Chloe Graftiaux and Daniel Woods WIN the Vail World Cup 2010

by Jackie Hueftle

 

Belgian Chloe Graftiaux and American Daniel Woods crushed their way through finals to win the 2010 Vail World Cup. Things were tight between Chloe and 1^st seeded Anna Stohr, but Stohr’s slip on women’s 3 put Chloe in the lead, and she held onto it through the bonus hold of the last problem for the win. While the women were climbing it was really hard to remember who was in first, since all the girls were finishing all the problems except 4, which no one finished. 

 

Women’s Problem 1 was a powerful arête climb and was topped by every girl, though Alex Johnson had an unexpected slip off the first move on her first try that didn’t set the best pace for her on the rest of the problems. Maud climbed the problem all kinds of backwards, but it didn’t end up affecting her poorly, as she easily reached the finish holds.

 

Women’s Problem 2 was similar, though it was largely a grip-tape-on-volume vertical wall with a hard last move that was bypassed by a few competitors (who mantled up in the corner to the right of the problem). AJ flashed, Alex Puccio and Juliane Wurm both fell near the top trying the expected beta before sending 2^nd go, Chloe and Anna flashed fairly easily, and Maud did some amazing mantle/stemming that ended with her placing both hands in control in the finish box, on the bottom of the final volume, instead of grabbing the final hold that everyone else had grabbed. She did this from the comfort of her stem and without the risky last move out of the stem that Juliane did, and it seemed a taping oversight that allowed her to technically finish the problem without grabbing the last hold that everyone else had grabbed.

Women’s Problem 3 was a good times slopey slab thing that seemed to have a height-difficulty crux early on and then go to a fairly dramatic finish rock up that each girl coiled up as if to jump on, then pressed slowly to the top. There were two methods for the last foot move—a wide stem or a close-in hand-foot match, and both were used by multiple competitors. Both Alexes fell 3 times before getting to the bonus hold and the top on their fourth tries. Juliane and Anna Stohr both fell once before getting bonus/send, and it was this that decided the comp between Anna Stohr and Chloe Graftiaux, who flashed this problem and ended up winning because of it. The scores for Maud weren’t on the score sheet for some reason, but I remember her falling on the bottom at least once and, though she did reach the bonus hold eventually, she did not finish the problem.

 

Women’s Problem 4 was the least dramatic of the bunch, with a powerful heel-hook rock-up that seemed much harder for taller AJ then for the shorter girls. Nevertheless, AJ eventually figured it out and got to the bonus hold on her 4^th try before falling from the top. Her success (and last-move failure) was repeated by the rest of the field, but slightly more quickly. AP, Anna, Juliane, and Chloe got to the bonus hold first try, but no one was able to stick the awkward-looking final move. Maud also got there, but I’m not sure how quickly.

And that was that. The lack of a finisher on the final finals problem made the women’s slightly anti-climactic, but the men weren’t done yet and, true to form, they finished the comp off in style. Video HERE

 

Women’s Final Scores:

1.     Chloe Graftiaux (BEL)

2.     Anna Stohr (AUT)

3.     Juliane Wurm (GER)

4.     Alex Puccio (USA)

5.     Alex Johnson (USA)

6.     Maud Ansade (FRA)

 

On the men’s side, and in his usual dramatic fashion, Daniel Woods came out and gave a dramatic performance in the finals of a comp. The difference was, this was a World Cup, and Daniel has never won one. Had never won one. Now, things are different.

Daniel came out of Semis in first, and he managed to hold onto his lead by being the only male competitor to send more than one finals problem (he did 2, and fell off the last move of the other two). Though he had already won the comp when he got to problem 4, he still gave a great effort and got the entire crowd on their feet.

 

Daniel Woods had been dominating through semifinals, though 2^nd seeded Kruder from Slovenia had been looking extremely strong and was certainly a contender for the win. Kilian Fischuber, the 2008 Vail winner and a generally dominant comp climber, always has a chance of winning as well, though he broke a toe last week and was definitely limping a bit on the mats. 

Men’s Final 1 started up a slightly overhanging arête seemed to suit a specific strength, and the first man out of the gate, Wouter from the Netherlands, suffered on it—he was not able to stick the difficult jump to the bonus hold sloper. Next up was Tsukuru, and he and 3^rd climber Kilian flashed, then Francois came out and couldn’t work out the bonus hold, though Kruder flashed. Daniel was last, and everyone, including Daniel, was surprised when he accidently slipped off the third move. He didn’t make that mistake again, and with a concerted effort he did the problem 2^nd go.

