Records tumbled on the second IFSC World Cup weekend in Salt Lake City: Poland's Aleksandra Miroslaw broke her own world record for the third time in a row, Indonesian Kiromal Katibin improved the men's fastest time for the second time in three weeks. In bouldering, Natalia Grossman underlined her dominance with the third World Cup gold in a row. The Japanese Yoshiyuki Ogata won the men's event.
The fastest get even faster, the strong stay strong. This is how the second IFSC World Cup weekend in Salt Lake City can be roughly summarized.
Speed: Two new world records
Kiromal Katibin surpassed his best time of 5,17 seconds in Salt Lake City, which he set on May 6th at the IFSC World Cup in Seoul had set up and thus took the lead in the qualification evaluation. Shortly thereafter, another historic moment happened: The Pole also climbed in the qualification Aleksandra Miroslaw the speed route in 6,53 seconds, setting the third world record in a row.
In the men's, he secured himself at the end Veddriq Leonardo the second World Cup gold medal of the season. He sat down in the final against the Austrian Tobias Plangger and thus underscored the continued dominance of Indonesian climbers in the speed discipline.
“I felt great today. Combining this gold medal with my teammate's world record is great. We made history once again!”
Veddriq Leonardo
Secured third place Ludovico Fossali, the Italian world champion of 2019. He had to settle for a thankless fourth place in the previous two Speed World Cups. At the second World Cup in Salt Lake City, he was able to beat the Pole in the small final Marcin Dzienski enforce.
In the women's competition, the Polish team took three of the first four places. Aleksandra Miroslaw once again proved unbeatable and won the third consecutive World Cup gold of the season with an exceptional time of 6,54.
“Luckily, the feeling of setting a world record in qualifying isn't new to me because I did that in Seoul too. I just focused on my precision and trying not to make mistakes and it worked!”
Aleksandra Miroslaw
Emma Hunt from the United States came second. The polish woman Aleksandra Kalucka prevailed against her twin sister Natalia in the race for third place and secured the bronze medal with 7,96 seconds.
Live Stream: Speed Finals
USA and Japan dominate bouldering discipline
The American Natalia Grossman won the women's bouldering competition at the fourth edition of the IFSC World Cup Series 2022 in Salt Lake City. It is the third gold medal in a row for the 20-year-old, cementing her position at the top of the current Bouldering World Cup rankings. Grossman was the only athlete that weekend who was able to solve all four boulder problems.
"I wanted to create a back-to-back, but I wasn't sure. There were so many points where I wanted to give up this round. I thought it was over after the first boulder and it was hard to stay positive, but I made it."
Natalia Grossman
Second went to Tokyo 2020 silver medalist, Miho Nonaka from Japan. Grossman's close friend and teammate Brooke Raboutou completed the podium and took bronze with three tops, four zones and just one try over Nonaka.
The Japanese team secured the third gold medal in the men's event. After this Tomoa Narasaki and Kokoro Fujii won gold in Meiringen and Seoul respectively Yoshiyuki Ogata in Salt Lake City on the top step of the podium and took the third World Cup gold of his career.
“This year I finished second at the first World Cup, then third again in Seoul and second here last week. I dreamed of being at the top of the podium and I am very happy that it finally happened!”
Yoshiyuki Ogata
Ogata got ahead of the Slovenian thanks to a better placement in the semifinals Anze Peharc through as both climbers finished the finals with four tops, four zones and the exact same number of top and zone attempts. Kokoro Fujii completed the podium in third and took bronze.
Live Stream: Boulder Finals
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Credits: Cover picture Daniel Gajda / IFSC