U.S.A. Wins Gold at Salt Lake City Women’s Boulder World Cup
Four wild problems led to a night filled with exciting climbing and some jaw-dropping tops
Photo by: Slobodan Miskovic/IFSC
American Natalia Grossman is back to her winning ways with her ninth-ever Boulder World Cup gold medal win. After stomach and neck issues led to unusually lackluster performances in Hachioji and Seoul, Grossman looked stronger than ever today in Salt Lake City, Utah, flashing three out of the four problems in the women’s boulder final. France’s Oriane Bertone won silver with two tops and four zones. Brooke Raboutou came in third with two tops and three zones.
Grossman started the evening by flashing problem 1, a technical, balancey climb that no other competitor came close to topping. She then topped the super exciting problem 2 in her second go, a funky climb that featured a jump to start and a dynamic catch to finish.
Problem 3 contained an awkward rock over to catch the wall of a dihedral, a move that tripped up a few competitors including Raboutou. Grossman made it look easy, flashing the problem quickly. She also managed a flash of the final problem, an older-school climb with pumpy, fingery, powerful moves. No other athlete topped the problem other than Raboutou, who also picked up the flash after making use of a cool heelhook midway.
In 2022, Grossman won six golds and one silver at the Boulder World Cup, coming in first overall for the season. The year prior, she won three golds, one silver, and one bronze, also winning the overall season. This is her first gold of the 2023 season after not making it to finals in Hachioji or Seoul. Raboutou has one gold and two bronzes in 2023, while Bertone has two silvers.
In Salt Lake City, Canadian athlete Madison Fischer had the best Women’s Boulder World Cup result of any Canadian climber since 2019. She came in 8th in the semi-finals, just narrowly missing a spot in the finals.
Final Results
- Natalia Grossman (4T4z 5 5) [USA]
- Oriane Bertone (2T4z 3 6) [France]
- Brooke Raboutou (2T3z 4 10) [USA]
- Annie Sanders (1T4z 6 16) [USA]
- Zhilu Luo (1T3z 1 5) [China]
- Fanny Gibert (0T3z 0 7) [France]
Men’s Boulder World Cup in Salt Lake City
The men’s boulder semi-finals and finals is taking place on Sunday May 21 and will be livestreamed on the IFSC’s Youtube Channel. The YouTube livestream schedule is listed below:
Men’s Boulder Semi Finals – Sunday May 21 –12pm ET (9am PT)
Men’s Boulder Finals – Sunday May 21 – 8pm ET (5pm PT)
Women’s Boulder Final Livestream Replay
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