Bertone Wins in Salt Lake City as McNeice Takes the Boulder Title
Oriane Bertone saved her best for the last boulder stop of the season. The French climber won the women's final at the World Climbing Series in Salt Lake City on Sunday night with 84.6 points, nearly 15 clear of the field, for the third World Climbing Series gold of her career.
The competition at Smith's Ballpark, the former home of the Salt Lake Bees baseball team, ran through Bertone from the semifinal on. She was the only woman in that round to top all four boulders, and in the final she was the only climber to top the first problem. That opening top built a lead nobody could close. Over the last three boulders she matched Erin McNeice's line of two flashes and a flash to zone, and she finished the night by topping the fourth boulder.
McNeice of Great Britain took silver with 69.7 points. Mao Nakamura of Japan was a tenth of a point behind in third with 69.6, built on two tops and two zones, and both of her World Climbing Series medals have now come in Salt Lake City.