IFSC comps 2024

[lemony]

Erin McNeice through to finals with some seriously strong names missing out by the looks of it.

edit: https://www.instagram.com/stories/erinmcbeast/3342226627948271564/

 

[edshakey]

Didn't watch yet, but noticed Janja flashed a boulder nobody else could do. Business as usual I suppose.

Congrats to Erin for 5th, must have been a while since we had a woman in finals (especially other than Shauna)

 

[lemony]

Worth a watch, Erin looked a bit nervy/unsure on P1 and on the slab which I think cost her a couple of places. Janja remains a different breed entirely. P4 she could have been on a different problem.

 

[sherlock]

Didn't watch yet, but noticed Janja flashed a boulder nobody else could do. Business as usual I suppose.

Congrats to Erin for 5th, must have been a while since we had a woman in finals (especially other than Shauna)

Nobody, not even Janja could top W2.

 

[IanP]

Nobody, not even Janja could top W2.

That was in the semi final. Out of 13 problems through the 3 rounds Janja did 12 of which 10 were flashed. At a quick glance the next best was Luo with 8 tops and 5 flashes. It must be really quite difficult to set for!

 

[remus]

It must be really quite difficult to set for!

As long as you don't mind getting slagged off by Janja on insta for setting it too easy, I guess it's not really that different to setting as you otherwise would. You 'just' set to try and separate everyone else in the final and accept that Janja is gonna flash everything and take the win, and you get good separation to decide the 2nd to 6th.

 

[edshakey]

Different year, same route setting challenges

It all comes back to what would generally be seen as "The Janja Issue": are they setting for the top competitor, or the 6th? There have been many finals now where Janja or Natalia has topped all the boulders with ease, and multiple other people have not even topped one. Seems like a pretty impossible task to me, especially if 2 of the super-crazy-strong women are in it and need splitting.
I fully agree that there are some routesetting issues with IFSC comps, especially women's comps, but I don't really have many ideas for how to set better when there is such a range in quality, even in just the final.

I think the route setters did a fairly respectable job this time out, good separation through the finalists - if that scorecard happened in the mens comp, we'd say it was about perfect. The only problem comes from the fact that it's the same person flashing every time, compared to mens where it might be someone different on form and winning week by week.

Hopefully the setters can handle the curveball of everyone doing semis tomorrow and adjust accordingly - I really don't envy that task. Similarly, getting a podium out of 20 finalists that doesn't mean loads of blank scorecards (I'd imagine the temptation would be to go too hard vs risking being too soft and not getting separation).

 

[IanP]

As long as you don't mind getting slagged off by Janja on insta for setting it too easy, I guess it's not really that different to setting as you otherwise would. You 'just' set to try and separate everyone else in the final and accept that Janja is gonna flash everything and take the win, and you get good separation to decide the 2nd to 6th.

You're probably right , and setting for Janja would possibly risk poor separation for places 2 to 6 but must feel a bit frustrating not to set problems to properly test probably the best comp climber there's ever been.

 

[sherlock]

Nobody, not even Janja could top W2.

That was in the semi final. Out of 13 problems through the 3 rounds Janja did 12 of which 10 were flashed. At a quick glance the next best was Luo with 8 tops and 5 flashes. It must be really quite difficult to set for!

Yeah, sorry hadn't seen the final at that point... freakin' monster.

 

[lemony]

Three brits in the mens semi/final hybrid later. Max, Dayan and Toby.

 

[edshakey]

Great performances!

Discovery+ only seems to have the last 52 mins of the morning session, anyone else just seeing that? It means none of the Brits are shown :/

 

[sherlock]

Great performances!

Discovery+ only seems to have the last 52 mins of the morning session, anyone else just seeing that? It means none of the Brits are shown :/

Nope, can't get it either.

 

[haydn jones]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XKrQypd4Hg

 

[haydn jones]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUyAsVwwQA&

 

[edshakey]

Another good qualifying round for GB, looks like Toby, Max, Molly and Erin are all through to semis.

 

[sherlock]

Looks like Max is in the Final, with 5 to climb and barring appeals.
The jamming seemed to help...

 

[IanP]

Looks like Erin is going to make the final as well, impressive!

 

[edshakey]

Toby joins them!

Good effort by Molly too, not far off

 

[lukeyboy]

Apologies for the ignorant question but what comp is happening now? I watched the Keqiao men's and women's bouldering, but sounds like another has followed hot on its heels?

 

[edshakey]

Yeah they've had a couple days off and then gone straight into lead in Wujiang. Lead season normally begins much later but I think it's been done like this for the OQS athletes to get a comp of each discipline in before that series (there's Wujiang speed on now too)