Natalia Grossman wins in front of a home crowd in Salt Lake City and is on top of the podium at a Boulder World Cup for the 10th time. Silver goes to Frenchwoman Oriane Bertone, bronze goes to her teammate Naila Maignan.
At the Boulder World Cup in Salt Lake City climbs Natalia Grossman with three tops and four zones to gold. Although Oriane Bertone Finishing the competition with the same number of tops and zones, the strong American was able to maintain her leading position thanks to her flash ascents. Grossman defeated three of the four final boulders in the first attempt.
I always think the World Cup in Salt Lake City is great. The spectators really pushed us. I appreciate that very much.
Natalia Grossman
Hard training pays off
"It's something very special to have my family here, to sleep in my own bed and eat my own food, that's really nice," said Natalia Grossman after the successful competition in Salt Lake City.
With this victory, the number of gold medals that the 22-year-old has won at Boulder World Cups over the course of her career increases to ten. Natalia Grossman won six of them in Salt Lake City.
She is very proud of herself, especially since the hard work of the last few months has paid off. According to Grossman, he has worked a lot on their coordination. An effort that paid off in the semi-finals and final. “After the second boulder in the final, I was really excited.”
Hearing that there were a lot of tops in the final motivated me. I knew it was possible, I knew I could do it, but I wasn't sure what the outcome would be until the end.
Natalia Grossman
France's Oriane Bertone took the silver medal with three tops and four zones. In contrast to Grossman, she was unable to solve Boulder 3. Thanks to the top on the fourth and final problem, she secured her second place almost at the last minute.
Bertone's teammate Naïlé Maignan, who last took part in a World Cup in May 2019, won bronze. She also finished with three tops and four zones, but needed more attempts than Grossman and Bertone.
Last World Cup before Olympic Qualifiers
Australian Oceania Mackenzie finished just outside the podium in fourth place. Brooke Raboutou of the USA followed in fifth place and Mao Nakamura of Japan was sixth.
The IFSC World Cup series continues from June 25th to 30th with the highly anticipated bouldering and lead combination in Innsbruck.
From May 16th to 19th and June 20th to 23rd, 160 climbers will fight for the final places for Paris 2024 at the Olympic qualifying competitions in Shanghai and Budapest.
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Credits: Cover photo Slobodan Miskovic/IFSC