The last man out on the final boulder was Toby Roberts, as he had won the semifinal. The 18-year-old is in the fourth position and even if he makes the zone and spends a long time approaching the top, on his first attempt, nothing changes, he remains fourth. On his third try, he makes the first crux again but starts struggling again trying to use both his knee and elbow behind a volume. Again it does not work and he tries a new beta for the finish with an extreme kneedrop and pushes to the next volume. The crowd and the commentators go wild and the music is pumping even louder. Inventing another new move he approaches the top and with a last toe hook he secures the top, with 15 seconds remaining on the clock and the whole crowd is on their feet screaming.

Talking to several athletes and also coaches, the common opinion was that this was possibly the most thrilling finish they have ever seen. Jongwon Chon, who has been on the WC circuit since 2013 and in fact saw his teammate lose his first position, commented. "I think this was the most impressive fight I have ever seen on a boulder."

The first question in the IFSC live-streaming interview was on the same theme. I think [this was] the best fight on a boulder I have ever seen, ever. How does it feel?
Words can’t explain it, I feel absolutely incredible. The fight on that last boulder, I have no words, I had to give it absolutely everything. I left it all on the boulder and I can’t quite believe I won my first World Cup. It’s so surreal.

"Because we see the scores in the back I knew I had to top, so I was just trying to stay calm and look at the boulder as just a boulder and not think about anything else, but it’s pretty hard when you are in that environment. The crowd was incredible and part of the reason I got up it."

All in all, it was a well-deserved victory for Toby as he on the second boulder touched the final hold.

1. Toby Roberts GBR 34
2. Dohyun Lee KOR 24 (3)
3. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 24 (5 & 6)
4. Meichi Narasaki JPN 24 (5 & 11)
5. Sorato Anraku JPN 22
6. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 12

"This was good fun and I had quite good control of the first three boulders," Toby Roberts (18) comments winning a great semifinal in front of 2 000 spectators. Tomoa Narasaki said he appreciated the different styles of the boulders with a lot of coordination and powerful moves and also the support from the big crowd. Japan got four to the final and Korea one. Interestingly, all the Asians mainly boulder or do circuits as their training. There is no structured training and they basically just show up at the gym and start bouldering.

Talking more to Roberts and his dad, who is his coach, they have a more analytic approach and try to focus a lot on weaknesses. They have been focusing on Paris 2024 for many years now. (An interview is coming up.) Noteworthy is also that both Roberts (18) and Soratu Anraku (16), who was #2 in the semi, have until 2022 had better results in Lead.

1. Toby Roberts GBR 34 (6)
2. Sorato Anraku JPN 34 (7)
3. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 34 (8)
4. Dohyun Lee KOR 34 (12)
5. Meichi Narasaki JPN 23 (6)
6. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 23 (7)
Complete results

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.

Gosia Skoczylas(Szymańska), who last month did her third 8A, has done Ko-Fan (8A+) in Snezník.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I was trying this boulder for one year during four trips, more or less. The crux is one dynamic campus move and the topout. I made replica in my house, trying those moves for ten sessions, so I could try it more than on climbing trips. Im Just happy, dont know what else to Say 😊

Tyler Thompson, who did his first 9a+ in February, has repeated Joe Kinder’s Life of Villains (9a) in Hurricave.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried Life of Villains for a few days when I was here in January but we had a lot of rain and I couldn’t make it happen before I had to head back to school. I’d been planning to do a summer road trip as soon as my exams were done and I was psyched to try the route again. I got to St. George about 3 weeks ago and have spent most of my time trying the route. I felt really close after 3 or 4 days but I kept falling right at the end for nearly 2 weeks. The route is very resistant and just a few days ago I figured out different beta that helped me link the last crux section. What a fun route by joe!

Soratu Anraku from Japan and Dohyun Lee from Korea won the two qualification groups, followed by runners-up, Adam Ondra and Jongwon Chon (pictured). Four tops were needed to make it to the semifinal. Around 1,000 spectators were on hand to watch the qualis, so a sold out finals likely awaits.
Complete results (c) Vladek Zumr

Mejdi Schalck and Hannes van Duysen, the #1 and #4 in the World Cup ranking, have surprisingly chosen not to participate.

Stasa Gejo and Hannah Meul were tied winners of one group in the Brixen Boulder World Cup and Julia Kruder won the other. Stasa says she can not explain what happened but everything worked out fine. "You know, it is about the type of boulders and also a little bit of luck. We will see what happens tomorrow", firing off a big smile. From the Complete results, we can see that neither Oriane Bertone and Janja Garnbret, who were #1 and #2 in Prague, or Brooke Raboutou did participate. (c) outThere Collective

"It's great to be back. All the routes were nice and this is more than a competition to me. Everyone is friendly and it is like being part of a big family. IFSC has been very supportive and they have actually sent some World Cup volumes to me. My dream is to qualify to the Olympics and this is more than a competition to me. I want to represent the Iranian women and show what can be possible." (c) Vladek Zumr

Where and how do you train?
I run my own new climbing gym together with my husband. We actually skipped the wedding party and put all the money in this gym. It is very good and has all angles.

I train two days on for 4-5 hours followed by a rest day. I am also a coach and an instructor. We are a big group of passionate climbers who train hard. Some of the climbers I train are here competing too.

What is coming up next for you?
I will compete also in Innsbruck and then I will return back home. I want to focus on my climbing and my Olympic dream. I hope everything will turn out great and I plan to return to Europe this summer for the Lead World Cups. All I want is to train and focus on climbing and keep my Olympic dream alive.