Tracey and Milne take top spots at BBC in Sheffield
- Tuesday 30th August 2022
Michaela Tracey and Max Milne were crowned the 2022 British Bouldering Champions at Devonshire Green, Sheffield over the bank holiday weekend.
The twelve finalists for the BBC’s were presented to a packed Devonshire Green in the centre of Sheffield at 5:30pm Sunday evening; all that remained between them and the Championship crown were just four blocs and a maximum of 16 minutes of effort.
Women’s Championship
The Women’s qualification and semi-final rounds were both high scoring and closely contested. In an interesting statistical quirk, five women topped all five qualification boulders and all four semi-final blocs. Once the scores were assessed, Holly Toothill finished in top spot after both rounds albeit only marginally in front thanks to her fewer attempts. Tara Hayes was runner up in the qualification round whilst Zoe Peetermans took over that spot after the semi-finals. Competing in the BBC’s for the first time in five years Molly Thompson-Smith nailed third spot in both rounds. Last year’s champion, Emily Phillips, finished in equal fourth – with Gwyneth Uttley - after the qualification round but slipped to eighth in the semi’s so missed out on the finals by a couple of places.
Although not far behind having finished the quallies and semi’s in 7th and 4th Michaela Tracey emerged from the shadows and promptly blasted through the finals like an absolute whirlwind. In a dominant win; remarkably she flashed all four blocs! Setting the scene with flash of the ‘slabby and technical’ W1 – something which only Holly Toothill was able to replicate – Michaela was easily a match for the three remaining powerful blocs; even the dynamic sequence on the fourth and final bloc wasn’t enough to upset Michaela’s flow. It’s fair to say that Michaela’s win – several years after her last BBC victory - was very impressive – not least given Michaela is now working full time!
Although Holly Toothill was able to match Michaela and flash the first two and the final bloc; sadly she ground to a halt on W3. Eventually, after several attempts Holly was able to secure the zone but the top eluded her. Holly’s second place finish was, however, well-deserved.
Coming in third – and maintaining that position in every round – was Molly Thompson-Smith. Like Holly, Molly also finished with tops on the first two and final bloc albeit with more attempts. Given that Molly’s name is normally associated with lead competitions rather than bouldering, Molly’s third place finish was another impressive result. Zoe Peetermans, Jen Wood and Tara Hayes finished in 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.
Men’s Championship
Ranking 6th in the world in men’s bouldering for 2022 and the defending BB Champion, Max Milne – a.k.a. Max the Future - was always going to come into the 2022 Championships with all guns blazing.
Although, arguably, the front-runner and favourite, Max faced some stiff and experienced opposition for the title. Only two competitors topped all five of the qualification boulders; Max not only topped them all but he flashed them as well – as expected he was in Sheffield to dominate the competition! The only other competitor joining Max with five tops in the quallies was seasoned campaigner and second-placed, Nathan Phillips. Whereas Max had flashed all five blocs Nathan however notched up his five tops taking nine attempts. Taking third place in the first round went to Kieran Forrest; he finished with four tops in five attempts.
The setters turned the difficulty up – considerably – for the men’s semi-final. Jim Pope, having finished the opening round in 13th, finished the semi’s in top spot with two tops in three attempts. Jim is absolutely no slough on the bouldering front but forcing Max down into 2nd place (with two tops in four attempts) in the semi’s was a result in itself! Billy Ridal, the 2021 runner-up, had cranked his way into third place at the end of the semi’s with two tops in two attempts but his strong performance in that tough proving ground of the semi’s left him in a strong position to compete for the top spot in the finals.
Max was clearly out to stamp his authority in the finals and he did exactly that. Whilst Max wasn’t quite able to replicate Michaela’s clean sweep he nevertheless posted a blistering performance finishing with four tops in six attempts. Max made short work of M1, as did the other competitors, looked solid on the tricky ‘slabby’ M2 problem and got the tricky co-ordination dyno on M3 in a few goes. Going out to climb M4 the comp result hung in the air. Climbing second to last Max however totally bossed M4; a hard dynamic bloc featuring a combination jump onto two dreadful sloping dished volumes. All preceding finalists had failed to make any impression on M4 but Max unleashed the ultimate compression power and duly flashed it! A dominant performance throughout; Max was the deserved winner successfully defending his title.
Jim Pope and Nathan Phillips were neck and neck all though the final round; both finished with three tops but whilst Jim managed his in three attempts Nathan took four! Finishing the final in spectacular style, Jim – like Max – also flashed M4. Pure raw power is far from the only trick which an athlete needs to have in his toolkit, but being able to unleash the kind of power that the sloping madness of M4 required proved divisive and ultimately it gave both Max and Jim their first and second places.
Despite his assured performance on M1, M2 and M3 Nathan Phillips hadn’t been able to unlock M4 and as a result had to settle for third place. Billy Ridal, Nathan Whaley and Aiden Dunne finished in 4th, 5th and 6th respectively; Billy and Nathan with two tops and Aiden with one.
Watch the final’s below…