SPORT CLIMBING Preview: Final Bouldering World Cup in Munich

The season-ending Bouldering World Cup will once again come to Munich (GER), with competition on Friday and Saturday. The seasonal leaders:

Men:
1. 400 Jernej Kruder (SLO)
2. 396 Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)
3. 322 Rei Sugimoto (JPN)
4. 296 Aleksei Rubtsov (RUS)
5. 247 Jong-Won Chon (KOR)

Women:
1. 500 Miho Nonaka (JPN)
2. 495 Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)
3. 305 Fanny Gibert (SUI)
4. 222 Stasa Gejo (SRB)
5. 202 Katja Kadic (SLO)

The Bouldering events have been quiet since the Vail World Cup in June. But Kruder and Narasaki have been close to the top all season, each winning one World Cup and Kruder winning two other medals and Narasaki, three. It would be the first seasonal win for Kruder, the new star of the season, but no. 2 for Narasaki after his win in 2016.

The women’s race is equally tight, with Nonaka trying for her first seasonal title and Noguchi for her fifth, after winning in 2009-10-14-15. Scoring is 100-80-65-55-51-47-43-38-37-34 for the top-10 places, so even a small slip could be costly.

Look for results here.