This weekend the threat of rain couldn’t keep the crowds away from Cliffhanger in Sheffield, which played host to the British round of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup. The event drew over 10,000 visitors to Millhouses Park, whilst a further 15,000 watched the World Cup via a live webcast on the internet.

Fortunately the weather held off whilst competitors from across the world fought their way up a fiendish array of problems set by French climbing legend Jacky Godoffe and his team of international route setters. The British Bouldering Team took full advantage of being on their home turf and romped through the qualifying round – in the women’s event, Diane Merrick, Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, Shauna Coxsey and recently crowned British Bouldering Champion Leah Crane all made it through to the semi-finals. In the men’s event, Gaz Parry and Stew Watson flashed all five of their problems, qualifying for the semi-final in joint first place with Marco Antonio Jubes Angarita of Spain. Ned Feehally also made it through, topping out all of his problems.

The semi-final proved to have some of the hardest climbing in the competition; even Czech wunderkind Adam Ondra only managed to top out three of the five men’s problems. Unfortunately, despite valiant efforts, particularly from Mina and Shauna, none of the British Team made it through to the finals. Even Austria’s Killian Fischhuber and Anna Stöhr, ranked number one in the men’s and women’s competitions going into this round of the World Cup, failed to make the cut. It was left to Ondra to blitz through the final men’s problems (even when a tricky roof sequence proved that it’s not always good to be tall!) and take the top spot. The women’s competition was hard-fought, with Chlöe Graftiaux of Belgium eventually taking first place just ahead of America’s Alex Johnson and Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi.

Also held at Cliffhanger, as in previous years, was the World Record Dyno competition. Sponsored by PodSacs, the competition was open to anyone who fancied their chances at walking away with a cash prize - £250 for the highest male and female jump each day. On both days the women’s competition was won by local Sheffield climber Lily Fitzgibbon and the men’s by Skyler Weekes – who flew over from America just to enter the competition and broke his own world record with a jump of 2.85m.

Mens Results

1. Adam ONDRA CZE
2. Cédric LACHAT SUI
3. Mykhaylo SHALAGIN UKR
4. Guillaume GLAIRON MONDET FRA
5. Rustam GELMANOV RUS
6. Tsukuru HORI JPN
7. Sean MCCOLL CAN
8. Klemen BECAN SLO

Womens Results

1 Chloé GRAFTIAUX BEL
2 Alex JOHNSON USA
3 Akiyo NOGUCHI JPN
4 Natalija GROS SLO
5 Juliane WURM GER
6 Yulia ABRAMCHUK RUS
7 Jenny LAVARDA ITA
8 Cecile AVEZOU FRA

Full results at http://www.ifsc-climbing.org