15-years-old and First Into Semis at Canadian Bouldering Nationals
An unprecedented Canadian Bouldering Nationals is underway in Quebec City where the best five women Top all six boulder problems
This evening brought about the end of the Canadian Bouldering Nationals qualification round. The two-heat event brought 70 men and 68 women through six problems each. The five-on five-off format ran over nine hours and whittled the 138-competitor field down to the top 40 athletes for tomorrow’s semi-final.
Never has a Canadian Boulder Nationals offered a field of this caliber. Both gender categories provided startling results. The shock did not come from those who qualified, but the density of their qualification in both the men’s and women’s fields, the tops five were all but inseparable, and in the women’s field, all top five women climbed all six boulder problems.
To begin, the night belonged to two athletes in the women’s category. Evangelina Briggs and Alannah Yip each flashed all six problems. 13 years her junior, 15-year-old Briggs has shown progressively more compelling results in these last years of competition, earning silver at a recent US Nationals.
By far the youngest competitor to have qualified in the six, a notable number as six will move to finals, Briggs appears ready to show the hard work she has spent preparing for this weekend’s event. While Briggs is young, she is not new to competition. While this is her first Open Nationals, it does not appear that increased strength of the field has done much to stop her presence on the wall.
Although Briggs has climbed a strong round, holding out against Canadian Olympian Alannah Yip will not prove easy. Yip has worked hard over these last years, preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Her gold medal at the recent Kanata North American Cup Series (NACS) event cemented her place at the top of the local field, but Briggs did not compete in that event.
Although the conversation could revolve around these two and their stellar performances today, they stand among at least four other women, who each have a shot at taking home the hold.
Qualified in third, Ontario’s Indiana Chapman climbed a strong event moving through six boulders in seven attempts. Her podium finish at NACS showed her strengths as a competitor.
Alberta’s Alexa Vanier and Paige Boklaschuk seem dangerous as well, qualifying in fifth and sixth respectively. Boklaschuk had a strong comp in Kanata and seems like one of the favourites for this weekend’s competition. Ontario’s Jacqueline Ho rounded out the top six with five tops and six zone.
The seventh to thirteenth placed competitors each qualified with at least five tops as well. The field is deep.
Although these six women will lead the pack heading into semi-finals, many of the 20 qualified semi-finalists could climb well into the top of the field in tomorrow’s competition. Sydney Park had a very strong competition in Kanata and could find a better suited semi0final taking her into the top six., while Team Canada’s Becca Frangos could post a compelling score given the right round. Joining her, Babette Roy, Zoe Beauchemin and Riley Galloway could each post strong scores given the right competition.
Semi-finals begins at 9:30am EST. Watch live on CEC YouTube Channel.
Women Advancing to Semi-final
1 – Evangelina Briggs
1 – Alannah Yip
3 – Indiana Chapman
4 – Alexa Vanier
5 – Paige Boklaschuk
6 – Jacqueline Ho
7 – Marie-Michelle Thibault- L’Italien
8 – Jane Cuff
9 – Emi Takashiba
10 – Caiya Taylor-Ainslie
11 – Madison Fischer
12 – Chloe Earle
13 – Babette Roy
14 – Zoe Beauchemin
15 – Lia Wieckowski
16 – Sydney Park
17 – Riley Galloway
17 – Rebecca Frangos
19 – Erica Velev
20 – Molly Dreher
Featured image of Jane Cuff by Philip Quade and Rock Digital Marketing
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