Paris 2024 Olympics – Women’s Boulder Semi-Final

• Tuesday 6th August 2024

Garnbret, Bertone and Raboutou finish in top spots in a high-scoring bouldering semi-final on the second day of climbing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The four women’s boulders had the same basic splits today as the men’s yesterday; the first bloc was the most powerful, the second blended power with slopey precision, the third was a co-ordination problem and the fourth and final bloc a 'footwork-intense' slab. However, unlike the men’s Boulder semi-final yesterday which saw only seven tops in total, the women’s Boulder round today saw a total of thirty tops!

Nineteenth seed Erin McNeice (GBR) was the first to impress with a top of W2 on her third attempt; she nearly got the job done on her second attempt but failed to control the final hold and fell. Capitalising on her confident approach Erin topped W3 on only her second attempt. Unfortunately, W4 – the footsie slab – wasn’t kind to Erin, but finishing with two tops and two low bonus holds was enough for 59.6pts in total and an excellent start to her Olympic dream especially given that Erin was until recently a relatively unknown member of Team GB.

The next athlete to come out all guns blazing was Tokyo Olympian Oceania Mackenzie (AUS). All the competitors prior to the tenth-seeded Mackenzie had failed to make any significant headway on the powerful W1; when Oceania promptly flashed W1 the capacity crowd immediately rewarded her efforts. Oceania was able to keep the wheels on her wagon spinning at top speed for both W2 and W3 enabling her to top both those as well albeit on her second and third attempts respectively. However, like Erin before her, Oceania wasn’t able to make any significant inroads into W4 but a low bonus on that bloc pushed her score out to a grand total of 79.6pts catapulting her past Erin to the top of the table at that stage.

As Oceania MacKenzie was finishing her round the next ranking competitors slowly emerged such as 9^th seed Mia Krampl (SLO), 8^th seed Chaehyun Seo (KOR), 7^th seed Oriane Bertone (FRA), 6^th seed Miho Nonaka (JPN), 5^th seed Natalia Grossman (USA) and 4^th seed Jessica Pilz (AUT). Although they climbed well and collected a variety of tops none of them topped more than two blocs each so didn’t better Oceania’s score which was looking more and more impressive as the round went on.

By now only three competitors remained who could top Oceania’s results; 3^rd seed Brooke Raboutou (USA), 2^nd seed Ai Mori (JPN) and of course the top-ranked defending Olympic Champion Janja Garnbret (SLO). Although Oriane had the home advantage Brooke fought hard; both athletes topped three of the boulders apiece as Oceania had done before them. Raboutou and Bertone however jumped ahead of Mackenzie by securing the high bonus on the block which they failed to top whilst Oceania only managed the low bonus. By the narrowest of margins, Raboutou and Bertone pulled ahead of Mackenzie, but that five-point buffer they now hold will be very settling ahead of the Lead round later this week.

In a high-scoring round, it always going to be the defending champion and undeniable favourite Janja Garnbret (SLO) that would shine and she duly did just that! Garnbret promptly flashed W1 and W2 and topped W3 on her second attempt after a silly slip cost her the flash. Interestingly, W4 caused Janja Garnbret some distress; uncharacteristically she looked very uncomfortable on the super techie foot-swops to get between the two bonus holds and fell three times. It did look as though we might be in for an upset but on her fourth attempt Garnbret changed up her beta and skipped past the intended delicate foot-swop missing it all together with a sideways coordination jump! Having bypassed all the low trickery Garnbret made no mistake on the remaining moves of W4 and topped out with just a minute to spare.

Despite her minor wobble on W4 Garnbret proved why she is the undoubted favourite to win the women’s crown and retain her Olympic Champion status; she finished in the top spot with 99.6pts, Oriane Bertone and Brooke Raboutou followed in 2^nd and 3^rd with 84.5pts and 83.7pts respectively.

So where does that leave the various seeds ahead of Thursday’s Lead semi-final? Sadly for them, Lead specialists in the lower half of the table such as Mia Krapl (17^th), Laura Rogora (18^th) and Molly Thompson-Smith (19^th) have a veritable mountain to climb from their positions to make the final round. Ai Mori (11^th) and Chaehyun Seo (13^th) have a significant advantage but will be under considerable pressure in Thursday’s Lead semi-final. Ai Mori in particular, given she’s carrying a 10pt advantage over Chaehyun Seo, is likely to come through assuming she puts down one of her usual high-scoring Lead performances.

Finally, for the athletes in the upper half of the table, things are looking much brighter; certainly not secure but brighter. Erin McNeice could still make the finals from her 10^th place finish assuming she posts a good Lead score which she is very capable of delivering. It will however depend almost as much on how the other women place as well as how she climbs. Above Erin, the boulder specialists such as Miho Nonaka (7^th), Camilla Moroni (8^th) and Zhilu Luo (9^th) will especially be under considerable pressure to maintain their current higher rankings. Beyond these competitors, Jessica Pilz (6^th), Natalia Grossman (5^th), Oceonia MacKenzie (4^th) as well as the top three finishers Brooke Raboutou (3^rd), Oriane Bertone (2^nd) and Janja Garbret (1^st) are all very well placed to progress.