Don't worry Duma, I didn't think that you wee denigrating anyone.
But good to see 3 through to the semi finals. Nathan and Shauna we kind of expect but great job from Emily.
Hopefully the stream will be good tomorrow as well as the setting and streaming :-)
Ondra pathing the crack was some craic.
For those who watch a lot/follow the comps, is it common for those who qualify near the top often fail to get through the semis?
Great comp. Split finals format sucks ass.
For those who watch a lot/follow the comps, is it common for those who qualify near the top often fail to get through the semis?
Not too common, e.g. Akiyo Noguchi is quite often #1 or thereabouts after qualifying.
...popular sports seem to be aiming for around the 2 hour mark as the sweet spot ...
... one of comp climbing's biggest strengths is having both male and female athletes gaining near equal levels of exposure during the coverage...
Great comp. Split finals format sucks ass.
What do other people think of the commentary?
Not sure what it is but something about it really grates on me..
No-one has asked the crucial question though: what grade would the crack get? Ondra made it look about 5.10.
you know if you watch youtube on an android phone you can double tap the right of the screen and it jumps forwards multiples of 10 seconds? Probably other devices too.
does anyone know why Miho Nonaka isn't at the first couple of rounds this season?
when I was trying on some volumes, need a slight balance type of things, my foot suddenly slipped off and I felt something wrong with my left shoulder right away.
After some time has passed, my pain was increasing and I couldn’t stay in the right frame of mind. Besides, I injured my right shoulder 6 month previous from that and I was still in the process of regaining confidence in myself and regaining my shoulder strength back. But bad things tend to happen one after another...
I can’t even move my arm right now because there is still inflammation. I don’t know how long it takes to recover. I really wanted to take part in the first two World Cups(Meiringen/Moscow)...
I’m shocked and so sad about it.
Unfortunately, I will not be competing at the three World Cups that are taking place in Meiringen, Moscow and Chongqing this year(not yet clear at the moment). I need more time to get my body and shoulder strength back...!
That said, it would be better for setters not to set those lame starts where you tap your foot and then take it off straight away, they're crap anyway.
That said, it would be better for setters not to set those lame starts where you tap your foot and then take it off straight away, they're crap anyway.
Yep, poor setting which will hopefully be eliminated by the time the Olympics come about.
That said, it would be better for setters not to set those lame starts where you tap your foot and then take it off straight away, they're crap anyway.
Yep, poor setting which will hopefully be eliminated by the time the Olympics come about.
I agree, however "those lame starts" seem to be part of the 'circus style' of problems we have now. Does anyone know when the last time there was a sit start in the world cup was?
36 Hojer Jan GER 7.016
40 McColl Sean CAN 7.170
41 Schubert Jakob AUT 7.211
42 Fujii Kokoro JPN 7.247
43 Rubtsov Aleksey RUS 7.276
49 Sugimoto Rei JPN 7.502
53 Kruder Jernej SLO 7.711
54 Bosi William GBR 7.725
56 Ridal William GBR 7.736
58 Chon Jongwon KOR 7.870
33 Yip Alannah CAN 9.509
34 Klingler Petra SUI 9.539
37 Condie Kyra USA 9.902
40 Garnbret Janja SLO 10.050
42 Ito Futaba JPN 10.102
43 Pilz Jessica AUT 10.116
52 Phillips Emily GBR 10.970
58 Coxsey Shauna GBR 11.274
61 Gibert Fanny FRA 11.656
It would be interesting to go through the history of the starting rules, but i wouldn't be surprised that they have evolved towards the current status "against" the routesetter's creativity, limiting their options, and especially in order to avoid situations such as jumping starts (as in l'aérodynamite @Bas Cuvier), run and jumps, etc.
Some arbitrarily selected results from the first speed world cup of the year:
Think they were concerned after how the semis were?
Think they were concerned after how the semis were?
