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Lucas Uchida Leads at Canadian Bouldering Nationals

Attempts separate the top four men in the deepest men's field in recent memory. Who will become Canada's Bouldering National Champion?

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.

Both the men’s and women’s fields have unprecedented depth. The strengths of the categories have put pressure on Canada’s top ranked climbers. It seems the younger generation just might usurp its mentors.

As with the women’s field, the men’s category saw its top climbers separated by attempts. Each of the top four men climbed five of the six problems. Although no athlete managed to Top all six boulders, together they ascended each of the climbs. This speaks to the varying styles of the competitors and their individual potentials.

In the end, Ontario’s Lucas Uchida qualified in first position. Brothers Oscar and Victor Baudrand earned second and third respectively while Ivan Luo swept fourth as the final competitor to climb five of the six problems.

Uchida has been on a tear these last months, securing gold in both Boulder and Lead at the Canada-based North American Cup Series Events. The Series saw varying representation from Canada’s strongest but allowed Uchida to warm back into competition. It seems he has retained his edge into Nationals.

Although Uchida has had a strong indoor season, Victor and Oscar have each climbed brutal outdoor boulder problems in these last months. Oscar achieved ascents of two V14s in the western United States while Victor secured the second ascent of a challenging Yves Gravelle V14. Both Victor and Oscar had strong lead seasons on the World Cup circuit as well, claiming final and semi-final results in Villars.

Finally, Luo almost seems to be the darkhorse in this event, but after becoming number one in Canada’s 2016 Moonboard ranking this year, it is perhaps more apt to say that Luo has spent the last year training.

While a lot can be said about each of these four athletes, the competition extends far beyond their limits. Olympian Sean McColl secured fifth position with four Tops and six Zones. Defending National Champion Guy McNamee joined McColl in this result as did the seventh and eighth placed athletes.

Among those who qualified for semis, Sean Faulkner could be dangerous to the top of the field. He posted strong results all season. After earning fourth at US Nationals and he managed a beautiful V14 first ascent.

Brennan Doyle, Kindar McNamee, Samuel Tiukuvaara, Nathan Smith, Zach Richardson and Seb Lazure also qualified for tomorrow’s semi-final round and may represent podium finishers given the right set of blocks. Each of these athletes have scored high in competitions this season or another providing a large base of talent from which the national champion will be chosen.

Semi-finals begins at 9:30 am EST and can be found on the CEC YouTube Channel.

Men Advancing to Semis

1 – Lucas Uchida

2 – Oscar Baudrand

3 – Victor Baudrand

4 – Ivan Luo

5 – Sean McColl

6 – Guy McNamee

7 – Matthew Rodriguez

8 – Sean Faulkner

9 – Kindar McNamee

10 – Samuel Tiukuvaara

11 – Brennan Doyle

12 – Nathan Smith

13 – Jaxson McDonald

14 – Kin Wah Lai

15 – Zach Richardson

16 – David Trudeau

17 – Sebastien Lazure

18 – Ethan Hoffman

19 – Finn Battersby

20 – Dylan Le

Featured image of Sean McColl by Philip Quade and Rock Digital Marketing

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