On Friday we left with 5 climbers from Belgium for the second EYC 2012 in Moscow.
It was a nice adventure to travel with the metro through Moscow.
Qualifications
The first qualification route I could top out together with 3 other girls. I could also top the second route with 6 other girls. In my age group were only 9 climbers so we all went to the finals.
Maëlys Gillart (female youth B) climbed really well and was qualified for the finals! Also William Frimout and Loïc Timmermans (both male youth A) were qualified. Unfortunately Koen Baekelandt was just 11th.
The competition wall (Photo: Dmitry Sushpanova)On Saturday we had a day off so we went to visit Moscow. We saw the Red Square which was really beautiful. It was great!
Belgian Team
THIS IS NOT MY SPORT 🙁
On Sunday Maëlys finished 5th in the finals! William became 7th.
Junior female had the same final route as us and in the iso I discussed the route a bit with Tina Johnson Hafsaas (NOR). Juniors climbed first and the shouts of the spectators learned me that only Tina topped the route (the iso was next to the competition wall).
I had to climb last in Youth A and I knew that two girls had topped because of the public. A new European rule says that there is NO COUNTBACK anymore when there is a tie in the final, only the climbing time counts. So I knew what I had to do since suddenly my sport changed from lead climbing to lead-speed. The final route was surprisingly easy and I raced through the route to win the competition. I’m not so happy with this victory because it’s not fair towards the other girls that topped too and no fun either. My sport is lead climbing.
I hope the European Council will delete this rule.
Podium EYC Moscow
Loïc also had to climb last in the final. He knew no one had topped because he had heard them all falling and hitting the wall. So for him it was a real lead competition. He climbed very well and won!
I am happy that I could go to Moscow. It was really nice to be there and it was a great experience!
Nice pictures on this Russian site