Despite the muggy August weather, Paris’s Le Bourget township was the place to be this morning as eight men squared off in the Boulder finals. After the poor showing in the men’s Boulder semifinal on Monday and Lead semifinal on Wednesday, route setters were reportedly working on this set until 4 a.m. this morning, fine-tuning the sequences that would help determine who will walk away today as an Olympic Sport Climbing medalist. They did an excellent job—and paved the way for an exciting Lead final.
A devious start followed by big jumps and barn doors defined the “electric” Boulder 1. Commentator Petra Klinger noted that, according to setters, the “awkward” start could be done facing in or, easier, splayed facing out. But everyone opted for the inward version. Great Britain’s Hamish McArthur was up first and impressively flashed both zone 1 (via a creative, static beta that involved essentially crawling up the start volumes) and zone 2. McArthur’s commanding third-go top looked quite casual. Colin Duffy, of Broomfield, CO, opted for a dynamic sequence to start the problem, which gave him some trouble at first. But Duffy ultimately topped the problem on his sixth attempt, flashing the moves from zone 2 to the top, reminding us that he’s one of the most powerful climbers of his generation.
After Paul Jenft (FRA) reverted to McArthur’s steady, crawling opening beta, I naively thought we’d see competitors do the boulder one of two ways. But Austria’s Jakob Schubert thought up a new sequence to zone 2 on the fly: lurching to a huge blue hole while simultaneously catching a yellow undercling with his left hand to check his swing. Schubert seemed to think of this simul-catch midway through his sequence, and his reflexes were too slow to stick it. He had better coordination on his next attempt and coolly climbed to the top.
McArthur’s quick work became more impressive as the round went on, after defending gold medalist Ginés López failed to reach zone one after eight attempts and then Adam Ondra (CZE) struggled to move past it (eventually snagging zone 2). Toby Roberts (GBR) displayed his steely fingers while making quick work of the problem, but Japan’s Sorato Anraku undoubtedly took the cake—his quick flash was casual and committed.
Boulder 2’s smeary, technical nature was, in my opinion, the least satisfying to watch: a repetitive series of desperately sloping feet and distant 3mm sidepull crimps. Competitors would invariably struggle to stand on their feet—or be unable to hold their swing as they lurched from bad hold to bad hold. The field’s performance was all over the place here: Ginés López barely reached zone 1, while many more peeled off going to the final hold. It seemed like Anraku was signed up for a predetermined fate as he painstakingly foot-matched on the blobby yellow feet between zone 1 and 2. But his patience was evident, and with a quiet, exacting strength he became the first and only climber to top Boulder 2.
Boulder 3 was powerful and technical and frankly looked exhausting. McArthur executed some sick, shouldery campusing to reach zone 1, and then a desperate mantle to zone 2. But right beneath the top he stalled on a scrunched-up undercling match and completely drained his power reserves. He fell, then lay panting on the mat for several seconds before calling it after just two attempts. (Later competitors would spot a hidden crimp on the top volume that McArthur appeared to miss.)
I must say: Ondra underperformed on the boulders today. Though historically quite powerful, Ondra failed to reach zone 1 after multiple uninspired attempts. He has, however, had a history of shoulder problems—which may be why he opted against the shouldery dyno to which all the other competitors committed. Still, his failure on Boulder 3, and his mis-read of Boulder 1, set him up terribly for the Lead round.
Toby Roberts, meanwhile, was absolutely firing. He was the only climber to top the boulder via a reachy, powerful deadpoint that avoided the aforementioned desperate mantle, and some tech-wizard footwork.
Also important: there was an appeal against Schubert by Team France who said he didn’t hold the low zone. The appeal was successful, so his points were lowered by five—putting that much more pressure on him to perform well in the Lead round.
Coordination problems are often crowd favorites—and this one was mine as well. There was an “easy-ish” jump (according to the setters) to zone 1, followed by a three-part paddle dyno to reach zone 2. McArthur shone once again here, where, rather than deal with some miserably sloping blue loafs, he executed a legitimately huge dyno to climb directly from zone 1 to 2. (No other competitor even attempted this beta, which in hindsight seems all the more visionary and creative.) A lot of momentum-generating swinging (seriously, lots of swinging) stood between zone 2 and the top, and McArthur fell without really being close. He rose from the mat with a cheeky smirk, as if to say, What the hell was that? It was a brutal distance between holds. Duffy was more successful at generating the swing and was the first (and only) athlete to combine the power and precision required to grab the final hold: a little blue blob with two mono-pockets side by side.
Boulder 4, however, was less climactic than it could have been; after Duffy’s top, the field low-pointed from there. Ondra looked tired on the supposedly “easy” first move, eventually getting zone 1 but no higher. Even Anraku, who looked so powerful all morning, only reached zone 2 on his third attempt.
All in all, it was a fantastic start to the day’s proceedings.
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