Chamonix crowd treated to host of tops on super Saturday.
The IFSC World Cup Chamonix started with the Lead qualifications in a change to the original schedule as heavy storms postponed Friday’s Speed qualification to set up a super Saturday of climbing in the French Alps.
At the base of Mont-Blanc, 68 men and 63 women took to the striking red Lead wall to try and secure a place in the top 26 and progress through to the Sunday semi-final and subsequent final.
There was an abundance of tops in both the men’s and women’s competitions which produced a stacked list of first place positions.
For the men, there were eight who share the top spot topping out both routes, among them home favourite Sam Avezou and crowd favourite, Czechia’s Adam Ondra – both who will be at Paris 2024 at the end of the month after securing their tickets at the Olympic Qualifier Series.
As is becoming the norm, team Japan will be well represented with six climbers into the smei-final, climbers that include Homma Taisei in ninth and Yoshida Satone in 14th. Switzerland’s Sascha Lehmann goes through, as does USA’s duo Colin Duffy and Jesse Grupper.
Austria’s Stefan Scherz goes through in 18th and is joined by Timo Uznik who is venturing outside of his nation for a World Cup for the first time.
Uznik said: “It’s my first time in Chamonix. It’s a really nice place. Legendary. It’s my first World Cup outside of my home one in Innsbruck. I really enjoyed the qualification and I think I climbed to my maximum. I put up two great fights and I hope it will be enough for semi-finals.”
It was enough for semi-finals.
The name Uznik may be familiar, Timo is the brother of European Boulder champion Nicolai Uznik. So, what is it like having him as a brother?
“Having a brother is the best thing in the world and sharing a sport like climbing is even better. Being on the world stage together is our goal and we train a lot together and have a good time together.”
Nicolai isn’t in Chamonix, but we are sure the two brothers will be sharing a world stage together soon.
The full men’s results can be found here
There were also a host of climbers who topped both routes in the women’s competition, but this time only four.
Austria’s Jessica Pilz was one, last year’s winner Kim Jain of South Korea was another, and Japan’s Mori Ai and Kotake Mei the final two.
There were many climbers who topped the second women’s Lead route with all making it through into the top 26 for a semi-final spot. Climbers like Bulgaria’s Aleksandra Totkova, USA’s Anastasia Sanders and Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie.
French interest lies with Zélia Avezou who was eighth despite not topping a route, Camille Pouget in 16th, Ina Plassoux Djiga in 18th and Hélène Janicot just behind in 19th.
One French climber who didn’t make the cut, but still pleased the crowd with an appearance after a long layoff was Julia Chanourdie. Although finishing down in 45th, the Chamonix World Cup was not about the result.
Chanourdie said: “I was injured just after the Olympics, so it’s not been an easy period for me. I totally lost the pleasure of climbing so it was not easy to be happy to compete. I tried to climb outside and find the love, but it’s been a tough three years.
“I hurt many things. My fingers. Pulley injury. My shoulder. My knee. Many injuries and just a bad sequence and period of injuries. I’m happy now though as I’ve tried to do other things and take a step back and figure out what I wanted to do, and that was climb and compete again. And that is why I am here.”
Talking about the climbing specifically Chanourdie said: “It was not easy for me because in the first route I fell at the first jump at the fourth quickdraw, so it was then really hard to be ready for the second route. I tried to relax and enjoy the second but it’s still difficult for me again this year to be in my best shape.”
The full women’s results can be found here
The climbing continues with the Speed qualification and Speed finals live from the IFSC World Cup Chamonix 2024 and can be watched live on the IFSC YouTube channel or selected broadcasters depending on where you are viewing from.
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin and Weibo.
