Today, August 3, 2021, the men's Olympic qualification round in the sport climbing disciplines speed, bouldering and lead will take place. We continuously summarize and show the results.
UPDATE 16.55 p.m.
Lead result / summary: Schubert wins, Megos did not qualify, Bassa Mawem injured
What bad luck for Bassa Mawem! Then he stretches out his arm for a grip and immediately jerks back again, sitting on the rope. Back on the floor, he holds his forearm and indicates: muscle tear. With 7th place in the overall ranking he would be qualified for the final. But can he continue or does he have to break off?
That raises the second urgent question: is Alex Megos in the final after all? The German is in 9th place at the end of the day, but could move into the top 8 if Mawem had to quit. It is not yet clear whether the regulations allow a move up or whether the final would only be held with seven participants. There has never been this case in the history of competition.
Youngster Show: Duffy and Gines-Lopez
Before that, the two youngsters Colin Duffy (USA) and Alberto Gines Lopez (ES) set the highpoints on handle 42 and 41 respectively, so both came pretty close to the top. Adam Ondra couldn't keep up with that, he got as far as handle 39 and thus reached 4th place in the lead (5th place in the combined ranking). The Czech showed strong nerves after starting the day with 18th place in the speed competition. One got the impression that Adam Ondra was tense and didn't want to take any chances. It is quite possible that the knot is now solved and that he will use all his skills in the final.
By the way, the temperatures were a humid 28 degrees, the humidity a whopping 87% - even after the sun had long since set. So the grip might not have been the best. Some athletes seemed to be struggling. Whether these circumstances were a stumbling block for Alex Megos or whether it was due to his massive skin problems on his fingers - the German high-flyer remained below expectations today.
One could assume that he would close the sack in the lead after he had bought a speed mortgage in 19th place. But soon there was the first moment of shock: Megos grabs a side grip with her left, which was intended for the right, and has to catch a volume with her right hand. That could well have been the end of the line and any hope in the final would have been buried. Megos can catch himself, but handle 36 is the end. His glance at the coaches, as soon as he is back on the ground, seems to mean: Is that enough ...? It is already clear that team-mate Jan Hojer would miss the final.
Schubert on fire, Narasaki tangled
Jakob Schubert is completely different. When he topped the last boulder under pressure in the bouldering competition, you could feel that he was awake now. Before that he had seemed nervous and at times almost frustrated, as if there was a concentrated charge of energy in him that he could not bring to the wall. Full of self-confidence, he finally enters the nocturnal lead stage, kicking off energetically and precisely. The first and only top of the evening is in the air, but then the penultimate handle is missing centimeters! Be that as it may: the Austrian takes first place and is in the final - the game is on!
The final point was Tomoa Narasaki, who could take it easy. After all, he is already qualified with two top placements in the previous disciplines of speed and bouldering. His run became a training unit under competitive conditions - but too much looseness has its price: first he has to start three times before he can clip an exe, then several times he seems a bit disoriented between the yellow and green handles and finally he leaps hastily on a pair of pliers where he cannot catch the momentum.
UPDATE 15.30 p.m.
Bouldering - result / summary: Mawem top - Ondra, Schubert and Megos under pressure
The second qualifying round is completed with the bouldering discipline. Local hero Tomoa Narasaki delivered the expected show and took second place with 2 tops and 4 zones. Mickael Mawem was even better and with that the big surprise: with 2 tops and 3 zones, he won the bouldering competition. It is unbelievable how happy and relaxed the French Rastamover walked through the qualification.
Mickael Mawem celebrates himself
For a long time it looked as if the route setters had set the bar too high for boulder number two, most of the athletes didn't even make the zone. Relatively late in the competition, Alex Megos was the first to achieve this intermediate goal.
And then Mickael Mawem came: Completely out of nowhere, he flashed the thing away quickly, although that was not visible to us viewers - the Olympic television people thought any sideline was more important, in general they did not have the focus in the right place . There is still room for improvement.
In complete contrast to Mickael Mawem and back to the topic: What is going on? Aha, it's the man's birthday today and obviously knows how to give presents to himself. With third place in the speed and first place in the bouldering competition, he currently has the fabulous total score of 1 and is as good as placed in the final. We are excited to see what he will deliver in the lead in a moment. In any case, we congratulate you!
Ondra and Schubert under pressure
The pressure has to be high on Adam Ondra, many are waiting for a medal from him and as if that weren't enough, the New York Times lavishly staged Adam Ondra for the start of the Olympic climbing premiere. In any case, Ondra seems tense today and only sporadically was able to use the pressure in his favor. With 2 tops and 4 zones, it still shows a solid performance.
For Jakob Schubert, by the way, whom the Austrians call Jokel (learned something again), the same seems to apply. The climbing nation Austria wants to see metal. In his last boulder he can finally get hold of an important momentum: as one of the few athletes he managed to get his hand stuck in the four centimeter wide crack and pushed himself to the top. His cry of victory and the Austrian Tainers itching from their stools said it all.
Ondra starts from overall rank 6 and Schubert from overall rank 9 in the last discipline lead. Both have a good chance of qualifying for the final (Top 8).
Megos and Hojer in midfield
For the two Germans: now VOIGAS! Megos is still dragging his mortgage from the speed competition with him (19th place). Although he showed a solid performance in the boulder with a top and 4 zones, he has not yet succeeded in moving up significantly in the overall ranking. He starts the lead competition from 15th place and even if that is his favorite discipline: now everything has to fit so that he still slides into the top 8.
Hojer is currently in 11th place thanks to a better speed result, everything is still possible with him.
Ranking qualification bouldering
UPDATE 11.17 p.m.
Speed climbing - result / summary: Mawem brothers dominate
The first round is done: the 20 athletes delivered their first Olympic results in two runs on the speed wall this morning. Each athlete competed once on the A route and once on the B route (both identical), the better time is counted.
Mawem brothers in places 1 and 3
The ranking is more or less in line with expectations, with the Mawem brothers' exploit deserving of special mention. With 1st and 3rd place they put themselves in a very promising starting position, after all, they are also strong in bouldering and lead.
Adam Ondra and Alex Megos are currently far behind in places 18 and 19 - but one can assume that the two of them are still rolling up the field from behind in their core disciplines of bouldering and lead.
Local hero and co-favorite Tomoa Narasaki is in second place after completing just one run. He voluntarily renounced his second go after he shone with 2 seconds in the first run. Apparently he knew that he would not be able to beat this time and saved energy and skin for boulder and lead.
There has not yet been a new world record for speed, it has been 5.208 seconds since the World Cup in Salt Lake City. Today's best time is 5.45 seconds (Bassa Mawem).
This is how the combined format is calculated
- The ranks of each discipline are multiplied together
- The lower the result, the better the final rank
So let's calculate a hypothetical example for Adam Ondra: Assuming he finishes the disciplines Boulder and Lead in 4th and 2nd place, then his final score would result:
18 (speed) x 4 (boulder) x 2 (lead) = 144
For comparison an example calculation for Bassa Mawem; let's assume that he finishes the discipline boulder in 8th place and lead in 15th place, then this would result:
1 (speed) x 8 (boulder) x 15 (lead) = 120
What do the black handles on the Olympic speed route mean?
One more thing: does anyone know why two handles on the speed route are black instead of red? We're puzzling and we're looking for clues. Maybe there is more to it than you think.
UPDATE speed route 13.44:XNUMX p.m.
Thanks Benjamin Weber for pointing out the black handles on the Olympic Speed Route. Here is the explanation:
Ranking list qualification speed climbing
Live stream Olympic sport climbing
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Credits: Cover picture IFSC