 

Men’s Final 2: Unlike Men’s 1, there were no easy flashes here, and everyone suffered on the initial dyno to two crimps on the bottom wings of the Motivation Volumes star. Eventually several climbers made the bonus hold—Tsukuru (2^nd go), Kilian and Francios (3^rd go), and Kruder and Wouter (6^th go). Kruder’s attempts were particularly dramatic, as it didn’t seem that he’d stick the dyno and then, suddenly, after riling up the crowd, he got on, stuck it, and almost sent the problem. After falling from the last move he gave one more good attempt, using better beta to make the bottom less strenuous but still falling off the delicate and powerful final cross. Daniel came out and again fell unexpectedly on the first move when his right hand didn’t hit the hold right, and after almost holding on with one hand, he fell. He took a minute to focus, then sent the problem with style, doing the “impossible” last move first try. The crowd went crazy.

 

Men’s Final 3 looked to be easier than the last, but it came down to attempts to the bonus hold as no climber was able to complete the final dyno. The wall it was on was just off vertical, and several climbers were completely surprised to slip off the slopers at the bottom. Everyone got to the bonus hold their first or second try and then fell from the last move. Daniel, finally, did not slip off the start, but even he was unable to stick the awkward looking dynamic last move.

 

Men’s Final 4 was the showpiece of the comp, out the steepest center wall with the giant Motivation soccer ball. The problem started on a left wall, with two gigantic feet helping climbers get to a small hold on the inside of the soccer ball. From there, the climbers had to jump out to a ring on the bottom side of the soccerball. Out of balance and in danger of dabbing (or face planting), climbers kept standing in the stem and trying to figure out how to jump, only to fall as soon as they tried. After Wouter, Tsukuru, Kilian and Francois failed to do the move, it seemed the problem might not go. Luckily for everyone involved, Kruder stepped up and somehow immediately knew how to do the moves correctly, facing out from the wall at the start to make the beginning moves easier, then sticking the dyno dramatically, as his legs swung and scissored in the air. He managed a few more moves toward the bonus hold, but was unable to hit it in control and get points for all his hard work on the dyno. Subsequently he did the dyno several more times, and it looked easier each time, but it was not enough for him to get the bonus hold and points for the problem. This is unfortunate, because he ended up in a lower place than it seemed his performance throughout the comp deserved. Finally Daniel came out. Things were looking bad at first when, like Kilian and the others, he almost stuck the dyno, only to fly off backwards and land in a few painful-looking belly and side-flops. Though he’d already won the comp by being the only competitor to top more than 1 problem, he still wanted a good performance on this last problem, and falling off the dyno wasn’t cutting it. He fought through the frustration, got re-focused, and, in his last seconds of time, stuck the dyno, climbed through the bonus hold, and, with the deafening roar to his back, he fell off jumping to the final hold. Video HERE

 

The comp was over, and, after 20 minutes or so, the complaint period ended and results were final. Here’s how the men shook out:

1.     Daniel Woods (USA)

2.     Tsukuru Hori (JPN)

3.     Kilian Fischuber (AUT)

4.     Jernej Kruder (SLO)

5.     Francois Kaiser (FRA)

6.     Wouter Jongeneelen (NED)

For team scores, America won for the most presence, though France and Austria were close behind. In fact, all three teams had impressive presence in the semis and finals of the event.

 

More Finals Info, for the technically interested:

This years finals ran a little differently from last years in that instead of bringing all the competitors out and having them sit facing the crowd, competitor iso was around the back of one side of the wall. When it was their turn competitors ran out from iso and to the base of their problems, and as the crowd roared they usually jumped right on and began to climb. After climbing they usually exited the other side of the wall as the next competitor came from iso, so the whole thing was sort of a revolving door of competitors. Two benefits of the system were that the competitors didn’t have to sit in the sun and that without them in front there was more room for the many photographers, videographers, judges, and other ip’s to run back and forth and capture the action. Perhaps the most important note from a video standpoint—a couple of stalwart fellows were trucking around an Oakely RED camera (very heavy) and a tripod that might have been just as heavy. The footage from that should be impressive, if CORE is any measure of what that camera is capable of in good hands.

Also new this year were clocks with the man (blue) and woman (pink) symbols behind them, so it was easy for each gender of competitor to watch their own clock. Unlike the qualifiers and semis rounds, in finals it was impossible to time out on the wall, so as long as competitors got off the ground before the clock hit 0, they were able to continue the attempt. This meant that most competitors got several tries on their finals—a fortunate thing given the difficulty of some of the dynos on the men’s problems and the last move on Women’s 4. Read the round write-ups for more info on the problems, and more photos and video should be showing up soon.