Packed Crowds Conclude Nail-Biting Men’s Final in Munich

Janja Garnbret’s triple gold brought about an exciting end to the women’s category in Munich. The following day saw giants collide as Czechia’s Adam Ondra took on Austria’s Jakob Schubert in the final Sport Climbing round of the 2022 European Championships.

Neck and Neck

Rain fell on the Combined final in Munich on Thursday. According to a press release published by the IFSC, “it did nothing to dampen the celebrations from Austria’s Jakob Schubert who claimed the final gold medal of the European Championships Sport Climbing competition.”

Austria’s most prolific male Sport Climber joined Ondra and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Alberto Ginés López. All three joined five other incredible athletes in the Paris 2024 Olympic format’s debut.

Boulder and Lead

Ondra led the men’s field by 0.1 points coming out of the Combined Men’s Boulder final. France’s Sam Avezou and teammate Mejdi Schalck each scored 80.6 and 80.5 to Ondra’s 80.7, while Schubert and Spain’s Ginés López took 80.5 and 61.7 respectively.

With the bouldering field narrowly separated, it came down to Lead. Although Schubert managed the only Top of Boulder 2, he failed to secure Boulder 3, a problem the top three men either flashed or climbed quickly. Taking his score, Schubert approached the final route in fourth position.

He climbed well, out distancing his opponents and coming within a hair’s breadth of the final hold. He fell leaping for the Top. In doing so, he moved past Italy’s Filip Schenk and Spain’s Ginés López, each of whom fell one hold below the Austrian.

As the round continued, French leaders Avezou and Schalck fell low moving the round quickly toward its conclusion. Ondra began up the wall and moved into the final sequence. Needing only to match Schubert’s high point to win, Ondra climbed higher and higher. Tensions rose as he approach the last three holds.

Schubert watched on. “I wasn’t so nervous watching Adam [Ondra] as when I fell, I knew I had silver,” said Schubert. “I was like 99% sure I would have a silver and 100% sure Adam would get really close to me. It came as a bit of a surprise that he didn’t climb the top as well as me and fell before me. It doesn’t happen often.”

Falling just short of Schubert, Ondra took silver as the Austrian took gold. In a moment reticent of the Tokyo Olympic Lead final, Schubert’s resistance pushed Ondra from the top spot. Schubert reflected on the victory.

“It definitely feels amazing,” said Schubert. “Not because it’s a medal, but because it’s a gold medal. This whole event has been amazing and so has the crowd. Every round has felt like a final. I was missing a medal though. I was a bit sad with my fourth place in Lead and now I’m happy to have this memory of a medal because it’s what this event deserves.”

Ondra reflected on his performance noting that this, his combined final was a success. “I enjoyed today because I knew that no matter what I did after the individual disciplines, no matter what I do in the B&L finals, it would be a successful competition.

“The boulder competition was really successful for me even though I felt like maybe I could do something different. It was pretty obvious that it would come down to the lead competition between Jakob [Schubert] and me, and it was Jakob who won today.”

Result:

1 – Jakob Schubert (AUT)

2 – Adam Ondra (CZE)

3 – Alberto Ginés López (ESP)

Featured image by Dimitris Tosidis.