Paris 2016 World Championships Day Three: Kate Sawford Wins Silver!

Canadian photographer and climber Shane Murdoch brings us the following report from Paris. Watch Semis and Finals for Lead, Bouldering and Speed here. Scroll down for photos from day one.

Today started off with Speed Qualifications followed by Paraclimbing Finals, Men’s Bouldering Semi-finals and Women’s Lead Semi-final. The last three all ran at the same time in front of a huge, energetic crowd. In Paraclimbing, Canada’s Kate Sawford from Ontario successfully defended her silver medal. Congratulations Kate!

Canada had four athletes competing in speed. Alannah Yip finished 38, Alison Stewart-Patterson 39, Sean McColl 38 and Elan Jonas McRae 50. Only the top 16 advance to finals. Libor Hroza (CZE), who trains at The Boulders in Central Saanich, B.C., is going into finals in 3rd place with a time of 6.14. Reza Alipourshena (IRI) holds top spot with a time of 5.96.

The theme of difficult boulder problems from qualifications continued into semi-finals for the men. Although all four boulders were topped by someone, only four athletes managed two tops. Adam Ondra (CZE) is going into finals in first place after topping two problems in four attempts. French athletes had a strong showing with Jeremy Bonder, Mickael and Manuel Cornu finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Japanese athletes Tsukuru Hori and Tomoa Narasaki finish off the top six that advance to tomorrow’s final. Canada’s Sean McColl moved up from 19th to finish in 14th. We will see Sean again tomorrow in Lead Semi-finals.

The women put on a great show in the Women’s Lead Semi-final. The battle between the veterans and the young guns is going to continue into finals. Janja Garnbret (SLO), Mina Markovic (SLO), Jain Kim (KOR) and Anak Verhoeven (BEL) finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th with only two holds separating them. Julia Chanourdie (FRA), Jessica Pilz (AUT), Magdalena Rock (AUT), Claire Buhrfeind (USA) and Alina Ring (SUI) also advanced to finals. An extra women is advancing to tomorrow’s final because of a tie between Magdalena, Claire and Alina.

Tomorrow is Men’s Lead Semi-final, Women’s Boulder Semi-final, Men’s Boulder Final, Men’s Speed Final and Women’s Speed Final.

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