Canadian Women Make Olympic Qualifier Finals
Becca Frangos and Alannah Yip Make Finals at Pan-American Championships
Canadians Alannah Yip, Becca Frangos, Allison Vest, Jason Holowach and Brennan Doyle finished in the top-20 of the 26 women and 22 men climbing in qualifiers at the Pan-Am Olympic Qualifiers in L.A. earlier this week. As of now, Sean McColl is the only Canuck heading to Tokyo in August.
The women’s semi-finals were on Thursday and men’s semi-finals are today. After strong performances, Frangos qualified for finals in eighth and Yip qualified in in sixth. The two Canadians will have to fight hard against their southern rivals for the top spot. Watch finals here.
American Lauren Bair qualified in first, while Chile’s Alejandra Contreras and Argentina’s Valentina Aguado finished in second and third respectively. Regardless of how she places, Bair will not be allowed to qualify for the Olympics as the U.S.S. has already filled its quota with athletes Kyra Condie and Brooke Raboutou. Finals will take place on Saturday.
Holowach and Doyle will climb in semis today (Feb. 28) and will have to give their all to make ground on climbers higher in the rankings. Holowach finished in 19th and Doyle in 15th while the top-10 is dominated by climbers from the US, Ecuador, and Brazil.
Ecuador’s Carlos Granja qualified in first, beating out second and third place qualifiers Sean Bailey and Colin Duffy. Granja will be tough to beat with three Youth World Championships and four Youth Pan-American Championships to his name.
The men that qualify today will compete in finals on Sunday. Only those who take first will be able to compete in this year’s Olympic Games. For more information, click here.
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