On April 16 and 17, 2021, the first World Cup of the season took place in Meiringen, Switzerland. The two winners of the first World Cup competition of the season dominated all rounds: Adam Ondra and Janja Garnbret.
Many athletes have been waiting longingly for this day: the first IFSC competition of the 2021 season and the first World Cup in around a year and a half! The list of participants in Meiringen counted over 170 names.
Athletes came from Japan, Slovenia, the USA, France, Italy and Israel, among others. Of course, Switzerland, Germany and Austria were also there with numerous climbers.
Japan dominant as usual
The Japanese were - as they were before the corona break - the strongest nation ever. Akiyo Noguchi made it into the final for women, and four of the six finalists for men were from Japan. Despite the dominance of Japan, climbed Adam Ondra and Janja Garnbret Most outstanding over all laps.
Janja Garnbret is in a class of her own.
Janja flashed all qualification boulders, repeated the same game - with the exception of one boulder - in the semifinals and also topped two boulders in the first attempt in the final. It was once again in a class of its own.
Silver got itself Oriane Bertone (16) from France and bronze went to Natalia Grossman (19). The two young talents delivered a veritable head-to-head race in the final that the Frenchwoman won thanks to fewer attempts.
For the men, it was Adam Ondra who first made it into the semi-finals and finals and continued this position until the end. The Czech wins the 20th gold medal of his career in Meiringen.
Ranking list Boulder World Cup Meiringen 2021
Men
| 1 | ADAM | ONDRA | CZE |
| 2 | YOSHIYUKI | Ogata | JPN |
| 3 | TOMOAKI | TAKATA | JPN |
| 4 | KOKORO | FUJII | JPN |
| 5 | NATHANIEL | COLEMAN | USA |
| 6 | SOHTA | AMAGASA | JPN |
| 7 | JERNEY | KRUDER | SLO |
| 8 | ALEXANDER | Mego | GER |
| 9 | GREGORY | VEZONICS | SLO |
| 10 | DOMES | Skofic | SLO |
Women
| 1 | JANJA | GARNBRET | SLO |
| 2 | ORIANE | BERTONE | FRA |
| 3 | NATALIA | GROSSMAN | USA |
| 4 | AKIYO | NOGUCHI | JPN |
| 5 | RESUME | Lukan | SLO |
| 6 | KATJA | DEBEVEC | SLO |
| 7 | MIHO | NONAKA | JPN |
| 8 | ANDREA | Kümin | SUI |
| 9 | BROOKE | RABOUTOU | USA |
| 10 | LUCKA | RAKOVEC | SLO |
Petra Klingler left unexpectedly early
For the Swiss team, unfortunately, it was already the end of the line in the semi-finals; Andrea Kümin and Sascha Lehmann ensured two very strong Swiss results with 8th and 18th final places. For Petra Klingler, the competition ended unexpectedly early on Friday. In 21st place, she narrowly missed the semi-finals of the 20 best athletes.
World Cup live stream in replay
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Credits: Cover picture Jan Virt / IFSC