in speed (laughs), but in bouldering for sure. In Europe, every coach thinks that he's the smartest one and his system is the best. They are authoritarian. But they should understand that they know nothing and start their education from zero. I can't tell you what I do, because that is my secret. Laughs. You need to widen your repertoire to improve, not focusing on small things, but on the big picture... It is better for me to be alone. You could maybe remove the bonus, even. You can do the boulder, or you can't. Bouldering is good. One bonus, two bonuses, ten bonuses, ... what is that? It's not Bouldering."