Today, August 11th, the first qualifying rounds of the European Climbing Championships will take place in Munich. The men compete in the bouldering discipline, the women in the lead. We continuously summarize and show the results.
Lead women – ticker/ranking list: Janja Garnbret lives up to the role of favourite, Jessica Pilz in third place
In the women's lead qualification, the strong Slovenian Janja Garnbret leaves no room for doubt: she is and will remain the dominator in the women's competition circuit. She is the only one of the 45 starting athletes to reach the top of route A. In route B she achieves a 43+ and clearly qualifies first for the semi-finals.
She is satisfied with her performance. «I climbed well. I slipped on the second route, but that's not so bad. Unexpected things happen, nonetheless I'm very happy with how I climbed."
European Champion is the only title that Janja Garnbret has not yet won. So far she has always come second at the European Championships. "That's why the gold medal is my biggest goal this season."
Her compatriot Mia Krampl, who showed the second-best performance on both routes, climbed into second place. Jessica Pilz qualifies as the third best for the semi-finals. She achieved a score of 51 on the A route and a 41+ on the B line. However, the Austrian is not entirely happy with her performance. "I don't feel like it was my best job ever. When you can't climb to the limit, it's always a bit frustrating."
Hannah Meul qualifies for the next round in thirteenth place. The German flies out relatively early on the first route (24+), but then saves herself with a strong performance (46) on the second line. «The first route was frustrating because I couldn't really fight and just fell because I didn't hit the hold. Then I was super motivated for the second to show what I can do and fight to the end."
Julia Fiser, Sandra Lettner and Mattea Pötzi from Team Austria just made it into the semi-finals on ranks 22, 23 and 26. The Swiss Liv Egli missed qualifying for the next round by a hair's breadth in XNUMXth place.
Ranking Qualification Lead Women
Bouldering men – ticker/ranking list: Two Swiss, two Austrians and three Germans in the semifinals
Austrian Nicolai Uznik climbs to the top of Group A with 3 tops and 5 zones. A result that surprises him a bit, as he says: «I didn't have the best lap. I was struggling quite a bit because I got Covid last week and was breathing heavily. It was a lot better than I thought." With the same number of tops and zones, Slovenia's Jernej Kruder is in second place. In third place with a very strong performance, the 20-year-old German Christoph Schweiger made it into the semi-finals.
In group B, the two Frenchmen Manuel Cornu and Mickael Mawem occupy the top spots, both with 4 tops and 4 zones. The Austrian Jakob Schubert qualifies in third place, who recently underlined that he is a force to be reckoned with with his double victory at the Rock Masters in Arco. However, he sees his performance in the qualification with mixed feelings: "I fell on two boulders at a point where I shouldn't have fallen anymore. I made the lap harder than necessary, especially mentally."
The two Germans Yannick Flohé and Alexander Megos advance to the semi-finals with 3 tops and 5 zones, and 2 tops and 4 zones respectively. Team colleague Max Kleesattel missed the entry in eleventh by a very narrow margin.
Also in the semifinals are the two Swiss riders Sascha Lehmann and Julien Clémence. With the youngster Clémence, the decision falls on the very last boulder. He does reach the top but can't hold it long enough. A little later - and just before the time is up - he manages to conquer Boulder 5. Nils Favre is doing well with 2 tops and 2 zones up to Boulder 5, but then fails at this and only just misses the semi-finals in twelfth place.
With starting number 54, Adam Ondra intervened late in the action. As expected, his appearance is impressive. He flashes the first boulder seemingly effortlessly. The second problem takes him a few attempts to decipher it, but he quickly reaches the top. With the top of Boulder three, the 27-year-old Czech is already certain at this point: he is in the semi-finals.
Ranking list qualification boulder men
That might interest you
- The countdown is on: The European Climbing Championships will start in Munich in a week
- Interview with Jakob Schubert: Once a competitor, always a competitor
- Five resignations from the SAC Swiss Climbing squad
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Credits: Cover picture Jan Virt / IFSC