Category Archives: Competition

World Cup in Briançon

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2nd place for me during the 3rd Lead World Cup of the year in Briançon, France.

The qualifcations and semifinal went well for Jain Kim (KOR), Janja Garbret (SLO and me since we topped all 3 routes.

The final route was nice and pumpy and I was glad I smoothly passed the overhanging section. Clipping the last quickdraw before the top cost me a bit too much energy and I couldn’t grab the next holds as precisely as I would have liked. I fell one move lower than Janja who won the competition. Jain became 3rd.

Congrats to Romain Desgranges, Sean McColl and Stefano Ghisolfi for being the male medalists.

Worldgames in Poland

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On July 23th I won the gold medal during the Worldgames in Wrocław.
The podium with Janja Garnbret (SLO) and Julia Chanourdie (FRA) was decided by countback to the qualification round, because the 3 of us fell at the same move.

When I fell I wasn’t tired yet, but the way I tried to go on was just impossible. I knew this, but I could’t change anything about it since I hadn’t noticed a hold on the left. It was placed on a big volume and was impossible to be seen by the climbers from underneath during the 6-minute observation time.

But it turned out to be enough for the victory and I’m grateful for that! 🙂

It was a nice experience to be at such a big event and to meet other top athletes from non-olympic sports.

2 bronze medals

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  • The first world cup of the year was held in Villars, Switzerland on July 7th and 8th.
    In the final route I missed the top part of a slopy hold and fell before I was tired. A very disappointing way to end a competition, but I’m glad I was still on the podium.
    Congrats Janja for topping the route and Mina for taking home the silver medal.Replay of the finals (I climb at 1h 52min 18sec): https://youtu.be/VjOL83RGvDk?t=6738
  • The next world cup was only a few days later and was held in Chamonix, France on July 12th and 13th.
    In the semifinal I fell unexpectedly while turning my hand around – probably a little too careful and slowly and thus slipping off the hold. I was still qualified for finals on a provisional 7th place.
    –
    The final route turned out to be way too easy.
    I topped it and so did Janja and Jain. The podium was decided by countback to the semis.
    The scenario of the men’s final was very much the same: 4 tops and the athletes being split either by countback and even by their climbing time for gold and silver.This not what I’ve been training for. After 6 months of dedicated training and preparation into every detail, I am longing to be taken seriously.
    Lead athletes train for hard lead routes.
    –
    Please allow us to fight against the pump, climbing higher and higher, not giving up and holding on even when hanging on only 2 fingers, resting very little, but still resisting and doing another few moves even though our brain says we can’t – until we finally fall down, completely exhausted, but fully satisfied because we have done all we could have done.
    This is hard. Physically and mostly mentally.
    But it is what we’re training for.
    –
    Replay of the semifinals (I climb at 2h 34min 04sec):  https://youtu.be/lA01mvGkfe8?t=924
    Replay of the finals (I climb at 1h 47min 59sec): https://youtu.be/h54_akkODQY?t=6479
Photo by Eddie Fowke (thecircuitclimbing.com)

Photo by Eddie Fowke (thecircuitclimbing.com)

Belgian Championship 2017

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On April 23th I won the Belgian Championship in my home gym Klimax in Puurs. Celine Cuypers took the silver medal. The bronze went to Laure-Anne Stevens. Congrats!
The new Belgian Champion on the men’s side is Simon Lorenzi. Loïc Timmermans and Nicolas Collin were 2nd and 3rd.
There were amazing performances by the paraclimbers as well, with for example Pavitra Vandenhoven and Elodie Orbaen being strong as always!

Nice article and pictures on the Climb2Climb website (in French).

This is the upside down version of a poster made by Peter Cuypers (Celine’s dad) in 2011. Same girls, just a little older now. 🙂
Girl-Power-2017-678x1024 2017

 

 

1 week in Canada…

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… for the 2017 IFSC world climbing camp in Victoria.

My journey started on the 1st of January with a nerve-racking experience. My parents had dropped my off at the national airport, but as I wanted to check in, I was told I didn’t have the travel authorization for Canada and wasn’t allowed to leave the country (it had only recently become mandatory). “So here my trip ends”, I thought. But to make a long story short: thanks to some computers downstairs, a kind man and a quick response from the Canadians, I was able to check in and leave Belgium after all.

The rest of my first-time-flying-on-my-own experience was marked by 3 delayed flights and a very upset stomach. At the end of the long flight I ate a sort of warm pizza-like sandwich which turned out to be a poisoned gift. In Calgary airport I started feeling bad and during the next flight I had to grab the sickness bag several times (something I’d never experienced before). Buh. I suppose it was a food poisoning.
Thankfully I was allowed a rest day the next day. And I was being looked after by Kimanda, the climbing camp’s organizer, who bought me some wholesome food. Once I was able to eat again, this definitely made me feel better. 🙂

The IFSC training camp itself
I had a great time working together with other world cup athletes and I got to do a lot of things I don’t do very often:
give a presentation about my competition routine, coach the teenagers in my group during mock competitions, set a route and even demonstrate one.

 

It was great hanging out and working together with other talented climbers, outside of a competition.
I hope the camp’s participants went home having learned a lot and being motivated to keep going and never give up in order to reach their goals!

 

 

 

A write up about the event: Independent Sports News
And a TV piece: Check News

Check out The Boulders Instagram page, @bouldersclimb for more information.
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