Presumably they tweaked the boulders after the semis - no tops and three zones was enough to make finals, then three flashes and all four zones wasn't even enough for a podium spot. :oops:
Out of curiosity, given the time frames - how do they make them easier; move the holds closer, switch out to easier holds, combination thereof?
Put some of the results into a spreadsheet here (http://here) - criteria for listing was having a name that I recognised as finishing in the top 20 of an international lead/boulder comp, sure there's lots of mistakes and people missed
Put some of the results into a spreadsheet here (http://here) - criteria for listing was having a name that I recognised as finishing in the top 20 of an international lead/boulder comp, sure there's lots of mistakes and people missed
Excellent! I would wad you if the link pointed to something else than http://here ;)
I know comp walls are identical worldwide, but surely conditions must differ? I know they are bucket holds, but a few degrees cooler ambient temperature would make a difference to how well you perform?
61 Shiraishi Ashima USA 12.34
48 Phillips Emily GBR 10.898
40 Aguado Valenti ARG 10.363
45 Gibert Fanny FRA 10.74
33 Klingler Petra SUI 9.848
30 Noguchi Akiyo JPN 9.694
29 Mackenzie Oceania AUS 9.642
27 Garnbret Janja SLO 9.463
26 SA Sol KOR 9.409
37 McColl Sean CAN 7.111
34 Bosi William GBR 7.079
32 Pan YuFei CHN 6.978
31 Valencia Danny ECU 6.942
30 Narasaki Meichi JPN 6.926
27 Hojer Jan GER 6.763
26 Cornu Manuel FRA 6.678
24 Fujii Kokoro JPN 6.62
I think Emily alsp set a British record.
Sorry if I've missed this but are there fewer world cups this year than previous? Is it something to do with Olympic qualification?
EDIT: Bouldering I mean, of course...
Women’s Semi finalsJust saw I made a mistake in the emojis, wanted to post:
:tumble:
:alky:
:clap2:
Don’t want to spoil it by giving the results.
So that’s what happens when they set a hard round.
Next level..
6 Slovenian women and 3 Slovenian men through to semis.
Population 2 million.
I mean, the Japanese dominating, fair enough, but the Slovenians!
I dunno Finbarr I quite liked your original smiley selection.
I agree entirely. I thought Boscoe's Real Talk about the situation was unusually profound and thoughtful, although personally as a spectator I would prefer it differently and would get much more entertainment throughout the round with an "easier" set and more incremental / varied progress from the women, even if it diluted the brief spectacle that was in this round.
Next question: What on Earth happened with Alexey?? Has he got a life guru coach as well as a trainer?? The odd wry grin I'd expect but from constant grump to constant grinning is a bit weird....
Here's a spreadsheet for the men (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AnXShu5UAtDvNhjS121FSLj41I13qkPrj1G-gf1Oclg/edit?usp=sharing) - same arbitrary critera of having a name that I recognised as placing in the top 20 at an international lead or boulder comp, no doubt lots of worthy people missing and errors.
Lots of people setting PBs in Moscow, at least according to the spreadsheet.
Tomoa Narasaki's overall win was impressive as well, he's faster than anyone who's not a speed specialist, even faster then Mickael Mawem I believe. For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.
For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.Dire :sick: :shit:.
For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.Dire :sick: :shit:.
Vail was great. Usual impressive problems, good co-commentary, and some thrills and spills. A fitting end to an entertaining season.
This week's question: I thought to get the bonus, the climber had to be in control touching it, but the commentary was saying the climber had to use it to do some sort of movement - has that changed??
For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.Dire :sick: :shit:.
an on M1 with the bleeding knee. If he had not taped his knee, tried again, but not used the kneebar so there was no danger of bleeding on the hold, would he be allowed to continue?? Surely there is a grey area as to where bleeding injuries can be and not require taping (I dunno like a grazed ear or something)??
TT - nope, sorry I really don't do podcasts, maybe I will tho. I'm sure some people like the stuff but then again some people like Justin Bieber or having sex with goats. I'd rather have a deadhanging format as at least it would be very vaguely relevant.
