European Championships: Day 3 Women’s Lead and Men’s Boulder

• Tuesday 16th August 2022

Saturday August 13th, Day 3 at the European Championships, was all about Women’s Lead and Men’s Boulder.

Having kicked off on August 11^th, the eagerly awaited 2022 European Championships will run until August 21^st. The multi-sport event at Munich features sport climbing for the first time; also included in the Championships are eight other Olympic sports - Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Canoe Sprint, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing, Table Tennis and Triathlon. Unlike the 2018 Euro’s, the water-based sports of Swimming, Diving, Artistic swimming and open water swimming will not be part of the Munich event. Instead, the 2022 European Aquatics Championships will be held at the same time but will take place in Rome, Italy.

Timetable

Scheduling wise it’s a fairly hectic week for the sport climbers. Day 1 and 2 were qualification days for Boulder and Lead; Day 3, Saturday was the women’s Lead semi-final and final whilst the men battled it out for the Boulder medals likewise doing semi-final and final in the day. For Day 4 the events flipped around and the crowd were treated to the women’s semi-final and final Boulder whilst the men did semi-final and final in Lead. Day 5 is about women and men’s Speed climbing whilst Day 8 and 9 are women and men’s Combined – ie Boulder and Lead together. Crucially, this is the first major championship which will follow the same format as the 2024 Paris Olympics Games.

GB Climbing

GB Climbing fielded a decent size team with some very strong contenders. Hopes were high for some medals and several GB Climbers put in some strong performances in the qualification rounds to make the semis. Before we get into the semi-finals and finals here’s a quick round-up of the state of play after the various qualification rounds.

Women’s Lead: Molly Thompson-Smith qualified in 17^th. Erin McNeice, Jen Wood, Thea Cameron and Jo Neame finished in 36^th, 41^st, 42^nd and 44^th respectively.

Men’s Bouldering: Hamish McArthur and Jim Pope qualified in 9^th and 17^th respectively. Max Milne was just outside the semi’s in 25^th and Toby Roberts and Nathan Philips finished in 31^st and 35^th respectively.

Women’s Bouldering: None of the GB athletes made the cut for the semis unfortunately with Holly Toothill, Emily Philips, Erin McNeice and Molly Thompson-Smith finishing in 25^th, 29^th, 31^st and 44^th respectively.

Men’s Lead: No less than three GB athletes qualified for the semis; Hamish McArthur, Toby Roberts and Jim Pope in 8^th, 12^th and 18^th respectively.

Women’s Lead

The big question that the cognoscenti were asking themselves was would Janja Garnbret be able to take home the European Lead trophy; remarkably, this was something which had – despite all her gold medals and top finishes – had hitherto escaped the Olympic Champion. The other burning question was would the route setting be hard enough to test Garnbret without shutting down the other competitors?

Having topped the table after the qualifiers, Garnbret climbed last in the semis. Whilst none of the semi-finalists had topped the route prior to Garnbret climbing, Manon Hilly and Mia Krampl had both posted excellent scores having climbed to just below the headwall of the lead wall. Garnbret delivered what can only be described as a masterclass. With the sun hitting the volumes and screw-on jibs on the headwall Garnbret emerged from the massively overhanging mid-height section of the Lead wall to pull onto the headwall and take the lead. Not knowing where the other climbers had fallen Garnbret was clearly leaving nothing to chance and hung in desperately gunning for the top. Sadly, the top eluded her but when she finally fell Garnbret had climbed 10 moves beyond where Hily had fallen. Whilst Garnbret went into the final with a massive psychological advantage her semi-final effort was so hard that she could have inadvertently drained herself for the final later that day.

Molly Thompson-Smith put in a very spirited effort but fell at move 24 along with a number of the other 26 semi-finalists; she finished in 13^th place just five places short of the finals.

Joining Garnbret (SLO), Hily (FRA) and Krampl (SLO) in the final were Jessica Pilz (AUT), Hannah Meul (GER), Aleksandra Totkova (BUL), Ievheniia Kazbekova (UKR), Eliska Adamovska (CZE). Noticeably, and unlike the men’s field, the women’s finalists were all quite young; Garbret being one of the older competitors. The final route looked truly amazing; a massive right-to-left rising line. A low-down all-out jump, deliberately set to unsettle the climbers, lead up to the start of the massively overhanging mid-height section before the thin headwall. Climbing third Totkova, the 17-year-old from Bulgaria, set an early highpoint falling off going for move 41. Jessica Pilz, so often one of Garnbet’s fiercest competitors, climbed in fifth and established a new highpoint falling going for move 46. Both Krampl and Hily fell lower than Pilz so when Garnbret emerged to climb last it was yet another Garbret vs Pilz final! Climbing steadily and purposefully Garnbret took her first rest on the very steepest section before pressing on.

