Melina Costanza: America’s Next Top Climber
Team Canada climbed an incredible event in Albuquerque, but Melina Costanza stole the show. Ontario's Madison Fischer becomes even stronger
Boulder Finals concluded last night with the most surprising results of this last week’s competition. Although Lead and Speed each offered numerous opportunities for gasps and wonder, Boulder Finals saw Melina Costanza operate at another level of ability.
The Women’s Semi-Final featured a star-studded cast of North America’s most recognizable competitors. Although none of the Olympians ultimately competed in yesterday’s competition, the level remained high.
Despite the gruelling Qualification round, several Canadians climbed well enough to qualify in the top 20. Zoe Beauchemin, Paige Boklaschuk, Allison Vest and Madison Fischer each moved well through the first round’s problems. Finishing Qualifiers in 14, 11, 5, and 2 respectively, the Canadians proved themselves against the strong Americans.
While Canada did climb well, none of its athletes competed with the same consistency of America’s Melina Costanza. Costanza became notable for her four-top victory in Lead just a few days before. Never falling over the course of the Lead event, Costanza maintained this proficiency to climb most every problem in the Qualification round.
With that said, Team Canada’s Madison Fischer asserted herself in the taking of second place in Qualifiers. Only falling behind Costanza by one top and one zone, Ontario’s powerhouse presented well in New Mexico.
In Semi-Finals, the results became mixed. Although 21 athletes made Semis, only six would be able to move on to Finals. As such, the level of competition increased.
American Lily Gurdison became the first athlete out on W1. She reached Zone but failed to make the Top.
As the round progressed, Beauchemin took to the field with a strong performance on each of the round’s four problems. Although she failed to Top, her climbing placed her in a misleading 12 position. Although this may seem low, Beauchemin reached Zone on every problem. Similarly, sixth placed climber Coscoy earned her position with four Zones as well. Ultimately, attempts separated the two athletes.
Considering that Beauchemin had not competed in over a year-and-a-half, this result spoke to her increasing level of ability. If not for W2, a problem that took Beauchemin nine attempts to make Zone, she could have found herself separated from Coscoy based on countbacks alone.
Just behind Coscoy, Vest found a frustrating seventh position. She landed one attempt and one place out of Finals. Had Vest climbed to Zone on W3 in one less attempt, she would have made Finals on countbacks. Still, Team Canada represented in Finals.
Fischer maintained her strong performance from the previous round taking fourth with a top of W2. In the end, a single top earned any athlete Finals so long as they completed at least three Zones. While that does speak to the difficulty of the round, Costanza’s flashes of problems one through four show just how hard these boulder problems could become if the level in North America continues to increase.
In Semis, Johnson joined Costanza in a spectacular display. Johnson came back from 13 position in Qualifiers to secure second by the end of the Semi-Final. Costanza’s flash of W4 concluded the round.
In Finals, the route setters raised the difficulty once again.
W1 opened with Coscoy flashing her way to Zone. The steep boulder problem featured a physical first sequence that required athletes to maintain tension in a steep angle. Although the problem largely revolved around large pinch-like volumes, much of the climbing came down to gripping thin screw-ons in the angle. Although every competitor made the Zone on this problem, only Costanza topped.
This became a trend throughout the round. Although every athlete topped W2, the climbers who concluded the competition in second through sixth ultimately separated themselves by attempts. After W2, it became a race for second as Costanza’s consistency appeared to leave little room for the other athletes. In the end, none surpassed her: Costanza topped all four problems.
Considering that none of the other qualified athletes could achieve Zone on W4, this result spoke well of Costanza’s ability. As the North American Cup Series will prepare coaches and athletes for the upcoming seasons, Costanza’s ability to perform well in both Boulder and Lead has made her an athlete to watch. Many will await the opportunity to see her climb against Natalia Grossman and Brooke Raboutou.
Result
1 – Melina Costanza
2 – Alex Johnson
3 – Cloe Coscoy
4 – Megan Lynch
5 – Madison Fischer
6 – Kaitlyn Bone
Featured Image of Melina Costanza by Quinn Midori
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