Fun comp, great results.
Janja is another level, though dare I say there was a small chink in the armour this round? Possibly a smidge of nerves creeping in to get the clean sweep.
For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.Dire :sick: :shit:.
That seems inconsistent, I am sure that you would have argued that a 1st in Boulder and a 1st in Lead should be enough to win the gold so why is it shit if it flips around so that a 1st in Speed and a 1st in Boulder should be enough to win gold. Or are you an Adam groupie :-)
I got the impression CB was saying getting a top automatically gives you the bonus, even if not used?
Do you have to use the bonus with the hand, or is foot acceptable?
Quotean on M1 with the bleeding knee. If he had not taped his knee, tried again, but not used the kneebar so there was no danger of bleeding on the hold, would he be allowed to continue?? Surely there is a grey area as to where bleeding injuries can be and not require taping (I dunno like a grazed ear or something)??
For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.Dire :sick: :shit:.
That seems inconsistent, I am sure that you would have argued that a 1st in Boulder and a 1st in Lead should be enough to win the gold so why is it shit if it flips around so that a 1st in Speed and a 1st in Boulder should be enough to win gold. Or are you an Adam groupie :-)
Not what he said, but there is a real issue with multiplying the results of an athlete vs athlete comp with athlete vs the wall. It's the bonus multiplier effect.
The multiplication system transfers and multiplies the quirks of knockout rounds to the results of the other rounds.
So if one person slips and false starts, their direct competitor gets a bonus multiplier across all three rounds, and everyone else is disproportionately disadvantaged, across all three rounds.
Though I did mention this before, and nobody seemed to care...
https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,28631.msg570842.html#msg570842
I wonder if the first event of a wc season is harder to get right in terms of setting?
Also there seems to be a trend to secure the ranking in semis, and have a more eye-catchy finals route with less worries about ex-aequos... But why bothering with finals then???
The throne in Villars. Virtually no one had time to get comfortable in it, as no matter how well they climbed the routesetters hadnt allowed it.
In the womens event I didnt see a single lady looking pumped or in trouble on the way to the infamous 35+. In the mens event, I believe each and every one of them was capable of topping the route, and only errors split the field.
The thing we have to ask, is what we want to see in a Lead World Cup?
For me, I dont want tops, I want to see the best climbers separating themselves by overcoming the pump and solving the challenges of the route until they cant go on. I want to see the best at their limit! If someone tops it should be exceptional! (Think Adam Ondra in Paris 2016)
What I don't want to see is climbs that are all surface, no feeling. Climbs that are showy but dont test the climbers. Climbs that come back to count back or time...
As a sport I believe we should be watching to celebrate the exceptional, not to see climbers do their less than their utmost, succeeding on the route but not be able to win due to the level.
Little rant from Eddie Fowke in the wake of VillarsQuote from: eddie on insta (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzu0Hw2IEEr/)The throne in Villars. Virtually no one had time to get comfortable in it, as no matter how well they climbed the routesetters hadnt allowed it.
In the womens event I didnt see a single lady looking pumped or in trouble on the way to the infamous 35+. In the mens event, I believe each and every one of them was capable of topping the route, and only errors split the field.
The thing we have to ask, is what we want to see in a Lead World Cup?
For me, I dont want tops, I want to see the best climbers separating themselves by overcoming the pump and solving the challenges of the route until they cant go on. I want to see the best at their limit! If someone tops it should be exceptional! (Think Adam Ondra in Paris 2016)
What I don't want to see is climbs that are all surface, no feeling. Climbs that are showy but dont test the climbers. Climbs that come back to count back or time...
As a sport I believe we should be watching to celebrate the exceptional, not to see climbers do their less than their utmost, succeeding on the route but not be able to win due to the level.
