D3: Boulder semi-finals: France at the summit!
The French bouldering team gets 3 climbers in final of the bouldering World Championships! Adam Ondra still there, two Japanese climbers join them all.
«Phenomenal, just phenomenal ». You could feel his emotion. Rémi Samyn – the coach of the French bouldering team – is realizing what just happened. Tomorrow, three finalists out of 6 will be from France. But what actually happened on the bouldering wall tonight? “it’s the state of mind that made the difference. They were hungry for good results. They showed an impressive will. Honestly, the three of them realized a great performance !
With two problems topped in 5 attempts, Jérémy Bonder, Mickaël Mawem and Manu Cornu finished respectively at the 2nd, 3rd, and 3th place in this semi-final. A never-seen-before achievement for the French team. “It was a very demanding circuit. You had to find the perfect methods. They were in and went to the top thanks to their mental streanght!”, explains the French coach.
Adam Ondra is the only one better than the French team: one attempt less to top his two problems and the Czech finishes first of the temporary problem. “we have not seen him on the bouldering circuit this season, but this only confirms what we thought: he is still at the highest level” says Rémi Samyn. 5th to qualify, the Japanese Tsukuru Hori is the unexpected outsider: this season he is “only” 21st of the general ranking.
This is the other lesson of this semi-final: the regular ranking of the bouldering world completely changed! Out of the 7 best climbers of the 2016 World Cup, only Tomoa Narasaki (JPN) gets a ticket to the final. And within a hair: only two attempts at reaching a bonus zone made the difference. The Russain Rubtsov is out. So are Kokoro Fujii (JPN), Jongwon Chon (KOR), Rustam Gemalnov (RUS), Sean McColl (CAN)! That’s the game, even during major championships.
We already mentioned the French team quite a lot. Unfortunately, not all the French are happy at the end of the day. Like many favorites, Alban Levier didn’t success to pass. With only three bonus zones he finishes at the 12th place.