The climbers of the IFSC World Cup Wujiang give us their thoughts:
WOMEN'S LEAD FINAL
Janja GARNBRET (SLO)
“I was just having a lot of fun and just excited to be back competing. I had a good start back with Boulder and I hoped I would have the same with Lead, and I guess my Lead shape is as good as Boulder."
“I’m excited now to go back home and get some more training in before I return to do the World Cup in Innsbruck where I will do Boulder and Lead, and then it’s Paris.”
MEN'S LEAD FINAL
Toby ROBERTS (GBR)
“I slightly misread the beta, but I managed to stay there and compose myself and find the right way luckily.”
“Preparation for Paris is going well and I’m using this competition to see how I am doing after a hard winters training and I just enjoying competing on the comp circuit. So things are going well.”
WOMEN'S SPEED FINAL
Aleksandra MIROSLAW (POL)
"I think it was a really tough road to this gold. I had a lot of emotion in this competition after a not very good qualification. I had 24 hours to think about it with some really hard thoughts and I’m really happy that I handled it. It’s amazing because it proved to me that I can do this and find the right mindset."
Aleksandra KALUCKA (POL)
"I know I was fast in the semi-final and small final, probably too fast for my brain. On one hand I am happy because I was fast, but on the other I’m sad because I was fourth and in the worst place."
MEN'S SPEED FINAL
WU Peng (CHN)
"I’m so excited and happy. That’s all I can say really. In training I am always hovering around the five second mark and to do it consistently in competition is just a result of how well my winter training has gone and my training as a whole is, so I am happy with that."
Sam WATSON (USA)
"Obviously I want to win, and so does every other athlete. It’s probably my best performance ever and I’m super happy with my performance. The last run I just had a little bit of a stumble up against Peng Wu who is one the best athletes in the world in front of his home crowd. Next World Cup is on my home turf so let’s see if I can get the win."
Kiromal KATIBIN (INA)
"I’m happy with the medal, but I want to go faster next competition and get the world record back."
MEN'S LEAD SEMI-FINAL
Toby ROBERTS (GBR)
“I’ve trained really hard in Lead and Boulder over the winter and it’s the first comp of the season so no one really knows where each other is at. I’m pretty happy with my fourth in Boulder in Keqiao and I’m also pretty happy with how my Lead form is here. I’m psyched to see how the rest of the competition goes.”
Hannes VAN DUYSEN (BEL)
“It’s my first time getting into a Lead World Cup final and super happy that all the training I did over winter, like so much Lead, has finally paid off.”
WOMEN'S LEAD SEMI-FINAL
Mia KRAMPL (SLO)
“I feel pretty great as I didn’t think I would make the final after yesterday’s qualification round. I knew I made some mistakes and I wasn’t in the best starting position. I also know I’m not in the best shape right now and I will be stronger in the next competitions. It’s good to know even in not my best shape I still made it through to the final.”
MEN'S SPEED QUALIFICATION
Sam WATSON (USA)
“Does breaking my own record count as getting [the world record] twice? I don’t know. I’m so excited. It’s a goal I talked about earlier. I said I wanted to be the world record holder. Why not me? Why can’t I do it? And you know what I can. I can do it.”
WOMEN'S SPEED QUALIFICATION
Emma HUNT (USA)
“It felt really good. I’m happy. It’s exciting to be back at the first World Cup of the year. It’s the first time to get a top seed heading into finals, my aim is to get every seed possible, so I’ve checked another box.”
MEN'S LEAD QUALIFICATION
Campbell HARRISON (AUS)
“It’s my third Lead World Cup semi-final in a row so I’m pretty stoked as I’ve only done five semi-finals in total. And I’m not feeling in great Lead shape yet so it was cool to be able to keep it altogether and have a decent round. So far the season is kicking off well for me so it’s a good sign for Paris.”
“It’s weird to balance as we usually do Boulder in the first half of the season and Lead in the second, so it is hard to balance and feels weird to do both at the same time. Especially for people going to the OQS I think it’s good to have both disciplines so close together, but for me it’s nice to get onto a World Cup and shake off the cobwebs any time of year really.”
WOMEN'S LEAD QUALIFICATION
Manon HILY (FRA)
“The routes were very good and very powerful. I think it’s my style, just giving 100%. I love this wall also as it’s very overhanging and the routesetters did a good job with the routes, they were very nice to climb.”
“I made the choice not to do the first Boulder World Cup to focus on Lead, but I am training for boulder quite a lot. For now I will do this World Cup but then it will just be the Olympic Qualifier Series. I’m here to make some mental improvements and for some fun, but then take this feeling for the Olympic path. I think I am in good shape. But, it’s not just about my shape, it’s also about my mental health and attitude. I wanted to get that good attitude, and I think it is good for now.”
ZHANG Yuetong (CHN)
“I felt good, better than I expected. I haven’t really trained a lot of Lead and I think I climbed a little differently, but I climbed well so I’m happy. The second route was more to my strengths, so I climbed good on that one. I just don’t have that much endurance because I haven’t been training Lead as much.”
“Before the competition I was a little bit nervous as everyone knows I have the Olympic ticket so they may have been expecting me to be really strong. Even at the Boulder World Cup people were telling me they were looking forward to me climbing Lead, but I haven’t been training as much so I didn’t want to disappoint.”