Hey Graeme, if you're going to give me -ve Karma for the one time I take the piss out of an unusually relatively boring final, can you please give me +ve Karma for each and every time I rave on about how much I enjoy and love watching the habitually good ones?? (I make that 6 so far this year). It's only fair. Ta!
Charlie has got a lot better IMO over the years and is by now a pretty handy commentator.Yeah, I was thinking the same. I don't know if they are looking at the monitors or on the actual wall, because on the two worldcups I been to in Briançon it was (unsurprisingly) a lot easier to tell how the climbers were doing than when watching on my laptop.
The one issue I still have is his total inability to notice when a climber is struggling. I wonder if his monitor is tiny or something because he quite often describes climbers with elbows by their ears as “cruising”.
Despite our household's messed up eating, we were both glad to see the Japanese lady blow it low down at the end... not healthy... do the IFSC have BMI rules at the moment?
Despite our household's messed up eating, we were both glad to see the Japanese lady blow it low down at the end... not healthy... do the IFSC have BMI rules at the moment?
She's only 15 too :/ really hope the IFSC/Team Japan have good support systems in place
Despite our household's messed up eating, we were both glad to see the Japanese lady blow it low down at the end... not healthy... do the IFSC have BMI rules at the moment?
She's only 15 too :/ really hope the IFSC/Team Japan have good support systems in place
This is fairly presumptuous in my view. Loads of kids are complete rakes and eat well, or even like horses. Really skinny does not *necessarily* mean eating disorder. Ondra, for example, was ludicrously skinny as a yoof.
Name Nation Boulder Lead
Schubert Jakob AUT 10 9
McColl Sean CAN 21 6
Pan YuFei CHN 17 4
Ondra Adam CZE 2 7
Flohé Yannick GER 25 12
Hojer Jan GER 6 31
Megos Alex GER 18 1
Dohi Keita JPN 18 39
Fujii Kokoro JPN 5 14
Harada Kai JPN 12 19
Narasaki Meic JPN 28 22
Narasaki Tomo JPN 1 23
Sugimoto Rei JPN 11 26
Lehmann Sascha SUI 27 2
Bailey Sean USA 39 19
Coleman Nathan USA 20 21
My theory is it's tied somewhat into the shift away from the 4+ format. You're forced to generate separation via attempts on low-percentage moves, and most (all?) final problems just have a single crux, which once overcome usually means a top.I agree with the logic of 4. being a problem, but I don't agree with the single crux analysis. One of the pleasures of this years comps is seeing a lot of multi-crux problems, which show a larger amount of interesting climbing. Take the seeming / likely cruxes in the men's this time:
My theory is it's tied somewhat into the shift away from the 4+ format. You're forced to generate separation via attempts on low-percentage moves, and most (all?) final problems just have a single crux, which once overcome usually means a top.I agree with the logic of 4. being a problem, but I don't agree with the single crux analysis. One of the pleasures of this years comps is seeing a lot of multi-crux problems, which show a larger amount of interesting climbing. Take the seeming / likely cruxes in the men's this time:
M1 - starting jump (low %) / sideways dyno / flick out into left hold / final match
M2 - dyno to pocket (low %) / reaching black volume / moving off from there (?)
M3 - sideways hop into sidepull (low %) / crimpy step up to top
M4 - double dyno (low %) / holding cut-loose on blob / finishing from there (?)
The problem being this time we didn't get to see many of the later cruxes (when we did, like on M1, they were very cool climbing). In fact keeping this multi-crux format and loosing the low percentage moves would seem a good way of maintaining a high and varied challenge.
Final of the Olympics bouldering - Ondra stood there staring at some widely spaced coloured blobs. Be some showcase.
Final of the Olympics bouldering - Ondra stood there staring at an exact replica of Burden Of Dreams.:punk: :goodidea: :2thumbsup:
1-6-11 on massive slopers. It's the only way forward.
1-6-11 on massive slopers. It's the only way forward.
