Women’s Boulder final

Natalia GROSSMAN (USA)

“I’m extremely proud. That second climb in the final, I’ve been working on coordination so much this past few months, and to have it pay off in the semi-final and in the final… I was psyched! I always love the World Cup in Salt Lake City. The crowd hyped us up. I appreciate it a lot. It is very special to have my family here, being able to sleep in my own bed, eat my own food, it’s really nice.

“Hearing that there were a lot of tops motivated me, I knew it was possible, I knew I could do it, and I wasn’t sure what the result was. I thought I had to top the last one, I didn’t realise it for a second.

“After the semi-final, I was kind of unsure of what would happen, so I told myself I was going to look at the final boulders and decide if I was going to compete or not. I have bigger goals this year and this is just a stepping stone. The last boulder was the least friendly thing I could think of, but with the adrenaline and everything I was able to make it.”

Oriane BERTONE (FRA)

“It’s a mix of feelings. I think I’m more disappointed than anything else. I was feeling ready for something more than this, especially in that third boulder that I didn’t manage to top, and I know I could have topped it. I’m very happy to be on the podium with Naïlé, and any podium is always taken and hard to achieve. But I know I could have done better, so I’m a bit disappointed in myself.

“I know what the beta was on boulder number three, but I don’t know why I was trying to go statically when I should have used a more dynamic approach. I was going very slowly, so my feet kept slipping.”

Naïle MAIGNAN (FRA)

“It is incredible. I could never imagine to be on the podium. I had it in my head, but it wasn’t real, then it happened, and it was crazy. I love to hype up the crowd, I feel like they push me while I’m climbing, it feels like a team sport more than an individual one, and I love that!”

Men’s Speed final

Samuel WATSON (USA)

“I am so happy to be here in front of my newly home turf, as I moved to Millcreek about 10 days ago, which is in Salt Lake City. I’m so excited to share this moment with Noah Bratschi and Emma Hunt, I’m super happy for her, she trains super hard and will be an Olympian in Paris this Summer.

“I had some great times on the wall, raced some future Olympians, and I’m super excited for my progress, and the progress I have made with my coach Albert Ok. I am very happy to take home the win, but if there is one thing I should say is that I’m not done yet: more records are coming, faster times are coming, and I got some things up my sleeves. I’m not taking my foot off the gas for sure.”

Noah BRATSCHI (USA)

“I’m so excited, so happy! It’s been a while since I’ve gone this far in a final round, and to get silver means a lot to me. Since OQS is very close, this is the motivation I needed.

“Sam is very good, obviously, but in Speed, you don’t necessarily need to be the fastest. Today, for example, I was not the fastest, but I had more consistent runs than the other people. As long as you are fast enough to get into a final, you can win. So going up against Sam in the final, I knew that I could win. I just made a small mistake and he ran so fast, it’s okay.”

Kevin AMON (AUT)

“It’s my first final round in a World Cup, and I was excited about that. My first-ever World Cup was here in Salt Lake City, last year, so it was amazing to come back here and win bronze.”

Women’s Speed final

Emma HUNT (USA)

“I’m just so excited, Salt Lake City is kind of like a second home to me, so it feels like a home-turfy win, and I got to do it with Samuel which is so exciting! I have so many rituals I go through in my competition that there is no time to list them all… I can’t wait to go to Paris, can’t wait to try croissants and all the food!”

Aleksandra KALUCKA (POL)

“Honestly, I’m still very jet-lagged and I need to go to bed now! I feel happy because the friction on the wall was bad for me and I had to fight with it. I’m happy and proud I was able to do that. I’m excited to compete at the OQS in Shanghai very soon, I needed this competition because the previous one was very hard for me and I felt too much pressure. Now I feel more prepared, we’ll see what happens.”

Men’s Boulder final

ANRAKU Sorato (JPN)

“I am very happy to have won a World Cup in this beautiful place. The competition was nerve-wrecking, but it was good. As soon as I figured out the moves on the final boulder, I knew I had it, and I felt good when I topped it.

“This was an important milestone in my training schedule, and it gives me a lot of confidence on the way to Paris.”

NARASAKI Meichi (JPN)

“I’m a little bit happy, because I failed to top the first problem, even if it matched my style. So I was expecting to finish fifth or sixth. I was telling myself ‘just one top and you’re back in the game’.”

