European Championships: Day 4 Women’s Boulder and Men’s Lead
- Wednesday 17th August 2022
Day 4 at the Euros on Sunday was really all about Garnbret and Ondra; could Garnbret win Boulder and get the double and could Ondra win the Lead?
With precious little rest after a strenuous Day 3, all the Day 4 finalists were back at the stadium on Sunday morning. The women had a semi-final and final in Boulder ahead of them whilst the men faced semi-finals and final in Lead. Arguably, Janja Garnbret and Adam Ondra were favourites but we only need to go back to the Olympics to see how being the favourite for a title could go horribly wrong!
Women’s Boulder
Qualification had been dominated by Janja Garnbret and Oriane Bertone; whilst both topped four of the five blocs Garnbret finished top – safely on-route for her first European Championship in Boulder.
Day 4 started with the Women’s semi-final in Boulder. Of the four blocs, two were slabs, one was a power problem and the final one was dubbed by the setters as ‘old skool’. Climbing last, Garnbret got off to something of a shaky start; that said a shaky start for Garnbret means that she topped W1 in three attempts after making a couple of mistakes! Given three of the others semi-finalist flashed W1 it wasn’t the best start for her, however. Everyone struggled with W2 taking multiple attempts to get the zone; everyone except Garnbret – She regrouped doing her rest period and promptly flashed W2 in a very impressive performance. Fanny Gilbert flashed W3 whilst Garnbret and several others topped it on their second attempt. Garnbet and Bertone both flashed W4. Garnbret, despite her somewhat uncharacteristic errors, finished the semi’s in top position with Chloe Caulier in second.
Joining Garnbert (SLO) and Caulier (BEL) in the final were Hannah Meul (GER), Fanny Gilbert (FRA), Eliska Adamovska (CZE) and finally Oriane Bertone (FRA).
As in the semi-final, Janja Garnbret didn’t start the final well only securing the zone on W1. In contrast, both Hannah Muel and Oriane Bertone topped W1 putting Garnbret under pressure. As so often the case, it all switched back around for W2 however with Garnbret securing the only top which, characteristically, she got on her flash attempt! Garnbret and Meul both out-climbed the rest of the finalists by flashing W3 so with just W4 remaining Garnbret was in the lead – just! None of the finalists, including Garnbret, Muel and Bertone, were able to top W4 and whilst both Garnbret and Muel secured the zone on their first attempt it made no difference with the results.
Whilst Garnbret was able to take the win in Boulder and so take the impressive double gold over the weekend, it wasn’t the run-away victory that we have seen in the past. On this occasion Muel and Bertone pushed her hard; ultimately they finished in second and third respectively.
Recognising her slow start in the final Garnbret commented afterwards saying: “Today was tough. I started off pretty badly with the first boulder, not doing it, but I didn't panic. I just said to myself, ‘look, you have three boulders in front of you, anything can happen and I continued to have fun.”
Men’s Lead
Qualification honours in the men’s Lead were shared by Alex Megos and Adam Ondra with both finishing with a top and a 47+. As we commented in our report for Day 3 (here), the GB athletes did especially well with now less than three climbers qualifying for the semi-finals; Hamish McArthur, Toby Roberts and Jim Pope who finished in 8th, 12th and 18th respectively.
Sadly Hamish McArthur was ill overnight and took the desperately sad decision not to compete in the semi’s; incredibly frustrating for all concerned especially given Hamish had qualified in 8th place and given his recent form was looking like a strong contender for a place in the finals if not on the podium! Climbing fairly early, Jim Pope looked strong as ever but seems a little ill at ease; sadly he fell going for move 22 ultimately finishing in 24th. Staying with the Brits, Toby Roberts hung in and fought like an absolute beast before dropping off going for move 36; ultimately Toby’s position was enough for 13th place an especially impressive finish given he’s only climbed in a handful of senior competitions given he’s still a junior! With both McArthur and Roberts getting excellent Lead results the future is looking excellent for GB men.
Olympic Champion, Alberto Ginés López – having recovered from a finger injury and was back to his former beast-like self – established an early high point on the route which proved stubbornly difficult to surpass. Both Domen Škofic and Alex Megos fell below Ginés López, Luka Potočar and Adam Ondra fell at the same point as Ginés López and only lead specialist Jakob Schubert who climbed with real mastery and experience managed to break through and add another three moves to the highpoint before falling off going for move 47.
With just six moves separating all the finalists, it was clearly looking like the final would be quite spectacular. Going forward into the final were: Jakob Schubert (AUT), Adam Ondra (CZE), Luka Potočar (SLO), Alberto Ginés López (ESP), Alex Megos (GER), Domen Škofic (SLO), Yannick Flohé (GER) and Filip Schenk (ITA).
The men’s final route was described as a body tension/strength route and it had two ‘interesting’ stand-out features; first, an all-out doubled-handed dyno to catch two opposing compression volumes at move 12 and then, in the middle of the steepest section, a 360deg move where the athletes had to rotate fully to continue.
Climbing mid-field, German teammates Yannick Flohé and Alex Megos both got safely through the jump and the 360deg section before coming unstuck; both fell within a move of each other and were awarded 29+ and 30+ respectively. Olympic Champion, Alberto Ginés López, turned on his ‘try-hard’ mode and pushed the high point up before falling off going for move 36. Luka Potočar struggled with a few moves lower down but settled himself and went on to establish a new high point falling off going for move 38. Next out was Adam Ondra; from the get-go, he climbed very quickly with no hesitation. Unlike the other finalists, Ondra didn’t take any rests during his climb; when he fell off on the same move as Potočar he was awarded the lead as he was over a minute faster than Potočar. In a replay of the Olympic final, Jakob Schubert climbed last; however, unlike his Olympic performance where he climbed beyond Ondra, on this occasion, Schubert fell lower and ultimately finished just off the podium in fourth place. Potočar and Ginés López finished second and third respectively.
Delighted with his gold medal, his second European Championship Lead title, Ondra said afterwards: “My son Hugo was born three months ago. Right before climbing in the final, I was thinking about my son and my wife, and I think it gave me like the ultimate power boost just before I started. Asked if he was confident of winning gold heading into the final, Ondra laughed and shook his head saying: “After two days of competition [Boulder and Lead], I still hadn’t recovered because I was destroyed, I was broken. The semi-final was a true massacre. I just felt every muscle in my body was aching. But in the final, I saw a route I really liked and I just went for it with no fear. And after that I didn’t make any mistakes, so I am very, very happy.”
All these rounds are available to watch on BBC Iplayer and the full results are on the IFSC website.