Olympians Lead through Boulder Qualifiers
Team Canada's Oscar Baudrand joins stacked men's field while a cadre of candidates in the women's field eye the tops spots for finals
The USA Climbing Boulder National Championships began yesterday in Salt Lake City. After a challenging three days of Lead and Speed climbing, many of yesterday’s competitors will have begun to feel the fatigue from the previous rounds.
Although many competitors had a rest day on Monday, Speed National Champion Joe Goodacre has yet to rest in this competition. As we will see, this has not held him back from qualifying for Boulder semi-finals.
While many missed seeing the qualification round due to the lack of livestream, live scoring allowed viewers to keep up with their favourite discipline. In the men’s category, 66 athletes took to each of the five boulder problems. The category filled with many of USA Climbing’s strongest, however, Olympic silver medalist, and National Lead bronze modelist Nathaniel Coleman did not wish to continue with his registration.
Coleman reflected on this decision on Instagram. “I’ve decided not to compete in bouldering… Certainly not an easy decision, but the bottom line is that the psych just isn’t in me this time. Most of all, I’m sad to be missing the chance to compete in my hometown. But it’ll be fun to enjoy the show with y’all. Good luck to all the homies competing.”
Although it is unclear what made Coleman lose psych, his exhausting year has more than earned the 24-year-old a well-needed rest from competition.
With that said, the men’s qualification round ran well. The setters provided perfect separation among the top 20 athletes, with only Colin Duffy securing five tops of five boulders. The young Olympian became one of only two athletes to complete the challenging second boulder problem.
Just behind him, American powerhouse Zach Galla secured four Tops and five Zones, earning him second position heading into the semi-final. After an incredible ascent of Grand Illusion V16 after a less-than-ideal Lead semi-final, Galla certainly has the capacity to challenge Duffy for first position.
A list of capable climbers followed many of whom can find a place on the podium. Where Ben Hanna qualified in third, Joe Goodacre secured fifth after three days of competition. Behind them, Zander Waller and Luke Muehring continued their strong season qualifying in eighth and tenth respectively. Further down the list, climbers such as Carlo Traversi, Ross Fulkerson, and Kai Lightner could each put up strong claims for the top spots.
All of the above athletes have been awarded bouldering medals in some high-level competition from the last year. One athlete that will stand out to Canadians is Oscar Baudrand, a World Cup climber that earned semi-finals for the maple leaf this past year. Baudrand has climbed an incredible season, claiming ascents of two V14’s in as many months. He qualified in seventh and will be one to watch in semis.
In the women’s category, 52 athletes squared off against a challenging set of boulder problems. While many competed well, American Olympian Kyra Condie won the day. After a bronze medal finish in Lead on Sunday, Condie reflected on her experience, stating a few notable details. “Wow what a rollercoaster, from dread to excitement, from nervous to calm, from sad to proud, I think I ran the whole gamut of feelings already and the comp isn’t even over yet.
“Josh Larsen reminded me to look for positive takeaways after I was disappointed in my semi-final’s performance, which reminded me to climb like myself and not try to mimic the typical lead style of being slow and controlled, because that’s not how I naturally climb. In doing so lost my classic try hard/frantic scramble. I think I found it again in finals and am proud of my climbing. Time to do it all again for bouldering on Tuesday!”
By climbing like herself, Condie managed to earn her way to first position heading into boulder semi-finals. As the only athlete to climb B3, Condie dominated the competition by securing both the Zone and the Top on this otherwise untouched problem.
Although Condie managed to secure more Tops than her competition, Lead silver medalist Melina Costanza climbed a more efficient round. Costanza Topped fewer problems than Condie, but on the four problems she did climb, she Topped with fewer attempts than the Olympian.
If it is an easier semi-final, this consistency could push Costanza ahead of the Olympian. Much like the men’s field, the women’s field boasts a who’s who of American climbing. Although Cloe Coscoy has worked on Lead this year, her bouldering focus made itself known in her third-place qualification.
Coscoy has worked hard this year and could secure just about any of the podium positions if she retains a positive headspace through the rounds. Similarly, Julia Duffy climbed effectively as well as Coscoy, earning fourth heading into semis with one more attempt to Top than Coscoy.
Furthermore, most everyone heading into the women’s semi-final could prove dangerous to the current leaders. Kylie Cullen, Alex Johnson, Thea Wulff, Quinn Mason, Callie Close, Maya Madere, Sienna Kopf and Megan Lynch each represent some of the many strong athletes we could expect to see qualifying for finals.
Finally, as expected, Emma Hunt qualified for the semi-final round in tenth position. She will join Goodacre in five consecutive days in national-level competition.
Watch semis at 12:00 EST November 17.
Result
Men Advancing to the Semi-Final
1 – Colin Duffy
2 – Zach Galla
3 – Ben Hanna
4 – Charles Barron
5 – Joe Goodacre
6 – Stefan Fellner
7 – Oscar Baudrand
8 – Zander Waller
9 – Simon Hibbeler
10 – Luke Muehring
11 – Carlo Traversi
12 – Ellis Ernsberger
13 – Ross Fulkerson
14 – Kai Lightner
15 – Colin Wills
16 – Adam Shahar
17 – Anthony Lesik
18 – Timothy Kang
19 – Palmer Larson
20 – Tanner Bauer
Women Advancing to the Semi-Final
1 – Kyra Condie
2 – Melina Costanza
3 – Cloe Coscoy
4 – Julia Duffy
5 – Kylie Cullen
6 – Mira Capicchioni
7 – Thea Wulff
7 – Alex Johnson
9 – Emma Hunt
10 – Madeline Morris
11 – Quinn Mason
12 – Megan Lynch
13 – Callie Close
14 – Emily Herdic
15 – Campbell Sarinopoulos
16 – Adriene Clark
16 – Ashley Fisher
16 – Maya Madere
19 – Sienna Kopf
20 – Abigail Humber
Featured image of Kyra Condie in Hachioji by Eddie Fowke.
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