D1: first route for the Paraclimbing World Championships qualifications
In addition to the women’s lead competition, another competition took place in the main arena this morning. Focus on paraclimbing qualifications, part one.
Two routes were set on the speed wall for the beginning of paraclimbing competition. Two routes with quotations between 6b and 6c+, which worked for most of the climbers. For the upper body amputee category, six out of seven competitors killed the route. « Some routes are made to give the opportunity for climbers to fully express themselves in the routes. But from tomorrow onwards, it will be tougher » states Sébastien Gnecchi, paraclimbing French team coach.
It was tighter for the leg amputee category 2: 3 out of 5. Same thing for the arm amputee category 2. 7 climbers out of 14 reached the top of the wall. However, no top for the visual impairment 3: the competition was very tight in that category.
The visual impairment 2 also fought hard: the Japanese climber Aita Sho is the only climber who topped the route, whereas four other opponents failed on the same move. Same thing for the visual impairment 1: the German climber Franck Korbinian is the only one to deliver a perfect performance. Finally, we didn’t see any climber on the top of the route for the visual impairment 3 category. The French lady Oriane Moreno produced the best performance, ex-aequo with Elodie Orbaen from Belgium.
Lucie Jarrige topped her route, so did Nicolas Moineau, Serge Laurencin, Mathieu Besnard, Julien Gasc and Romain Pagnoud! Oriane Morena does not reach the top but, however, manages to take the temporary first rank in her category. Mathieu Barbe is close to reach the top, but falls a few moves before. « We have to keep going on like this. We still have few days of competition », recognizes Sébastien Gnecchi after this first good day for the French team.