Nah, proper old school. 1-8-16 on beastmaker 6mm crimps. Jan Hojer & Dmitry Sharafutdinov gold & silver.
Also I assume the boulder problem setters would have been an international mix as usual, and as such any chat about setting for a Japanese advantage would be unfounded?
Ondra looked stoked to be back in some ‘proper’ climbing, crimping the fuck out of some screw ons in the lead semis.
Despite our household's messed up eating, we were both glad to see the Japanese lady blow it low down at the end... not healthy... do the IFSC have BMI rules at the moment?
She's only 15 too :/ really hope the IFSC/Team Japan have good support systems in place
This is fairly presumptuous in my view. Loads of kids are complete rakes and eat well, or even like horses. Really skinny does not *necessarily* mean eating disorder. Ondra, for example, was ludicrously skinny as a yoof.
Woke up to find Shauna had won the combined qualis! She must have all but confirmed her Olympic spot now!
Why did the bouldering round seem relatively easy?
Woke up to find Shauna had won the combined qualis! She must have all but confirmed her Olympic spot now!
Why did the bouldering round seem relatively easy?
Wasn’t this comp to sort out the top 20 from which there’s a comp next week to select the top 8 for quali. I think.
Woke up to find Shauna had won the combined qualis! She must have all but confirmed her Olympic spot now!
Why did the bouldering round seem relatively easy?
Wasn’t this comp to sort out the top 20 from which there’s a comp next week to select the top 8 for quali. I think.
High drama in the combined lead qualis - Ondra out by standing on a bolt.. :slap:
I'd put my money on him getting the wildcard ticket if he doesn't qualify conventionally...High drama in the combined lead qualis - Ondra out by standing on a bolt.. :slap:
Am I a complete dickhead for finding this hilarious? I think it's because he has a road to Tokyo series on YouTube.
Dissapointed that he won't be there, but I think it'll be nice to see him smashing on with what he does best (climbing rocks).
I'd put my money on him getting the wildcard ticket if he doesn't qualify conventionally...High drama in the combined lead qualis - Ondra out by standing on a bolt.. :slap:
Am I a complete dickhead for finding this hilarious? I think it's because he has a road to Tokyo series on YouTube.
Dissapointed that he won't be there, but I think it'll be nice to see him smashing on with what he does best (climbing rocks).
High drama in the combined lead qualis - Ondra out by standing on a bolt.. :slap:
Am I a complete dickhead for finding this hilarious? I think it's because he has a road to Tokyo series on YouTube.
Dissapointed that he won't be there, but I think it'll be nice to see him smashing on with what he does best (climbing rocks).
There are 3 comps providing a direct qualification route to Tokyo, not including a"wild card" slot and some countries will have more than 2 athletes qualifying. The national governing bodies will then select their favourite 2 of each gender even though more athletes might have "qualified".
probably realistically only an issue for the Slovs/Japs.
more accurate description would prob be
"will qualify for consideration by their national governing body for selection as one of the top 2 athletes by gender for selection to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games."
It is mildly amusing, but got to feel for the guy if he doesn't get there. Also, I'm not acquainted with lead comp scoring; if you stand on a bolt, is that complete disqualification, and nil points? Or do you still get a score for the climbing up to where you stand on the bolt?
There are 3 comps providing a direct qualification route to Tokyo, not including a"wild card" slot and some countries will have more than 2 athletes qualifying. The national governing bodies will then select their favourite 2 of each gender even though more athletes might have "qualified".
probably realistically only an issue for the Slovs/Japs.
more accurate description would prob be
"will qualify for consideration by their national governing body for selection as one of the top 2 athletes by gender for selection to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games."
What are the other two comps?
Bolt was very low so doubt it would make a difference?
Bolt was very low so doubt it would make a difference?
Ah OK, didn't know. Didn't he cock up badly once in a comp before, stepping back off first move or something?
Think it was cham a couple of years ago where he went to clip 2 bolts at the same time. The lower one didn't seat properly and popped out after he'd clipped the top one meaning he'd 'skipped' a bolt which meant he was called off the route.
