The 2nd and last European Youth Cup of the season was held in the beautiful city of Stavanger, Norway. It was the first time a Scandinavian country hosted an international climbing competition.

Saturday was the first day of competition. Although the weather outside was nice, the wall was situated in a big sport complex for curling and ice-skating. Which meant… quite cold, but ok for climbing. In the first route my foot slipped at the last move. I had to climb last in the 2nd one and I saw that the route was difficult to climb within 6 minutes. I managed to top out although it was harder than I had expected.

That day the Belgians did really well and 8 qualified for the finals! Maëlys, Héloïse, Celine, Nicolas, Lucas, Chloé, Emilie and me.

In the finals we had the same route as the male youth B and female Juniors. There was a double dyno in the middle (which is quite stressful for a competition ;-)) and the top part was not easy to understand. I was happy that I was able to do the jump and I finally won the competition! Julia Chanourdie from France had only one ‘plus’ less than me and became 2nd. Jara Späte from Switzerland was 3rd.

Because Julia was 1st in Edinburgh and I was 2nd, we both won the final ranking together! 🙂

Celine climbed very well and became 3rd in female youth B! She also won the European Youth Cup together with Eva Scroccaro from Italy.

It was a very nice and well organised competition with very friendly volunteers. After the competition we had a relaxing walk at the sea-side and a dinner with the French and Swiss teams!

Julia, Jara and me (Photo: www.ffme.fr)

To Canada!

I had never been to the American continent before, so it was a nice experience to discover it! We left on Tuesday early in the morning with 6 Belgian climbers and 2 coaches and arrived at Vancouver Island on Wednesday.

The qualifications (day 1 and 2)
On Friday, the 1st day of the competition, I was able to top out my route just as Julia Chanourdie (FRA) and Jessica Pilz (AUT). Celine (Youth B female) and Loïc (Junior male) topped their first route too.

The 2^nd day I had to climb last. It was the technical route which my team mate Celine had climbed the day before. 11 girls had been able to top in my group and fortunately I topped out too. After the qualifications all the Belgians were in the semi-final!

Whew… a rest day
On Sunday we had a rest day and our coach had arranged a great excursion for us. With a speedboat we sailed in the Pacific Ocean to go whale watching. We were in the middle of a 3D nature documentary. Water birds, orcas, sea-lions and even an eagle. We searched for the fins of orcas who appeared again from time to time to take breath. Breath…taking.

The semi-final
In the semi-final I climbed last but one. During observation we thought that the route was really hard. And indeed it was: flat holds, strange moves and full of risks. I was able to reach hold 45+ in the roof and Jessica climbed a bit higher (46+). I was happy with a provisional 2^nd place because I could have fallen much earlier. Celine climbed very good and placed 8th, just enough to be in the final!

Loïc unfortunately just missed the finals. One move to the next hold would have been enough. Emilie, who had a nice 9^th place after the qualifications slipped sadly enough at hold 8.

The final
The first part of the final route was made of far moves to fairly good holds. Then followed a middle part with only volumes. The top part was a roof with more obvious moves. During observation we did not know very well how to climb that middle part. I finally decided not to hesitate, but it was very hard. From the 16 girls (Youth B and Youth A climbed the same route) who had to climb this route, 11 fell in the middle part without being pumped. I think that is a pity. Luckily the last part was nicer. 2 moves from the top the holds were so bad that it was almost not possible to make the next move. I hesitated because I did not want to give up. Then I was so tired that I could only do a plus to the next hold. I fell at 48+.

Julia Chanourdie from France had climbed to 47+, so both of us were already sure of being on the podium. I was very happy that I could be sure about a silver medal, but I knew that I could also become first. Jessica also had difficulties in the middle part, but managed to climb it. She also fell at hold 48+. Because of the countback to the semi-final she won the competition. Congrats Jessi! Celine ended up 8th, which is a great result for her first world championships! 🙂

Jessica, Julia and me (Picture: Denis Timmermans)

The European Youth Championships were held in Imst this year. When we arrived in Imst it was really hot. In the evening during the opening ceromony the rain started pouring down, so all climbers had to take shelter in the big tent. 🙂

The next day we started early and in the morning it was still cool. The first qualification route had a crux in the beginning. I almost fell at this point, but I could luckily continue. When I arrived in the last part of the route I hesitated. Some girls before me had fallen here by taking an intermediate hold, so I thought that the hold had to be bad. I decided to skip the intermediate hold and make a plus to the next one, which of course was the wrong decision.

The beginning of the 2nd route was vertical and then the route became very hard. I was really happy that I managed to top out!

The second qualification route (Photo: Yves Guérit)

3 of my team mates were in the finals as well: Nicolas Collin (male youth B), Celine Cuypers (female youth B) and Loïc Timmermans (male Juniors).