As usual, Garnbret looked super strong and the higher she climbed the less inhibited she appeared. As she approached the point on the lip where Pilz had fallen trying a dynamic move Garnbret pulled past the move statically and then dug in going for the top. With the crowd fully behind her Garnbret jumped for the final hold, hit it and then slide off and took one of the biggest falls we’ve seen in any comp for quite a while! The Königsplatz crowd, as well as her fellow finalists, all gasped as Garnbret flipped upside down during the fall; however, it was job done and the previously elusive European Lead title was hers. Not only had she walked away with the title but Garnbret, as usual, had totally out-classed all the other competitors.

After the competition had finished Garnbret was clearly delighted saying: “It feels amazing to tick the remaining box. The European Championships is probably one of the hardest to win because you are expected to win it. If you can win World Cups, then people think that you should also win the European Championships. That's how it is.

“It was definitely one of the hardest mentally to win. That's why I'm even happier with my performance and my mentality throughout all competition.”

The question immediately on everyone’s lips was would she get the double and win the women’s bouldering on Day 4?!

Men’s Boulder

The boulder qualification was, by common consent a tough round. Austrian ace and Olympic Bronze medallist, Jakob Schubert, also thought it was “too slabby”. Neither Hamish McArthur nor Jim Pope felt the need to comment on the qualification blocs; no doubt they were delighted with their 9^th and 17^th place respectfully!

The men’s semi-final was yet another relatively low scoring round. Twelve of the twenty competitors failed to secure a top in the four-bloc round. Pope and McArthur finished in joint 14^th and 18^th respectively in and amongst the likes of Alberto Gines Lopez, the Olympic Champion, and Jakob Schubert both in joint 9^th and Alex Megos in joint 14^th. Of the remaining eight semi-finalists, seven were restricted to just one top. Adam Ondra alone managed to secure two tops in the semi; his delight in winning that round was both obvious and classic Ondra. It seems as though the Big Man was back on form and enjoying himself.

Alongside Ondra (CZE) in the final were Sam Avezou (FRA), Nicolai Uznik (AUT), Jernej Kruder (SLO), Mejdi Schalck (FRA) and finally Filip Schenk (ITA).

Running straight on after the women’s lead final the men’s boulder final was dominated by Ondra and the other two highest placed semi-finalists, Nicolai Uznik and Sam Avezou. M1, a coordination jump, did nothing to settle the nerves and none of the finalists even managed to secure the zone! M2 was a two-part problem; a horizontal coordination jump guarding a tricky finish. Eventually, four finalists got the top; Schalck (3^rd attempt), Avezou (4^th attempt), Uznik (5^th attempt) and finally Ondra who eventually topped out on his 10^th attempt with seconds remaining on the clock!

M3, a “vertical slab”, also saw four tops. Schenk blew everyone away with an astonishing flash. Uznik also got a flash remarkable catching the final hold, an undercut pocket in a volume one-handed! Avecou topped on his 6^th attempt whilst Ondra topped on his 2^nd attempt which was enough to bump him up into third overall with M4 remaining.

M4, an overhanging triple dyno, was a very demanding new school bloc. Schalck alone managed to secure the zone hold at the end of the opening dynamic sequence; all the other finalists – Ondra included – make no impression on the combination moves, however. It’s pure speculation and of hypothetical interest only, but it seems highly probable that the Japanese boulder specialists might well have lapped that up. Speculating further, it seems probable that as bouldering goes further and further in this direction such problems will be increasingly common and climbers without gymnastic coordination will suffer increasingly.

When the maths were competed the Austrian Nicoli Uznik took the European Boulder title with the slimmest of margins – just a single attempt - ahead of Frenchman Sam Avezou whilst Adan Ondra took Bronze. Uznik’s win was all the more remarkable as he suffered severe cramps after the first problem and struggled thereafter. Remarkably, he had Covid the week before the Championships and had hardly climbed!

Commenting after the comp Uznik said: “That's one of the coolest competitions I've ever competed in,” said Uznik. “Especially with such a big and awesome crowd, you just want to deliver a show. That's what I tried to do because after the first boulder I felt I couldn't really climb anymore. So, I was thinking okay let's enjoy this and at least put on a good show. Try to give all I have and it turned out to be pretty good.”

Despite coming in third Ondra seemed contented with his result: “It feels great [to win bronze]. I didn't have any particular goals for Boulder, I was really happy with proceeding to the final. In the final, I could enjoy my time and know that it's a bronze medal.”

All these rounds are available to view on BBC Iplayer whilst the full results are on the IFSC website.