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.