IFSC Climbing: Flohé Crushes for First Win, Grossman Keeps Dominating

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Bouldering World Cup returned to Brixen, Italy, over the weekend. The United States’ Natalia Grossman stayed red hot to win yet another women’s event, while a new contender dazzled to take gold on the men’s side.

As night fell over the Italian mountain town of Brixen, Natalia Grossman chalked up to vie for yet another IFSC World Cup bouldering victory.

Nobody could catch the young American on Sunday night, but one climber competing in her first World Cup Boulder final came close.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Yannick Yannick Flohé secured his first World Cup victory with a dominant performance in the men’s final.

2022 Brixen Boulder World Cup: Women’s Results

Hannah Meul kept the pedal down in the women’s final to give Grossman a run for her money. Both flashed two of the first three problems in the set, one of which featured a cryptic, one-handed sequence on a shallow pocket in the middle of nowhere (Grossman opted for an assisted one-arm pull-up; Meul employed a figure 4).

Meul latched on to a powerful final problem, topping it and thus forcing Grossman to match her effort. But the Santa Cruz, Calif. native dispatched the rig in two tries to take the victory.

“I had the most fun I’ve had in a really long time,” Grossman said after the win. “Hannah kept me on my toes the whole finals round. I’m really grateful and excited to try for more [wins].”

Grossman took home the gold medal for the fourth straight time in IFSC competition. She has not lost a women’s World Cup Boulder event since she finished second behind Janja Garnbret in the season’s first tour stop — after which Garnbret retired for the year.

1. Natalia Grossman (United States)
2. Hannah Meul (Switzerland)
3. Zhilu Luo (China)
4. Miho Nanaka (Japan)
5. Anon Matsufuji (Japan)
6. Serika Okawachi (Japan)

Check out the full results on IFSC’s website.

2022 IFSC Brixen Boulder World Cup: Men’s Results

Yannick Flohé outclassed the field at the men’s final on Sunday after putting on a similar show in the semifinals the day before. The 22-year-old German climber looked springy and confident on each of the four finals problems, topping the first three summarily.

By the time Flohé pulled onto Men’s 4, he had already beaten Great Britain’s Max Milne. Milne, competing in his second World Cup Boulder final, excited the crowd with a passionate performance but couldn’t solve or zone (read: partially finish, and score partial points on) the tenuous, reachy problem.

Flohé threw down with max effort anyway and still scored the high point of the day on it, zoning it to drive home the win. The victory puts an exclamation point on what he later said has been “quite a good year so far” for him — it’s his second podium and fourth top-five finish.

He previously took gold as the combined winner (Boulder, Lead, and Speed) at the 2021 Moscow Climbing World Championships.

Meanwhile, Team Japan saw the blistering pace it set so far in 2022 taper off somewhat in Brixen; previously, it had won 9 of 12 available medals. Yoshiyuki Ogata, who finished fifth, still maintains a commanding lead for the season.

1. Yannick Flohé (Germany)
2. Maximilian Milne (Great Britain)
3. Tomoa Narasaki (Japan)
4. Dohyun Lee (Korea)
5. Yoshiyuki Ogata (Japan)
6. Meichi Narasaki (Japan)

Check out the full results on IFSC’s website.

IFSC climbing action will resume June 22-26, with Boulder and Lead World Cups scheduled in Innsbruck, Austria. The stop signals the midway point on this year’s 12-event slate.

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