[BID]

I bow to your predictions 

Ha, one down - five to go... And my Male prediction didn't even make semi's

1-1, Janja power.

[r-man]

If Janja improves (even a little) at reading the boulders (and she attends the events) I think she'll smash Shauna.

Not sure I agree with you. She seemed to lack the raw power required for some of the boulder problems. And whilst she could flex her way through some of them, I don't think she'll be quite up there.

No lack of power today!

[Durbs]

Ha, I stand by my prediction! Anyone fancy a wager on the overall? Shauna vs Janja? Loser buys a CAC t-shirt for the other?

Good comp though - tops & drops, lots of fun. Quality stream too, decent commentary and mostly good camerawork too.

Still not enjoying 4-min cap though

[bigironhorse]

Good comp. Alexey on m4 confirmed that the 4 min cap just doesn't lend itself to an entertaining comp.

[Fiend]

  that had me raging just watching. Could have some great fun teeters on M3 with 4+ too.

Entertaining problems in this one, the balance was maybe slightly off but lots of cool photogenic moves. Enjoyed it, 4. aside, as usual

[Durbs]

that had me raging just watching. Could have some great fun teeters on M3 with 4+ too.

I guess you could argue it was adding excitement as he was effectively racing the clock, but this ain't speed climbing, and climbers seldom rush.

[Durbs]

Also, not sure if it was deliberate or not, but having the men's and women's problems next to each other made it MUCH easier to watch (and film).
No split screen, no need to cut between problems, very little missed action.

[BID]

The constant reminders of  "this is filmed by volunteers" was interesting, it seemed as though that it was pre-planned that it would be reiterated.

[Doug]

Third WC of the season this weekend. Hopefully semi's and finals will be live streamed again.

Saturday 29th April
09:30-13:30 (UK time 02:30-06:30) Men Bouldering Qualification
15:00-18:00 (UK time 08:00-11:00) Women Bouldering Qualification

Sunday 30th April
09:30-11:30 (UK time 02:30-04:30) Men and Women Bouldering Semi-Finals
18:30-20:00 (UK time 11:30-13:00)  Men and Women Bouldering Finals

[standard]

I always wondered how the top women would fair on the men's qualifiers. A few years ago there was a shared problem and only Shauna and Akiyo(?) managed it.

Anyone have any insight into the relative difficulty between men's and women's problems?

[Sidehaas]

Just watching the semi finals from overnight. The problems look interesting but the camera angles are really poor for most of them (W1 excepted) and the view is flicking between climbers too often so it's very difficult to follow. Exacerbated by the fact that the scoring system is broken so I have no real idea currently what is likely to be required to qualify for the final (admittedly we are only about half way through.)  The commentators made the point that the iFSC are using Chinese TV footage rather than their own this weekend. Presumably this is some form of excuse for why it is poor and would be explained by budget issues.
Someone needs to get their act together if they ever want to charge for watching this.
I thought it was ok in Chongqing by the way.

Edit: the commentators also pointed out that they can't help the viewers with the scoring because they don't themselves have an uninterrupted view of the climbing. Wtf!? Sounds like no-one put proper thought in to setting the whole thing up. Hope the final is better.

[Muenchener]

Still watching semis, so avoid reading previous comments in case of spoilers, but I just want to opine that Andrzej Mecherzynski is doing an absolutely superb job as co-commentator, quite possibly the best we're ever had. And volunteers doing a superb job as co-commentators is another thing that the commercial deal would presumably have lost.

[changement]

Just watching the semi finals from overnight. The problems look interesting but the camera angles are really poor for most of them (W1 excepted) and the view is flicking between climbers too often so it's very difficult to follow. Exacerbated by the fact that the scoring system is broken so I have no real idea currently what is likely to be required to qualify for the final (admittedly we are only about half way through.)  The commentators made the point that the iFSC are using Chinese TV footage rather than their own this weekend. Presumably this is some form of excuse for why it is poor and would be explained by budget issues.
Someone needs to get their act together if they ever want to charge for watching this.
I thought it was ok in Chongqing by the way.

