In June, Lisa Rands took first place at the World Cup bouldering comp in Lecco, Italy, becoming the first American woman ever to do so.

With her second-place World Cup debut in Birmingham, England, last year, Rands made her presence known in the international arena. However, her eighth place finish at this year's season-opening World Cup, in Fiera di Primiero, Italy, sent her dashing to a gym in Switzerland to train tricky, technical problems similar to those on the World Cup. "I think in Fiera I had tunnel vision," said Rands. "If it feels like V10, you're probably doing it wrong. For Lecco, I studied the European style of route setting."

At Lecco, Rands squeaked into the final in last place after failing to flash any of the preliminary problems, meaning she climbed first in the final. After she on-sighted the first two problems, the route setters -- suddenly very nervous -- scurried over to the last problem and stripped off two footholds. Their actions did little to stop Rands' rampage, as she on-sighted five of the six finals problems. Her performance put powerful pressure on the two French climbers in the lead after the preliminary round, Corrine Theroux and Sandrine Levet, the reigning World Cup bouldering champ. The Gallic duo each had to fall twice for Rands to win. They grudgingly obliged.

"It felt like a dream to win," said Rands. "I kept hearing from Americans that we couldn't keep up with the rest of the world. I wanted to do this for myself but I also wanted to prove that American women are strong, that we can compete with the best."

On a roll, Rands then outclassed an elite bouldering field in the International Open at L'Argentière la Bessé, France, in late July. In the five-woman superfinal, each competitor had three minutes per problem. One by one, the competitors futilely attempted the first problem. Then Rands strode out, quickly dispatched the problem, and returned to isolation to the bewilderment of her competitors. Rands pulled off the same trick on the second problem. "I liked these problems," Rands said of her victory. "They required pure power and body tension. No tricks."

Rands has set her sights on the overall World Cup bouldering title. With three competitions to go and her savvy and confidence on the rise, she should have a great second half of the season.

-- Gail Rothschild

"Almost everything that could be wrong in this report is wrong! Like at Lecco I only failed to flash ONE of the preliminary problems, not ALL of them. The point I was trying to make to the reporter was that I flashed all but one of the problems and only took three tries for that one, yet, with those two falls -- only two falls for six problems -- I still qualified in last place, and only just made it to the finals. At the L'Argentière comp, where there were only three finals problems, I actually DIDN'T flash the first problem -- though all the other women did. I flashed the last two problems though! The first one was a slab and it took me two tries. I was really nervous. But the last two were all about pulling hard and going for it.

What can you say? They cancelled two of the three last World Cup comps. Then I tore a pulley in my finger at the beginning of September, so I had to pull out of the final World Cup of the season. Oh well, hopefully things will go better in 2003!" -- Lisa Rands