D1: Men’s bouldering qualifications
First round of competition, first performances and first sensations! The Climbing World Championships started this morning with men’s bouldering qualifications. Let’s take a look at it.
9am, Japanese climbers Tomoa Narasaki and Kokoro Fujii make their entrance in the Studio room, in the AccorHotels Arena where bouldering qualifications take place. The two bouldering World Cup leaders officially start up the climbing world summit.
We can feel the tension. Athletes can obviously feel it as well, even if they don’t admit it, the World Championships have been their main goal for two years now, and those who failed on the first moves cannot keep this nervosity for themselves anymore. Watching Sean McColl’s performance makes you realize that this is not a good day for him either. He gets nervous, hits the wall and look at the ceiling with distress. Sean McColl almost failed this morning, he needed 11 attempts to solve 4 problems and finally finished at the 19th rank.
Some other climbers completed successfully all the 5 problems. Tomoa Narasaki (5t9), Kokoro Fujii (5t7), the korean Jongwon Chon (5t11), russians Rustam Gemalnov (5t11) and Alexey Rubtsov (5t20). So did the French climber, Alban Levier who took temporarily the first rank (5t5).
Just behind, Jérémy Bonder also held his position (5t11). He’s the last one of the temporary ranking to solve the 4 problems. After him, Adam Ondra (CZE), who did not compete this season, was finally on the startlist. 4t11. We were used to see him on a higher level. « He doesn’t look at his best but he’s still a solid opponent for the podium », analyzes Rémi Samyn, the French bouldering coach. « There was no major surprises this morning, the main climbers of the tour will be on the stage for the semi-finals. » concluded the French coach. Watch this space.
Great start for the French team! Only Jules Nicouleau-Bourles, who competed for the first time at the senior international level, failed to get his ticket for the semi-final (1t1). For all the other French climbers, the job is done. Alban Levier and Jérémy Bonder will be joined in semi-finals by teammates Mickaël Mawem (4t6) and Manu Cornu (4t8).
