The night before the semi-finals I was lying in bed overthinking all the possible scenarios that could happen the next day. It was so hard to just stop thinking. I hoped to reach the finals, I knew I could, but there were so many other strong climbers, and… so on.
So typical, but so wrong. 😉 I think every competition climber and maybe every athlete knows these kinds of thoughts. But it doesn’t help, on the contrary…

The next day in isolation it was quite hot and a little humid. While warming up I felt so much better than during the qualifications. I’d been tired of the long journey and the restday had been really welcome!
The women’s semi-final route had lots of small holds in it and it looked as if it would be hard from the start.
When I started climbing it was indeed very difficult and a little risky.  It felt as if I did every move the wrong way and I was relieved when I arrived in the roof. The vertical part had been pumpy, so I tried to rest as much as possible. I managed to come out of the roof, and I did some more moves on super bad holds.

When I came down I thought that most of the climbers would have fallen higher than me. I just didn’t dare to hope it would be enough for the finals. But then I was told that I was placed 1st at that moment! It was quite hard to believe that I had done really well. 🙂

After the semis everyone went back to the hotel (I’d never seen such a luxury one before!) to have a little rest and a meal. Some hours later I was back in isolation, so happy that I had the privilege of being in the finals again. I always love the observation, and the possibility of discussing a new route with the best climbers in the world. 🙂
Our route was incredibly complicated, escpecially one sequence in the roof. None of us totally understood it and we just guessed what the routesetters could have meant.

When I started the route, I was glad that the beginning was easier than expected. But when I arrived at the complicated part, I had no idea of how to do it. I tried different options, always coming back and getting more and more pumped. Then I just did it like I had tried it at first and I thought ‘I should have done this immediately!’. I was close to falling, but was able to grab the hold and go on. Whew! After some searching I managed to find my way through the volumes and the route started traversing to the right. At that point I hadn’t much power left and after some more moves I couldn’t hold on anymore.

I had the same feeling as after the semi-finals. But then I heard that it had been as hard and complicated for everyone and that I was in 1st place! I watched the others climb and I thought I would become 4th, which would be amazing. But… I became 3rd. As I realised this, I really couldn’t believe that it was true. 🙂
I had never hoped to be on the podium. I thought it was a far dream and something I hoped to reach after some years.

It was truly unbelievable. But what I loved most of all was the contact with all the other climbers. People I had admired and cheered on during their competitions, were now congratulating me! The climbers world is such a special one. Although competition is meant to give athletes a rank, it’s so special how our sport brings friendship and kindness instead of arrogance or jealousy.

Edinburgh! It begins to feel familiar to me. 😉 We had a nice team full of young, new climbers and I was so glad to be the oldest in the team. 🙂  That’s totally different from the first time I went along, being a little girl and the youngest myself.

But I have experienced that competition on itself always stays the same. On every level or age it is hard and exhausting. You need the same perseverance and dedication when you are a kid or a professional. For me, it feels exactly the same. Maybe there is a difference in how nervous I am and how blocked my stomach is during breakfast, but the feeling is identical.

The first route had some terrible moves just in the beginning. I was so glad that I got safely through this part and I topped out just in time.

In the second route every one knew they had to speed up, not to get a time-out. Except the very first climbers who climbed it as usual, discovered their time-out when they came down. That happened to my friend Celine, who had to climb 3rd to climb in youth A. 🙁

After the qualifications I was tied with Jessica, we had topped out both the routes.

Sunday was the big day and I felt more nervous than usual. That was not nice, but it’s so hard to stop that feeling.
Now that we moved to the Juniors, we mostly climb at the end and we have lots of time in isolation. I really like that! 🙂 Especially having enough time for warming up is something very pleasant.

Our route was one only for our category and it looked fairely logical. There was one move which looked like a jump, but I thought the holds would be allright, so that the jump would not be too hard.

I started the route quite confident and not too stressed. The beginning went well and was not that hard and then I arrived at what looked as a jump. I clipped a quickdraw above my head, but then realised that it would probably hinder me when I had to jump. So I unclipped it, something I’ve never done in a competition before. 😉
Then I went for it with my left hand only, leaving my feet on the holds. When touching the hold I realised this was not the right way. So I fell into the previous holds again… with a little scream, or maybe not a very little one. I had been really afraid to fall out and just hung there recovering a bit and concentrating again on the move. I really wanted to make it, so then I jumped with all I had. With both my hands this time… I was relieved I had made it, but from that moment on I had lost a bit of my confidence and it was hard to keep on going. I went on and on, trying to recuperate all the time. Then I came at the end of the roof and I made the move to get out of the overhang. When I did it, I heard the public cheering loudly and I was a little surprised. I really thought Jessica and maybe others before me had topped the route. I did the last moves and clipped the last quickdraw and I was really amazed that I had topped out. It all felt like in a dream. When I came down I heard that I had won! I was so thankful because I knew I could have fallen at the jump…

Jessi was 2nd and Salomé and Julia were tied on the 3rd place.

After the competition, I had some very nice chats with other climbers. It was so heart-warming to get congratulations and hugs of my friends. 🙂

This is a movie of the finals:

Last weekend I climbed my first international competition of the year. After the winter stop, I met all my climbing friends again. All of the same age and with the same passion for climbing and competing. 🙂

My age group has been incredibly strong from the first year we competed in youth B. We all kept on training and motivating each other over the years. And now it was time to become Juniors! I am now of the same age as the ones whom I admired so much when I was younger.

It was again very hard for us to get a place on the podium. I gave everything I had and I was able to top out the final route. I was very happy that I became 1st. 🙂 Jessi was 2nd and Salomé 3rd. It’s a pitty that Julia just missed the podium as it very hard for the French climbers to be qualified for the World Youth Championships in September.

Although I gain more and more experience over the years, it’s still very hard to be calm and confident during a competition. You have only one chance and only on that particular moment… Competition climbing stays really hard!

Here is a movie of the final route.

Picture by Andy Knabl