On Sunday all the girls had the same final route. It looked nice, but also logical for which I was happy. The first part was harder than I had expected. In the roof there was a hard move and it was difficult to clip. I became more and more tired and did some more moves. I fell totally pumped and was really satisfied.

The girls final route

Jessica Pilz from Austria climbed amazing and topped the route! Congratulations Jessi :-)! She was 1st, I became 2nd and Hannah Schubert (AUT) 3rd.

Female Youth A podium 🙂

Nicolas became 5th, Celine was 10th and Loïc 4th. He fell at the same place as Jefta from Israël who won bronze because of the countback.

After the competition my parents and I stayed a little longer to try some of the routes. Then we finally drove home after 3 weeks of holiday and competitions. 😉

The first worldcup of the year and for me the first time I competed in Briançon. I really liked the place with its surroundings!

The first qualification route went really well. In the last moves which I made I was very pumped, but I was happy with the result. I topped the 2nd qualification route, so I was selected for the semi-final just like Mathilde and Loïc from Belgium.

In the semi-final route there were lots of small holds. In the very beginning there was a tricky point where I had to keep my balance. In the roof it started getting really hard. I was happy that I passed the big volume and I could rest a little. Just after the big overhang my feet came off and I did one more move. This time I was really satisfied and happy! 🙂 I became 16th.

The worldcup was won by Jain Kim (KOR) and Ramón Julian Puigblanque (ESP).

My parents and I drove to Chamonix the Tuesday before the competition. We had a nice restday at the lake of Annecy and arrived in Chamonix on Thursday. I enjoyed meeting everyone again at the opening ceremony. The mens qualfication round had already taken place earlier that day. We heard that Loïc Timmermans from Belgium was placed 26th in the semi-final, due to slipping in his 2nd qualification route.

While climbing my first qualification route the next day I was really nervous and did not climb fluently. Nevertheless I was able to top out.. I was less nervous for climbing the 2nd route and I was very happy when I reached the top.

The next day was the semi-final. When I started climbing I was very surprised because the holds were so bad. I was pumped very fast and could not recuperate anymore. I fell quite early in the route because I was so tired. It was quite disappointing, but I learned a lot of this competition. 😉 I ended up 19th.

Climbing in Chamonix

Congratulations to Loïc for his 14th place and Mathilde who climbed really well and became 6th in the finals! Elodie Orbaen took the 1st place in the paraclimbing competition! Well done!

Loïc and Mathilde in their semi-final

Time goes so fast…the lead season has already started again this weekend with the European Youth Cup in Edinburgh. Remembering the freezing conditions of the past competitions here, I was surprised by the lovely warm weather on Friday. My first qualification route was in the big overhang, and looked nice. I was quite nervous while climbing it, but was still able to top out. The 2nd one on the vertical wall looked much more difficult. Several girls had already fallen while clipping the last quickdraw. It was almost impossible because of the rope pull, but Salomé Romain (FRA) found a method which worked well and topped out. Ana Tiripa explained me the moves of the route and told me not to worry about it. But still I was a bit nervous about the tricky part in the middle. While climbing I was happy that I passed this point with a very bad hold and I arrived at the little roof. I had a look at my watch and saw 5 minutes. So I started climbing faster which in the end was quite good because I did the moves without hesitating. I was really happy to top out. After the qualifications I was tied with Salomé, Julia and Jessica.

In total there were 4 Belgian finalists: Nicolas Collin, Loïc Timmermans, Celine Cuypers and me. In the isolation on Saturday I did not feel as usual. My throat was aching a bit and while warming up I felt quite hot and shaky. But I laid everything in God’s hands and decided not to give up. Our final route was at the right side of the large wall. There were a lot of small holds in the beginning and pinchers in the overhang. I started my route quite confidently and it went really well. The moves in the overhang were a bit strange and difficult, but I was encouraged by the cheers of my team-mates and other climbers. To my surprise I arrived at the top hold and clipped the quickdraw! I was so thankful that in the end I had been able to climb well. Julia Chanourdie (FRA) and Jessica Pilz (AUT) also topped out. We had done the same in the qualifications so again… the time. 🙂 Julia was 1st, I ended up 2nd and Jessica was 3rd.

Celine climbed really well. At a certain point she decided not to clip a quickdraw and continued. She did the same as the winner, but became 2nd because of not clipping the quickdraw. Well done! Nicolas ended up 5th in male youth B. Loïc made a great performance by climbing very high in his final route and winning in male Juniors.

Celine (silver), Loïc (gold) and me (silver) (Photo: Denis Timmermans)

Nice picture for CAC! (www.climbersagainstcancer.org)

I am very satisfied with my 2nd place at the European Youth Cup in Edinburgh, Schotland. Great results for the other Belgians as well with a 1st place for Loïc, a 5th place for Nicolas Collin and Celine who ended up 2nd. Full story coming later. 🙂