Arco 2015, Day Two: Five Canadians Advance to Bouldering Semis

Boulder qualifications at the World Youth Climbing Championships are officially complete. The trend of hard problems from yesterday continued today.

Canada had 13 male athletes competing today; one extra in the Youth A category because Lucas won Gold at the last PanAm Games in Mexico City. In Male Youth B, Ontario’s Manh Ellis, Mitchell Haight and Zach Richardson, and Quebec’s Guillaume Sirois. In Male Youth A, B.C.’s Hayden Jones and Kyle Murdoch, Ontario’s Dylan Saffery and Lucas Uchida, and Alberta’s Simon Yamamoto. In Male Junior, Alberta’s Andrew Funk, B.C.’s Tristen Gosselin, and Ontario’s Nathan Smith and Sam Tiukavaara.

Zach led the way for the Canadian male athletes today with a fifth place finish in Youth B. Zach is the only male athlete to advance to tomorrow’s bouldering semi-finals. Filip Schenk from Italy leads the Youth B category with three tops in six attempts.

With 94 competitors, Male Youth A was the largest category today. All the Canadian athletes climbed hard but were unable to advance to semi-finals. Kyle and Lucas will have another chance when they compete in Lead later this week. There is a three way tie for first place in the Youth A category. Yoshiyuki Ogata from Japan, Baptiste Ometz from Switzerland, and Hugo Parmentier from France all topped three in seven with four bonus in eight.

Nathan Smith narrowly missed topping a second boulder in Junior which would have seem him through to semi-finals. Sam Tiukuvaara climbed strong, reaching bonus on all four of his boulders, but was unable to find the top. Tomoa Narasaki from Japan topped all four boulders in six attempts earning him first place in the Junior category going into semi-finals.

Canada has five athletes competing in tomorrow’s boulder semi-finals. In Female Youth B, B.C.’s Sophie Buitendyk. In Female Youth A, Alberta’s Eva Thompson and Ontario’s Beth Vince.

In Female Junior, Alberta’s Becca Frangos. In Male Youth B, Ontario’s Zach Richardson. Athletes will climb in reverse order from qualification (20th place climbs first and first place climbs last).

For reports from Arco by Shane Murdoch on prep, see here, and on day one, see here. For the full schedule, see here.

[shareprints gallery_id=”14707″ gallery_type=”thumb_slider” gallery_position=”pos_center” gallery_width=”width_100″ image_size=”large” image_padding=”0″ theme=”dark” image_hover=”false” lightbox_type=”slide” titles=”true” captions=”true” descriptions=”true” comments=”true” sharing=”true”]– All photos by Shane Murdoch, a B.C.-based climber and photographer covering the Arco competition for Gripped.