Bouldering World Cup..

The first round of the UIAA World bouldering series was held in Gap, Southern France, over the weekend of the 30th June to the 1st of July. As could be expected for this time of year conditions were very hot and humid, but thankfully for the competitors and large crowd a slight breeze did kick in. With a strong American team, consisting of the super fit Sharma, and a large Korean and Japanese presence things looked as though this years series could be very interesting!

The Women's final was the first to be held over the weekend and it looked like it was going to be fully dominated by the French, with Miriam Motteau and Sandrine Levet taking first and second places. Although the domination ended once a strong team of Russians stormed in to take third and fourth places (see results table below). Motteau cruised her way through a lot of the problems and looked like the injury she picked up in Munich last year is fully behind her now.

Next it was the turn of the Men, Sharma was blatantly one of the crowd's favourites and as per usual had his entourage of cameramen, film crew and buddies in tow. Would this be his day? The answer was no, although he was placed third and gave the crowd a smile, almost of apology for this. The podium went to Jerome Meyer, after qualifying in 20th position he pulled out all of the stops to crank his way to first. Followed closely by Italian strongman Mauro Calbini, who was competing for the first time this year.

There were also a few big names with the likes of Core, Pons and Golob who didn't make it to the final. Sharma, film crew and buddies all headed to another arena after the event, this being the Biographie Sector of Ceuse, where battle would once again commence with the famous project.

Video Clips: Click below