The third World Cup event of the season opened with the men's Boulder qualification round.
The third stage of the IFSC World Cup Series 2024 commenced today at the USA Climbing Training Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, where 191 climbers from 34 countries and territories are set to compete.
The men’s Boulder event opened the competition with its qualification round.
Three athletes concluded their performance with a full set of five tops and five zones: Austria’s Jan-Luca Posch, and Japan’s Amagasa Sohta and Anraku Sorato. Posch and Amagasa placed in joint first position, with Anraku following in third because of a higher number of attempts.
Making it into his first-ever Boulder semi-final round, Slav Kirov was one of two Bulgarian athletes in the top 20.
“My qualification round went well, I managed to flash three boulders, but I also made a few mistakes. On the second one, for example, my foot slipped three times before I was able to put my weight in the right way,” commented Kirov, who placed 11th with three tops and five zones.
Making a very positive debut, but barely missing the cut, Germany’s Thorben Perry Bloem concluded in 25th position with three tops and four zones.
Bloem said: “It’s my first World Cup and I didn’t know what to expect. I had high hopes, but low expectations, I didn’t know what to think. It was overwhelming to see all these strong athletes here, in real life. The boulders were a lot easier than I thought because I came out and my goal was ‘one top and I’m happy’. It went quite well, I moved well, and I hope it won’t be the last World Cup, but I’m quite optimistic!”
For the men’s Boulder qualification full results click here.
The IFSC World Cup Salt Lake City 2024 will continue with the women’s Boulder qualification, starting at 14:30 (UTC-6:00).
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin and Weibo.