The heat was turned up on and off the Lead wall today at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest, Hungary with the top 20 men’s and women’s Boulder & Lead semi-finalists confirmed.

As Paris 2024 qualification inches ever closer, in the women’s competition it was South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun who put down a marker with a top, the only top of the day, to help her jump into first place at the end of qualification.

On topping the Lead and all the qualification Boulders Seo said: “It’s my first time to top all the Boulders and Lead, so I am so proud of myself right now.

“I didn’t feel much pressure because I did well in Shanghai, so I was just having fun on the wall.”

Explain how she produced her best-ever performance Seo said: “Hard training from Shanghai. I addressed my weaknesses. I went straight back to training after Shanghai, I really tried to improve my power and I think it worked great.

“Our head coach is also my father and he trained me a lot. Lifting weights and growing speed in my muscles for the coordination moves.

“At home almost every single conversation is about climbing but we love climbing. I started climbing (aged) six years old. I liked it straight away. I never felt like I hated it.

“He has been my only teacher. He was on the ice climbing national team. My mother also did climbing, she went to a world cup once.”

Seo will be joined in the semi-final by compatriot Kim Jain who finished in 20^th spot to sneak in thanks to a 96-point climb making up for an under-par Boulder round.

The climbers around the top of the standings after Boulder are still in a good position after backing up in Lead. USA’s Brooke Raboutou and Japan’s Nonaka Miho are second and third respectively and both also have teammates with them in the semi-finals in Anastasia Sanders and Ito Futaba.

There are plenty of country pairs in the semi-final which could be important when it comes to qualification for Paris and the restriction of country quota places at two.

Italy, Slovenia, France has multiple semi-finalist’s as do Great Britain with OQS Shanghai podium finisher Erin McNeice and Molly Thompson-Smith.

Talking about the pressure of trying to claim Olympic qualification Thompson-Smith said: “The amount of hours I’ve wasted looking at the scoresheet from Shanghai and doing all sorts of imaginary and arbitrary maths in my head. I got to the point where I was like, you just can’t predict it. Anything can happen, which is super exciting as a spectator, but as an athlete whose life is centred around routine and control, you just have to let go of all of that and just go climbing.

“Because the climbing does the talking and translates into the scores. I know if I climb my best I have a really good shot, and that in itself is both exciting and incredibly daunting.

“I’m the one in the final qualification spot (for Paris 2024, following the OQS in Shanghai) right now, which is almost lucky, but I also have a lot to lose. It could easily just slip through my fingers.

“Now I feel completely happy and relaxed because I’ve made it through to the semis and I’ll feel less pressure in that. I’ve given myself a chance by being in the semifinals and I’m just proud that is still a possibility.

“It’s one day at a time, one climb at a time…it’s exhausting.”

The full women’s Boulder & Lead results can be found here

In the men’s Boulder & Lead it’s the usual OQS suspects as Spain’s Alberto Gines Lopez and Czechia’s Adam Ondra are once again at the top of the standings.

Gines Lopez is in first place with a total of 152.5 points after an 88-point climb and Ondra is second with 141.9 points and a 72-point climb. No climbers topped the route in the men’s event.

Germany’s Alexander Megos sits third after a strong 88.1-point Lead climb – the best men’s performance of the day, and is just ahead of OQS Shanghai winner Lee Dohyun of South Korea.

With not just an Olympic ticket on the line, but a home Olympics, three French men are fighting it out to be in Paris. At the end of qualification Sam Avezou is fifth, Mejdi Schalck is seventh and Paul Jenft is tenth.

Feeling a little stress, is Jenft who said: “Not so good (so far). It was quite stressful, but less than Shanghai. I was not so strong. I don’t know why.

“But tomorrow is another day. The most important thing will be the mental attitude tomorrow. I have to delete my brain. Clear my mind and focus on my climbing tomorrow.”

Some of the youth climbers are still in contention with Germany’s Yannick Nagel in the final semi-final spot of 20th and Belgium’s Hannes van Duysen – a youth world champion in both Boulder and the Lead disciplines – in sixth.

With a very strong Boulder round and a good Lead follow-up, Van Duysen said:  “The boulder went really good. That was really efficient. I didn’t waste any tries.

“And then the lead I was a bit uncertain if my form was going to be good because I did training before and I felt like my endurance was not on point and now sadly I had the same feeling.

“My hand just opened. I felt like I could continue but I don’t know what really happened. I clipped so for sure you are just on one hand and then I felt my hand getting more pumped and more pumped. Then I wanted to go and at that point my hand opened and I had no endurance.

“It was a bit sad because I felt like I could continue.

“But in general, I had a really good combined round, so I am happy.”

The full men’s Boulder & Lead results can be found here

Both the men and women will contest the semi-finals tomorrow with the Boulder round at 10:00am local time.

SCHEDULE (UTC +2:00)

Thursday 20 June

• 12:00 - Sport climbing - Men's Boulder & Lead - Qualification, Boulder
• 12:00 - Sport climbing - Women's Boulder & Lead - Qualification, Boulder

Friday 21 June

• 10:00 - Sport climbing - Men's Boulder & Lead - Qualification, Lead
• 10:00 - Sport climbing - Women's Boulder & Lead - Qualification, Lead
• 17:00 - Sport climbing - Women's Speed - Qualification
• 17:50 - Sport climbing - Men's Speed - Qualification

Saturday 22 June

• 10:00 - Sport climbing - Men's Boulder & Lead - Semi-final, Boulder
• 10:00 - Sport climbing - Women's Boulder & Lead - Semi-final, Boulder
• 14:00 - Sport climbing - Men's Boulder & Lead - Semi-final, Lead
• 14:00 - Sport climbing - Women's Boulder & Lead - Semi-final, Lead
• 18:15 - Sport climbing – Men’s and Women's Speed Finals

Sunday 23 June

• 10:00 - Sport climbing - Women's Boulder & Lead - Final, Boulder
• 12:05 - Sport climbing - Women's Boulder & Lead - Final, Lead
• 15:30 - Sport climbing - Men's Boulder & Lead - Final, Boulder
• 17:35 - Sport climbing - Men's Boulder & Lead - Final, Lead

HOW TO WATCH

The action from Budapest will be streamed live, for free, and without subscription to a worldwide audience on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for Paris 2024.