The crowd went wild as Sean McColl quickly launched past the highest point of any previous climber at today's semifinals of the lead World Cup in Boulder, Colorado.  Falling just short of the top, McColl, of Vancouver, not only qualified for tonight's finals, he tied in the round for second place.

Hosting the first lead World Cup on American shores in over 20 years, the Movement Climbing + Fitness center presented two burly routes sitting center stage for the men and women who had advanced from the qualifying round.

The men’s route sported a tricky sequence that stymied the first few climbers at the fifth clip.  The Americans Ian Dory and Carlo Traversi both put in solid efforts,  and Matty Hong finally broke through and climbed past the sixth quickdraw, securing a spot as the only U.S. male in the eight-person finals field.

Romain Desgranges of France was the next climber past that crux bulge, pushing higher and falling just below the vertical ending.  Then it was Jorg Verhoeven of the Netherlands who also climbed past the crux, only to fall just below the slab.  

Canada's McColl, Ramon Julian Puigblanque (Spain), Jakob Schubert (Austria), and Sachi Amma (Japan) all climbed impressively smoothly through the crux of the route but all fell just one move from the top.  These climbers are likely to be battling for the title tonight. Schubert enters this event with five straight previous wins, Puigblanque is the defending overall World Cup Champion, and Amma was second at the most recent World Cup, in Puurs, Belgium, only last weekend.

The women’s route also proved difficult for the first climbers of the day.  The first strong attempt came from Angela Eiter of Austria, recent winner of the Arco World Championships, pulling over the lip to the final few moves to secure a spot in tonight’s finals.  The route received its first flash from another Austrian climber, the teenaged Johanna Ernst.  With perfect style, Ernst executed a heinous match on a tiny crimp mid crux before continuing on to the top.   

America’s Paige Claassen and Chelsea Rude both made valiant efforts on the route, and Sasha DiGiulian from team USA climbed into the finals.  The women’s semifinals ended with another impressive flash of the route, by Mina Markovic of Slovenia, who is second in the World Rankings and first in the IFSC rankings for ISFC World Cup comps. Eiter is third in the World Rankings, which include the World Championships, which occur only every other year.

[Four out of the eight finalists relax while watching the end of the Semifinals. From left: Jorg Verhoeven, Sean McColl, and Jakob Schubert, standing. Ramon Julian Puigblanque sits closest to the camera.]

The finals will be at the Movement climbing gym at 7:00 pm tonight and can be viewed live on WWW.IFSC.TV. The event is sanctioned by the IFSC and operated by USA Climbing.

Today's semifinals results are listed below. Top eight in each will continue to finals.

Men:

1    AMMA    Sachi    1989    JPN  
2    JULIAN PUIGBLANQUE    Ramón    1981    ESP   
2    MCCOLL    Sean    1987    CAN  
4    SCHUBERT    Jakob    1990    AUT     
5    VERHOEVEN    Jorg    1985    NED   
6    DESGRANGES    Romain    1982    FRA     
7    ROMAIN    Manuel    1988    FRA      
8    HONG    Matty    1991    USA   
9    TAUPORN    Thomas    1991    GER     
10    LECHNER    Mario    1991    AUT       
11    TRAVERSI    Carlo    1988    USA  
12    SUPPER    Gauthier    1990    FRA    
13    RAZTRESEN    Jure    1993    SLO     
14    WATANABE    Kazuma    1985    JPN    
15    MARIN GARCIA    Eduard    1985    ESP 
16    HOBERG    Ben    1991    USA  
17    SKOFIC    Domen    1994    SLO   
18    RIDGE    Noah    1994    USA   
19    JONASMCRAE    Elan    1995    CAN   
20    DORY    Ian    1990    USA   
21    OZAWA    Shinta    1985    JPN  
22    BECAN    Klemen    1982    SLO    
23    LEVIN    Josh    1994    USA     
24    SEWELL    Ryan    1990    USA    
25    SPANNUTH    Ben    1988    USA      
26    DOYLE    Mike    1977    CAN

Women:

1    ERNST    Johanna    1992    AUT  
1    MARKOVIC    Mina    1987    SLO 
3    ODA    Momoka    1994    JPN  
4    DURIF    Charlotte    1990    FRA
4    VIDMAR    Maja    1985    SLO
6    EITER    Angela    1986    AUT
7    DIGIULIAN    Sasha    1992    USA 
8    NOGUCHI    Akiyo    1989    JPN  
9    SCHRANZ    Christine    1988    AUT 
10    CIAVALDINI    Caroline    1985    FRA
11    RUDE    Chelsea    1986    USA 
12    OTA    Risa    1993    JPN  
13    CLAASSEN    Paige    1990    USA
14    POSCH    Katharina    1994    AUT
15    MILLER    Delaney    1995    USA
16    JOHNSON    Alex    1989    USA 
17    SAURWEIN    Katharina    1987    AUT  
18    KIERSCH    Michaela    1994    USA 
19    SNIEZEK    Audrey    1971    USA 
20    YIP    Alannah    1993    CAN 
21    HARRINGTON    Emily    1986    USA
22    HENSLEY    Tiffany    1991    USA
23    KELLEWAY    Maegan    1993    CAN
24    METCALF    Amelia    1995    USA 
25    DOREY    Alyrene    1981    USA
26    SUTTON    Amanda    1991    USA