Great combined event this morning - felt for Shauna ending up in 3rd after it started so well but great to see Janja pull it back after a shaky start! First time I've ever watched a full speed event (whilst walking to work)...
Good that a speed climber can make the final but not looking likely that they could win. Speed climbing is a great watch when its between equally matched climbers and an easy place to f**k up if your going for it.
I though the whole finals was brilliant and the format works. IFSC must be pretty happy.
Good that a speed climber can make the final but not looking likely that they could win. Speed climbing is a great watch when its between equally matched climbers and an easy place to f**k up if your going for it.
Good effort Shauna and good to see that it wont be a walk in the park for janja although i cant help but think she would normally do better in the speed. The mens should be equally competitive. Fingers crossed.
The only issue is that of the bolts. Climbing shouldn't be about avoiding things and i would have thought it could easily be corrected. Didnt effect the result for Shauna, but could have, and royally messed things up for Ondra although he seemed off par in the whole event (and the last) to be fair so maybe the correct result. Some kind of cover cap on the bolt head that stops it being pushed off would sort the issue then your allowed to touch it with your foot.
I think Ondra is trying to hard. Still looks like the best climber a lot of the time but not getting the finals right. He looked steady eddy before he slipped of in the the lead final.
I though the whole finals was brilliant and the format works. IFSC must be pretty happy.
Good that a speed climber can make the final but not looking likely that they could win. Speed climbing is a great watch when its between equally matched climbers and an easy place to f**k up if your going for it.
Good effort Shauna and good to see that it wont be a walk in the park for janja although i cant help but think she would normally do better in the speed. The mens should be equally competitive. Fingers crossed.
The only issue is that of the bolts. Climbing shouldn't be about avoiding things and i would have thought it could easily be corrected. Didnt effect the result for Shauna, but could have, and royally messed things up for Ondra although he seemed off par in the whole event (and the last) to be fair so maybe the correct result. Some kind of cover cap on the bolt head that stops it being pushed off would sort the issue then your allowed to touch it with your foot.
I think Ondra is trying to hard. Still looks like the best climber a lot of the time but not getting the finals right. He looked steady eddy before he slipped of in the the lead final.
Should quit his Road to Tokyo YouTube videos. Talk about adding more pressure and you look like a tit if the Road to Tokyo is a Dead End.
The only issue is that of the bolts. Climbing shouldn't be about avoiding things and i would have thought it could easily be corrected. Didnt effect the result for Shauna, but could have, and royally messed things up for Ondra although he seemed off par in the whole event (and the last) to be fair so maybe the correct result. Some kind of cover cap on the bolt head that stops it being pushed off would sort the issue then your allowed to touch it with your foot.
It will be a great showcase for the sport. A bunch of strong climbers looking like the don’t know the sequence on the speed, and then someone who can’t pull off the floor on the boulders literally laughing to themselves about what they are being expected to do.
I would feel sorry for them, being so obviously complete minnows but having to put in an appearance for the last two rounds - but they're speed climbers, so I don't.
Sorry, this is all new to me. How have speed climbers managed to progress to the final? In the women's and the men's it was tragic (and pretty boring) to have to watch the token speed bloke/bird paw uselessly at the holds throughout the bouldering. The male speed punter managed to redeem himself a bit in the lead, but had he stopped to clip at the point that the others did he would have been off before them.
I would feel sorry for them, being so obviously complete minnows but having to put in an appearance for the last two rounds - but they're speed climbers, so I don't.
Sorry, this is all new to me. How have speed climbers managed to progress to the final? In the women's and the men's it was tragic (and pretty boring) to have to watch the token speed bloke/bird paw uselessly at the holds throughout the bouldering. The male speed punter managed to redeem himself a bit in the lead, but had he stopped to clip at the point that the others did he would have been off before them.