Edit: the commentators also pointed out that they can't help the viewers with the scoring because they don't themselves have an uninterrupted view of the climbing. Wtf!? Sounds like no-one put proper thought in to setting the whole thing up. Hope the final is better.

I'd say both the quality of the streaming and camera work has picked up for the final.

Sadly undone with the shambles of the 4 min rule.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[BID]

"Any women who've won in more than one discipline?" Janja up next after winning last week. Good lord commentators, sort your brains out. Get Liam Lonsdale in.

[lagerstarfish]

Sadly undone with the shambles of the 4 min rule.

which in itself came undone when the clocks stopped working 

[lagerstarfish]

good final, that

I'd have liked to see Janja doing W4, but the camera people had other ideas

a few people were looking pretty tired at the end (understandably)

[Danny]

Hope Shauna hasn't tweaked a finger on W4, as the commentators implied. This season shaping up to be a Janja-Shauna battle.

[Sidehaas]

Agree, good final and the camera work was much better.

[Kingy]

Good commentary, I felt sorry for Nonaka not being awarded the match of one of the top holds cos she wasn't on the right bit of the sloper!

Why can't all bouldering wall matting be like that? Rather than the rock hard stuff fitted at most centres these days where sprained ankles seem increasingly common

[r-man]

Good finals. The two-horse battle has made the women's event the most exciting.

The 4min rule is still terrible. So many failures just because people times out. Not entertaining, just annoying.

Bit of an overkill on close ups, when it would have been much nicer to see the whole climb, or even just the whole climber.

All the men's and women's were side by side, so we could have easily watched two climbers at the same time. Well done to the routesetters if they have decided to do this all the time. Shame the director rarely showed us that view though.

Why can't all bouldering wall matting be like that? Rather than the rock hard stuff fitted at most centres these days where sprained ankles seem increasingly common

Yeah. Hard mats are really annoying.

So are those horrible rough carpets that seem popular these days. Carpet burn on any exposed skin if you happen to skid on your back/front/side when you land.

[Kingy]

Agreed, carpet burn is not a good look. I fell off a board problem the other day from 1 foot up when my hand ripped off a smooth pinch and ended up with a stiff neck from landing flat on my back on the hard mats, not fun!

[Durbs]

Agreed,  great final!
Shame for Nonaka, would the top have given her 2nd? Also felt for Aya missing out due to tech failure. Would've thought they could've counted 12 seconds on a video replay is she appealed?

4/3/2/1 split for both which was great.

No takers for my wager?

[Muenchener]

Aya wuz robbed. I guess the team probably appealed, the Japanese are generally pretty active on the team management front*

Miho otoh should have known better given that she's a highly experienced competitor and the same thing happened in Chongqing the week before.

* and what a nice bunch they seem to be. Being one of the larger, richer teams they travel with their own physio, or at least they did in 2014 when I saw him in Munich busily massaging & taping up all & sundry without regard to what country they came from.

[BID]

No takers for my wager?

Go on then, I'll take that action. A CAC shirt, bright pink - medium Let's hope Janja learns to read boulders and the setters set some hard moves.

[Potash]

Good commentary, I felt sorry for Nonaka not being awarded the match of one of the top holds cos she wasn't on the right bit of the sloper!

I thought this was very true. Especially as Shauna matched by placing her second hand over her first, which appeared to achieve no skin contact with the finishing hold because it was so small and enveloped. The rules just seem to suggest controlling the finishing hold with two hands without specifying skin contact. Could you match by touching your wrist? Seems a bit dodgy.

Simply saying that the climbers have been told about the finishing hold does not seem to be a good enough response. If there are repeated misunderstandings then the person doing the explaining or the format must take some responsibility.

Twice in two finals suggests a problem.