News Release

19 May 2014

Double gold for climbing star Coxsey

Top British climber Shauna Coxsey has just won her second gold of the season in the IFSC Boulder World Cup 2014, making this year’s competition definitely one to watch.

Fresh from winning her first ever IFSC gold in Grindelwald (10-11 May), Coxsey struck gold again in Innsbruck on Saturday (17 May). Coxsey, 21, from Runcorn, is now ranked first midway through the eight round series, after winning two out of four rounds so far. Shauna is well on her way to a personal best and female British record, having come 4th overall in 2013 and 3rd in 2012.

Rob Adie, competitions officer for the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) said: “Shauna has been on the brink of winning a round for some time. Her medal haul of two golds, a silver and a bronze puts her in a fantastic position for claiming the overall title. She now has a good break so she can rest and hopefully stand on top of the podium again in Toronto in a couple of weeks.”

“This is a great result for the GB Climbing Team as whole, especially with the funding challenges they had at the beginning of the season. Hopefully this will boost the whole team to achieve great things – and perhaps even attract new sponsors.”

Coxsey said: “Innsbruck is always a stand-out event in the season. Last year I didn’t climb very well at this competition, and I remember how it felt watching the finals from the crowd. I didn’t want to be watching again this year. I was so excited about making it to finals. The crowd in Innsbruck is immense, the wall is amazing and the setting is always really fun.

The atmosphere really is incomparable to any of the other events. Standing on top of the podium was indescribable; I still can’t believe that I won! Again (ahh)! I’m pretty overwhelmed. Next week I will be heading to North America to compete in Canada and Colorado before heading back to China for the penultimate round and then to France for the last one. I am so excited for the next competitions.”

The IFSC World Cup event in Innsbruck (16-17 May) attracted thousands of people to watch the action at the Marktplatz in the city centre. Innsbruck is home to two of the world’s best boulderers: Killian Fischhuber and reigning women’s champion Anna Stöhr, and the phenomenal atmosphere of the event reflected the support they have from their community.

In the men’s, Austrian Kilian Fischhuber took gold on his home turf, but in the women’s Shauna Coxsey beat off the fierce competition from Anna Stöhr. Things came down to the wire once again for 177-179 Burton Road Tel: 0161 445 6111 Manchester M20 2BB Fax: 0161 445 4500 www.thebmc.co.uk [email protected]

Anna Stöhr and Shauna Coxsey, but Anna failed to reach the top of the fourth boulder, leaving Shauna to take gold with three tops to Anna’s two.

The next IFSC World Cup will be in Toronto, Canada on 31 May - 1 June. The series then heads to Vail in Colorado, USA, and to Haiyang, China, before culminating in Laval, France on 27-28 June.

Shauna Coxsey will also be competing in the IFSC World Championships, a standalone event held in , 21-23 August.

Finals results:

1st – Shauna Coxsey and Killian Fischhuber 2nd – Anna Stöhr and 3rd – Akiyo Noguchi and Rustam Gelmanov

GB results:

1st – Shauna Coxsey 16th – Mina Leslie-Wujastyk 37th - Micheala Tracy 67th – Diane Merrick 41st – Dave Barrans 45th – Orrin Coley 65th – Jon Partridge

-Ends-

Notes to editors  For further information please contact Tina Gardner (BMC Press & PR Officer) on 0161 438 3337 / [email protected] or Rob Adie (BMC Competitions & Climbing Walls Officer) on 0161 438 3318 / [email protected]

 A selection of photographs is available at http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/index.php/2013-02-04- 12-55-54/2013-02-25-11-20-49 The photograph attached is Shauna Coxsey at the IFSC Climbing / Boulder World Cup Innsbruck 2014 ©IFSC/Elias Holzknecht.

 Read a full report of the Innsbruck competition by GB Climbing Team member and BMC Vice President Mina-Leslie Wujastyk.

 The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers in England and Wales. www.thebmc.co.uk

 The International Federation of (IFSC) is an international non-governmental non-profit organization whose main objectives are the direction, regulation, promotion, development and furtherance of climbing competitions around the world. www.ifsc- climbing.org

 Live streaming of semi-finals and finals is shown at www.ifsc-climbing.org and TV quality highlights are available shortly after the events. Replays of the Innsbruck finals are at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oarx-jJMH8M

177-179 Burton Road Tel: 0161 445 6111 Manchester M20 2BB Fax: 0161 445 4500 www.thebmc.co.uk [email protected]

 Twitter: Use hashtag #IFSCwc. Follow the British Climbing Team: @BMC_Comps

 Three different climbing disciplines are contested at international competitions – , lead and speed:

Bouldering (without ropes) is the ultimate climbing test of strength and power. (with ropes) tests the endurance of climbers as they compete to see who can get highest. (with ropes) has the excitement of watching climbers race up identical routes to see who gets to the top in the fastest time.

 Climbing is not an Olympics sport, however, in 2013 the BMC supported a strong Olympic bid led by the IFSC which hoped to see climbing in the 2020 Olympics. Youth climbing has been chosen to be a demonstration sport at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China (August 2014). Ice climbing was part of the cultural programme at the Sochi Winter Olympics (February 2014).

British climbing:

 The GB Climbing Team is sponsored by Sherpa Adventure Gear www.sherpaadventuregear.com

 Profiles of all the GB Team members can be found on the GB Climbing Team website: www.gbclimbingteam.co.uk

Shauna Coxsey, age 21, from Runcorn (current world ranking = 2). Shauna is the current British Bouldering Champion. She is one of seven ambassadors for the BMC. Watch an interview with Shauna on BMC TV. Shauna’s blog is at www.shaunacoxsey.co.uk

 How good is the GB Climbing Team? The GB Senior Bouldering Team is currently ranked sixth in the world and has climbed the rankings by one place in each of the last four years. The GB Junior Bouldering Team was set up in 2012 and is ranked fourth in the world.

It is generally considered that the Austrians, Chinese and French currently lead the way in terms of competition climbing. However, Brits are climbing their way up the podium places. Shauna Coxsey is now ranked second in the world for bouldering and 16-year-old junior captain Molly Thompson-Smith is ranked third in the world in the female youth B category for lead climbing. Great Britain also has a Paraclimbing World Champion, Fran Brown. We are nurturing some exciting talent through the BMC National Academies and the future looks bright.

 For national climbing competitions see BMC competition dates for 2014. For international events see the IFSC calendar.

 Want to watch more competition climbing? See the competition climbing channel on BMC TV.

177-179 Burton Road Tel: 0161 445 6111 Manchester M20 2BB Fax: 0161 445 4500 www.thebmc.co.uk [email protected]