Ontario Leads Heading into Finals at NACS
Semi-finals has concluded in Kanata with athletes from the host province leading. The tight field remains, and an exciting finals awaits
Kanata’s North American Cup Series semi-final concluded this afternoon. The morning’s event saw 40 competitors across two gender categories fight for the top 12 spots that move on to finals. The setting was stout.
The competition began with the lowest qualified athletes stepping first to the matts. In some ways, the competition began slow. Athlete after athlete entered the men’s field and fell on the first boulder.
Of the first eight athletes, only Guy McNamee made his way up the dynamic M1. He began matched on a white Squadra grip, and swung over to stick a foot on a box. Then, pressing, he pushed through another volume with his right hand, to catch a gaston-like volume with his left before he continued to a positive stopping point 3-5 metres from the start hold. This single fluid movement earned him Zone. Standing up on the positive grip, McNamee slabbed his way over a volume to match a balancy Top.
As other athletes followed, some would attain the Zone through a swing, step and jump. Most athletes would aim for the multiple-fluid-hand movements. The Top proved challenging enough that many top-tier athletes attained the Zone but failed to find the finish. This set the tone for the competition.
M2 and M1 ultimately saw the most ascents of the four problems. While few athletes maintained consistency throughout the round, Canada’s Victor Baudrand and Lucas Uchida each climbed well through both the first two problems.
Struggling at first, Baudrand managed to find the position required to establish and move through the opening sequence of M2. Pressing deep into the bottom of the start volume, Baudrand shouldered out to a triangle box screwed into a large five-sided, almost semi-circle-like volume. Pressing through the angle change, Buadrand moved into a briefly restful position, hanging on the attached triangle before moving his foot up. He generated into the corner and secured the top of the volume.
Wrapping the off-vertical corner, Baudrand showed the presence of mind to move his right foot wide onto a subtle positive triangle attached to the starting box. Leaning full into the overhanging dihedral, Baudrand dropped both knees, secured the finish hold as a gaston, established his foot on the positive triangle he had rested on, and twisted into the finish.
Following, Uchida moved on to send the problem as well. As he rested, Baudrand began work on M3, but could not move on to the finish. Uchida, took several attempts on M3 before he began to find his beta.
The intensely physical problem called on Uchida to dead-point through the first movement, invert his body on the second, and grip an undercling above his inverted head. Moving his hips back to the wall, Uchida sized up the final move to the Zone. Effectively campusing, Uchida generated off a light smear to catch the side-pull.
The already exhausting problem then required another powerful move upward off a toe hook on the previous undercling. Right foot smeared he almost shadow-matched on the right hand. He moved through the remaining grips, throwing toe-hooks and heel hooks through the less technical upper portion of the route. He ultimately sent.
As M4 had no tops, the Men’s round concluded with six finalists and a total of nine tops across those athletes.
Conversely, the women’s field saw a relative plethora of ascents. Of the top seven women from qualies, five qualified for the final round in semis. Only America’s Ashley Fisher found her way from the bottom half of the field into the run for podium. This speaks to the tension at the top of the field.
While Ashley Fisher’s performance was strong, securing two Tops and two Zones with only three attempts to Top, seventh placed qualified Madison Fischer asserted herself over the competition. Becoming the only athlete in either category to send all four problems, Fischer began on W1. The compressing sequence suited her powerful style.
The low-angle squeeze-problem gave way to W2 which again asked for a high-powered approach. Fischer’s foot slipped on her first attempt. She cruised the problem on her second go. Her consistency over these last NACS bouldering competitions have shown her to be someone to watch.
Although Fischer did not make semis at the recent Moscow World Championships, she concluded her run in 25. This placed her ahead of athletes like Austrian Olympian Jessica Pilz, France’s Oriane Bertone and Lead World Cup gold medalists Eliska Adamovska and Chaehyun Seo.
Where W3 offered a challenge of resistance, Madison Fischer maintained control and turned the otherwise dynamic sequence into a limited coordinated foot movement. The rest of the climb appeared challenging after such a taxing sequence, but she pushed through to secure the Top.
Although commended most often for her power, Fischer maintained her technique through the round and ultimately secured the Top on a delicate W4. This too spoke volumes. Among the remainder of the women’s field, the neck-and-neck competition between Alannah Yip and Sydney Park continued. Yip surmounted Park on attempts in this last round, but it will all come down to Finals.
Paige Boklaschuk and Indiana Chapman have also had strong rounds, securing fourth and fifth with two Tops and three Zones a piece. All now await Finals.
Finals will begin at 3:45.
Result
Women Advancing to Finals
1 – Madison Fischer
2 – Alannah Yip
3 – Sydney Park
4 – Paige Boklaschuk
5 – Indiana Chapman
6 – Ashley Fisher
Men Advancing to Finals
1 – Lucas Uchida
2 – Victor Baudrand
3 – Guy McNamee
4 – Adam Shahar
5 – Zach Richardson
6 – Brennan Doyle
Featured image from Hachioji by Eddie Fowke.
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