Paris 2016 World Championships Day Four: Sean McColl Heads to Lead Finals

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 four.

Day number four at the World Championships was the busiest day yet. The schedule for today included Women’s Bouldering Semi-final, Men’s Lead Semi-final, Opening Ceremony, Men’s Bouldering Final, Paraclimbing Final, Men’s Speed Final and Women’s Lead Final.

The morning started off with the Women’s Bouldering Semi-final. Most athletes were only separated by an attempt or two. In the end Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) flashed three out of four problems to take the top spot going into finals. Miho Nonaka (JPN), Anna Stohr (AUT), Petra Klingler (SUI), Megan Mascarenas (USA) and Elena Krasovskaia (RUS) complete the top six that advance to tomorrow’s final. Canada’s Alannah Yip topped her final problem to move from 19th up to 16th. Great job Alannah!

The Men’s Lead Semi-final was extremely close. First place to tenth all finished within four holds of each other. Canada’s Sean McColl climbed strong finishing in sixth place which sees him through to tomorrow’s final. Adam Ondra (CZE) finished first with Domen Skofic (SLO) and Gautier Supper (FRA) close behind. Due to a tie for eighth spot there are nine men going into tomorrow’s final.

Tomoa Narasaki from Japan took gold the in the Men’s Bouldering Final with three tops in six attempts. Adam Ondra (CZE) and Manuel Cornu (FRA) won silver and bronze.

The Men’s B1 Paraclimbing Final was held on the main lead wall . The crowd watched silently as the blind athletes were directed up the wall by their coaches on the ground. Japan’s Koichiro Kobayashi nearly topped the route and won gold. France’s Nicolas Moineau and Matteo Stefani from Italy put in strong performances and finished second and third.

In the Men’s Speed Final, Marcin Dzienski won the gold posting a time of 5.83 in his final race. Reza Alipourshena (IRI) and Aleksandr Shikov (RUS) finished second and third.

The final event of the evening was the Women’s Lead Final. The four top qualifiers held off the rest of the field in finals. Anak Verhoeven (BEL) came out forth to last and was the first athlete to top the route. The gold medal was hers for the moment. Now she had to wait to see if someone after her was going to take it away. Jain Kim (KOR) and Mina Markovic (SLO) came out next but neither were able to top the route. The final athlete out was 17-year-old Janja Garnbret who topped the route and stole the gold from Anak. In the end Janja won the gold, Anak the silver and Mina the bronze. Good luck in lead finals tomorrow Sean!

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