I would feel sorry for them, being so obviously complete minnows but having to put in an appearance for the last two rounds - but they're speed climbers, so I don't.
I disagree with you here in the case of the mens side of things. In qualification the top speed climber managed to top a boulder that some of the boulderers and lead climbers couldn't do. I thought it was interesting to see how well the speed climbers did in this.
Me too. That Kazakh speed climber really impressed me. Yes he looked weak on some of the boulders compared to the top guys, but he also (a) topped a boulder in qualifiers that a couple of bouldering specialists failed on, (b) beat two lead climbers in the combined bouldering and (c) beat two boulderers in the combined lead. These are some of the best climbers in the world - so if nothing else, he has completely kyboshed the theory we all had that any speed climber would be useless compared to the rest at both bouldering and lead.
He also came 41st - equal with Will Bosi - in the overall men's bouldering qualifiers. He's no slouch. He deserves his combined medal.
Me too. That Kazakh speed climber really impressed me. Yes he looked weak on some of the boulders compared to the top guys, but he also (a) topped a boulder in qualifiers that a couple of bouldering specialists failed on, (b) beat two lead climbers in the combined bouldering and (c) beat two boulderers in the combined lead. These are some of the best climbers in the world - so if nothing else, he has completely kyboshed the theory we all had that any speed climber would be useless compared to the rest at both bouldering and lead.
He also came 41st - equal with Will Bosi - in the overall men's bouldering qualifiers. He's no slouch. He deserves his combined medal.
Edit: on the other hand, people like Tomoa are getting quite close to the speed specialists in speed now. I think he was only 0.4 seconds behind with his best run. I reckon the gaps will all close a bit more by next summer.
It reminds me a bit of when the BMX and the Snowboard Cross (I think) were introduced/showcased. Favourites just seemed to get wiped out at random making it interesting - but not if you were cheering for someone...
It reminds me a bit of when the BMX and the Snowboard Cross (I think) were introduced/showcased. Favourites just seemed to get wiped out at random making it interesting - but not if you were cheering for someone...
How random is it though really? Five of the podium places went to people who by any reasonable standard are in the top six competition climbers in the world.
How do they calculate decathlon and heptathlon results? Those are surely the closest equivalent.
I suspect the multiplicative scoring thing might have more to do with the politics of getting at least some speed specialist representation in the Olympics, given that ability in the other two disciplines are reasonably well correlated
I’m pretty sure people were body and mind shaming another Japanese 15 year old.
Let me go back and check
By the way, I love watching Ai Mori climb almost as much as I like watching Tomoa. (And her style is a little more attainable for me)
Scoring etc aside, I enjoyed these combined comps - though admittedly didn't watch the speed - but I did watch the lead which I've never before engaged with and it was actually ok!
Also, I know they get some stick on here sometimes, but hats off the commentators. That was an intense set of days for them and they remained enthusiastic to the end. Quality has gone up too, nice work fellas.
Just want to point out that there is nothing shameful about suffering from anorexia, or any eating disorder, and no one's body is something to be ashamed of.
A few climbers, like Angie Payne, have spoken powerfully (https://www.outsideonline.com/2191906/eating-disorders-are-more-common-you-think) about their experiences with eating disorders. Nat Berry wrote about her experiences as a developing competition climber (https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/growing_pains_-_the_weight_of_womanhood-10942).
I hope that anyone who is in need of support feels able to ask for it and knows that it is nothing to be ashamed of.
Irrespective of whether she's anorexic or not, I still think it's good if she doesn't win, given that she looks anorexic.
I'm not sure if she's on here but Rebecca Dent is worth following on Facebook. She is a qualified dietitian who has worked with the GB bouldering team in the past and now works with high performance althetes in the alps. I've always found her to have a really sensible and evidence based approach to weight, food and health.
Just finished catching up on all the combined qualis and finals. PHEW. Jeez. We were watching them as a long evening chillout before bed, I ended up having to play Rage 2 most nights afterwards just to calm down. Plenty of thrills and spills not least:
Ai Mori - plucky little limpet, on almost everything. Such tenacity and a new favourite Chez Fiend.
