Natalia Grossman Does It Again! Wins Gold at Boulder World Cup in Brixen
The American was the only climber to top all four problems in the Brixen finals
Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC
Today, the fifth women’s IFSC Boulder World Cup of the 2023 season was held in Brixen, Italy. After an absence from last weekend’s comp in Prague, Natalia Grossman returned to the series in dominant fashion. She topped all four problems in the final round, achieving a flash on two of them. With this Brixen win, Grossman now has nine golds, two silvers, and one bronze in Boulder World Cup events. She also holds a gold medal from the 2021 IFSC World Championships.
In the finals today, she made quick work of the first two problems, topping problem #1 in her third attempt and flashing problem #2. The third problem of the evening gave her some difficulty though, and it started to look like she was going to give up her lead.
“The third boulder gave me a run for my money,” she said. “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.”
With less than a minute left, she finally figured out how to to stick the awkward coordination throw that was giving her trouble, and she made it to the top of the boulder. She came out strong for the final problem of the evening, picking up what looked like an easy flash of a very difficult boulder.
This is Grossman’s second gold of the 2023 Boulder World Cup. After a rough start of the season in Asia due to illness, she came back strong in Salt Lake City in May, winning gold in front of a home crowd.
She is expected to compete in the final Boulder World Cup event of the season in Innsbruck next weekend. A solid finish there will crown her as 2023 Boulder World Cup champion – a familiar achievement for Grossman who was the Boulder World Cup champ in both 2021 and 2022. She’s also had success in lead competition, ranking second overall in the 2021 Lead World Cup and third overall in the 2022 Lead World Cup.
Grossman was the only climber to top all four problems in the Brixen finals. Chaehyun Seo, Stasa Gejo, and Ayala Kerem were close behind though, all achieving three tops and four zones. South Korea’s Seo took silver, as all of her tops were flashes. Gejo took five attempts for her three tops, earning her bronze, while Kerem required 10 attempts, leaving her in fourth.
Seo is well-known for her sport climbing. She was Lead World Cup champion in 2019 and placed second overall in 2022. Late last year, she onsighted 5.14b and repeated La Rambla 5.15a. Before Brixen, she had never podiumed at a Boulder World Cup event.
Brixen Final Results
- Natalia Grossman (4T4z 12 12) [USA]
- Chaehyun Seo (3T4z 3 9) [KOR]
- Stasa Gejo (3T4z 5 6) [SRB]
- Ayala Kerem (3T4z 10 16) [ISR]
- Oceania Mackenzie (2T3z 5 6) [AUS]
- Joanna Färber (1T2z 4 14) [AUT]
The men’s Brixen World Cup semi-finals and finals will be held tomorrow, Sunday June 11. They will be livestreamed on the IFSC’s Youtube Channel tomorrow. The YouTube livestream schedule is listed below:
Men’s semi-final – Sunday June 11 – 5am EDT (2am PDT)
Men’s final – Sunday June 11 – 2pm EDT (11am PDT)
