Gladiator: The Innsbruck Boulder No One Could Zone
Eight finalists. Zero zones. The Innsbruck 2026 men's final produced one of the rarest results in competition climbing.
Not one of the eight finalists zoned Problem 4 at the Innsbruck World Cup 2026 men’s final, making it just the fourth zero-zone boulder across men’s World Cup boulder finals since 2021.
The read: Boulders that shut out an entire finals field are the rarest result in competition climbing. Innsbruck’s 2026 M4 - dubbed ‘Gladiator’ - joins Innsbruck 2024’s M2, Hachioji 2023’s M4, and Seoul 2023’s M4 to become the fourth problem in 127 problems from 32 men’s World Cup boulder finals to do just that.*
Finalists: Sam Avezou, Jongwon Chon, Hannes Van Duysen, Dohyun Lee, Sohta Amagasa, Max Milne, Rei Kawamata, and Sorato Anraku.
The numbers:
Eight finalists, zero zones, zero tops
37 total attempts across nearly 16 minutes combined climbing time
Almost every athlete reached the same highpoint: move 4, the move into the zone
Amagasa and Lee made the most attempts, at six each
Anraku made just three, the fewest of anyone, failing to zone for the first time in a men’s final since Innsbruck 2024’s M2
Two methods emerged, but three of eight broke onto the low line the setters never intended
The problem: Featuring Squadra holds, M4’s intended beta demanded a pressing sequence against, and up onto, a bulky central volume. The top of the volume turned to slab, leading onto two small footholds, the furthest of which athletes could reach only with a footswap or cross-through. The move into the zone came next, and it was where the final ended: a slow slide of the hand along no-tex to stop on a hold no more than a pinch, more of a press, on the far side.
How it happened: Avezou, the first athlete out, abandoned the intended high beta almost entirely, taking a low, powerful line that skipped the slab and put him in what looked like a stronger position for the zone and got furthest on his first try. The low method burned energy fast, and he powered out of four successive attempts before switching back to the high beta too late, advancing quickly but timing out. Others tried his low line too: Milne and Amagasa both crossed between methods mid-round without committing to either. Neither camp solved the move into the zone. The high climbers slipped on the slab or slid off the no-tex; the low climbers arrived in a better position to attempt the zone but still couldn’t stop the same hand on the same bad hold.
Ultimately, the low line was never the setters’ plan, with commentators on the broadcast noting that a message from a setter mid-round identified that the method was not the intended beta.
What it came down to: Hannes Van Duysen dug his nails under the no-tex in an attempt to stay on the wall, while Jongwon Chon pushed into blocked screwholds as he tried to progress. Sorato Anraku innovated further while Hans Zimmer’s Now We Are Free from Hollywood epic Gladiator rang out, twisting in a 180 spin to face the audience on his penultimate move to try for the zone.
The setters: Gen Hirashima led the Innsbruck boulder routesetting team, alongside Anna Borella and Tomasz Oleksy, according to official event documentation.
Hirashima also led the team behind the last zero-zone boulder in a men’s final, Innsbruck 2024’s M2, with Max Ayrton and Flannery Shay-Nemirow, documentation shows.
*The comparison set covers 32 men’s boulder finals since 2021. At two events - Keqiao 2024 and Seoul 2023 - no final was held and the semi-final stands in; Seoul 2023’s zero-zone boulder was contested under these conditions. Innsbruck 2021’s finals event was cancelled due to adverse weather at M3, accounting for a boulder less.