D3: Paraclimbing finals: 7 new world champions tonight
7 new athletes became world champions tonight. And we also saw seven stories written in front of our eyes.
So many emotions! The paraclimbing competition gave us some of its amazing moments. Let’s just have a look at the B2 final: Frenchman Mathieu Barbe topped his route and took a serious option on the gold medal. The audience – who has to keep quiet because of the competition – was ecstatic. It could have been over by then. But it was before Sho Aita started to climb. In a complete silence, the Japanese starts his route and keeps climbing until the last hold. He’s hesitating. Tries a risky move and comes back down several times, unsuccessfully.
By this time, just a few people think he can win the worldwide gold but then he finally finds the proper method. The crowd, amazed, whispers. But it’s not done yet for Sho Aita. He will need two more attempts to finally kill the route. In a second, the crowd breaks its silence and offers to the first world champion the ovation he deserves.
Another wall, another story. The one of the RP3 final. Here, the level of the route is as hard as for the valid climbers. A big 8a. The story seems to be written – the defending world champion, Mathieu Besnard and the freshman Romain Pagnoux are both fighting for the title. And we can say it was a fight. But the suspense is over soon since Romain Pagnoux takes the advantage on his opponent and teammate. He kills the route very quickly, forcing Mathieu Besnard to do the same. Besnard keeps the rhythm but finally fell. Romain Pagnoux wins his first world champion title.
The Paraclimbing world has many beautiful stories, and tonight Lucie Jarrige (FRA), Maureen Beck (USA), Elodie Orbaen (BEL), Korbinian Franck (GER), and Nive Porat (ISR) wrote two new great ones.
Like in many stories, their heroes overcome many difficulties. Those athletes have to face road block every day. However, for them, this evening was very different. Tonight, for the paraclimbing world championships, they were fighting for a battle they chose. The top of the route battle. And because all good stories end well, they won this battle. Tonight, those five climbers finished on the highest step of the podium. They represented their country and they heard their national anthem. And before this, they gave us some incredible emotions.