Jakob SCHUBERT (AUT)

“I have mixed feelings rights now. The place I ended up is good, but climbing-wise, there was so much more I could do tonight – like on the slab, I almost topped it, slipped, and never went back up there again, and the last one, if I had topped the slab, I would have been in a different state of mind, because I liked the physical style of it. So I’m not super happy with my climbing in the final right now, but being back on the World Cup podium is great. I also feel a bit sorry for my teammate Janny, who deserved the podium more than I do for the performance on the last boulder and battling with a knee injury.”

Men’s Boulder semi-final

Jakob SCHUBERT (AUT)

“If you’re having a good start in the round and the crowd is going wild is just so much fun. I haven't had a round like this in a while, it’s the best thing about Boulder, if you know you’re doing well, you can truly live the moment and it’s truly something special.

“This event is kind of special, because the iso is in the same building as the Climbing wall, and even from there you can hear the crowd. It can be nerve-wracking, depending on if you have experience with it or not, but it can also get you more psyched. It’s loud and it gets you hyped up.

“I’d like to call myself a Combined climber, my goal has always been to be the best climber in the world, or at least one of the best, and to do that you want to be good at both Boulder and Lead. I’ve shown in the past that I have my good rounds in Boulder, the problem is that I also have the rounds where I don’t do well. So far this year it’s been pretty good, China was good, and this event so far was very good, especially this round which was set for my strengths. Let’s see in finals if I can perform again.

“I’ve been trying to work on my weaknesses a lot in winter. I know that if I want to win an Olympic medal it will come down a lot to my Boulder performance, while in Lead I know I can perform pretty well. This is why I’m a bit mad I was not able to top that last boulder.”

Thomas LEMAGNER (FRA)

“It’s been awesome to climb these boulders today, I am very happy. I was close to topping the second one, but I ended up falling. It’s a new experience for me, it’s the first event in the adult category, the team is different, and there is more freedom before and after the competition. It’s impressive to climb next to all these stars, I used to see them on television a few years ago.”

Women’s Boulder qualification

Kyra CONDIE (USA)

“I have a new tactic where I try to stay calm between each boulder, sometimes it’s easy to get too excited or too frustrated, so after every boulder I try to go back behind the wall and calm down. It’s been helping me both at the first World Cups in China and this competition. I spend many hours here in the Training Center, it’s interesting, in some ways it’s an advantage because we know how to warm up – I warm up in here every single day – but in other ways it’s kind of weird to stay in a hotel, having team dinners, it’s hard to make it feel like a World Cup. With that being said, I think it’s more of an advantage having your friends and family here, you can feel the love from the crowd.

“I had COVID in March, it took me out, I didn’t feel like I was able to fully show my best in China. With two rounds in a row, I was just really fatigued. I’m looking forward to feeling healthy for this event and showing what I’ve got.”

Lucija TARKUS (SLO)

“Qualification was a bit hard for me, I hope it will be enough for semis. I was too nervous, and I didn’t have the best feeling on the boulders. This is my first competition this year, training was all right, my form was good, and I was hoping to show this on the mats and perform well.”

Agathe CALLIET (FRA)

“Qualification was hard because I spent a lot of time in isolation, and I was a bit tired because of the time difference. The first boulder I couldn’t do it, and after that I was a bit angry, but I managed to do better on the other boulders and stay focused. Boulder number four was my style, with good moves, and I love it when it’s a bit far away. I like the first move where you had to jump in a jug… I hope there will be lots of jugs in the semi-final!”

Men’s Boulder qualification

Slav KIROV (BUL)

“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. I’m angry about the last boulder, I was getting to the zone but could not stick to it, I probably used the wrong beta. I’m happy with my climbing, I hope it will be enough to make my first Boulder semi-final.”

Colin DUFFY (USA)

“It was a great round. I got off to a slow start on the slab and didn’t top it, but then flashed the rest of the round. It’s an interesting atmosphere being in the Training Center, I’ve climbed on this wall quite a bit throughout the years, and even though it’s a different location, it feels comfortable. I’m feeling good, executing well, I’m psyched to have another chance in the semi tomorrow.”

Thorben Perry BLOEM (GER)

“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!”