Petra - beasting it in the bouldering qualis
Shauna - back on form again!
The sheer difficulty and technicality of the combined boulder and lead finals.
Ondra - blowing the lead qualis during his usual shockingly smooth "chalk up on moves other climbers couldn't do" performance, and then disqualified for the bolt, aaargh.
Sean - the z-clip of doom then a fantastic battle and tenacity overcoming that.
Tomoa - just a beast.
Alex - sproinging a finger and pulling out full stop.
Plus so many crazy moves and near misses.
A few things stood out overall:
Having seen the combined format with speed work in a more established way, it is even worse than I thought. Having great climbers sabotaged by their fastmonkeying results was obviously a terrible idea, but then seeing speed specialists in the qualis and even finals was just a farce - embarrassing watching them so out of their depth. I actually felt sorry for the speed guys and girls, they should be on a pedestal and podium in their own very separate discipline and lauded for that, not having that tainted by an obviously poor show in the other disciplines (obviously I didn't watch the actual speed events as I'd rather watch a dog having explosive diarrhoea on repeat for 30 mins instead).
The quality and balance of the problems and routes in the combined, compared to, say, the men's championship boulder finals, was, although sometimes slightly too difficult (F boulder 3 final), was consistently interesting and good - particularly a distinct lack of low percentage parkour trickiness and replacing it with sheer brutality mixed with trickiness. The longer problems in the final showcased some cool varied climbing, and the routes showcased some proper power endurance / stamina beastliness. Separation seemed good and natural based on those too.
Charlie and Mike's commentary seems to be improving all the time, and really they did a great job keeping it consistent and entertaining over a very long week and a bit. Fair play to them, they have got on the ball properly (I like it when technicals crop up and they immediately try to get info and keep us informed).
Overall a great watch, almost dizzying in the totality of it!
I'm not sure how the "races" are determined though, as it seems a bit random.Would be interested to know the answer on this one too. Seems entirely possible that medal positions will be won and lost on this and it appears to be a pure luck of the draw thing?
Looks like Max Milne finished Youth World Champ qualifiers in first place.
Do you mean the Adidas RockStars? Think it's next week.
And we couldn't find the stream for the Euros either.
Watching the VODs of the Junior finals is well recommended, some really good problems / routes / climbing in them.
Unfortunately I have already watched all 3000+ hours of world champs footage from the last few weeks.LOL!! It has been quite something hasn't it? I don't if I've got IFSC withdrawal symptoms or IFSC stream hangover, or both.
Unfortunately I have already watched all 3000+ hours of world champs footage from the last few weeks.LOL!! It has been quite something hasn't it? I don't if I've got IFSC withdrawal symptoms or IFSC stream hangover, or both.
Oh, talking about the sloper....latest technical question - if a climber had a brush on their chalkbag, would they be allowed to brush a hold en route (which could have been both feasible and useful on that move...)??
I couldn't work out with the women's, whether it was too hard a move or the move difficulty was ok but hard to read, i.e. they was an easier way to do it. Seo taking the victory in three of four world cups is quite something though.
Oh, talking about the sloper....latest technical question - if a climber had a brush on their chalkbag, would they be allowed to brush a hold en route (which could have been both feasible and useful on that move...)??
No.
Presumably there's an exception for tape, otherwise everyone's breaking the rules all the time? And sure I've seen insta footage of Hojer with a kneepad on?
[here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz0HF-xIrMt/]
Is it a new rule, or do they just not enforce it?
Just watching the lead qualifying and one the volumes rips off the wall. I didn’t realise loose rock was part of the combined comps these days.
Just watching the lead qualifying and one the volumes rips off the wall. I didn’t realise loose rock was part of the combined comps these days.
When people ask how hard the routes are now you can say "oh around hxs"