Climbing the walls for success

THE CLIMBING World Cup was last held at Edinburgh’s EICA:Ratho climbing centre in 2017, and the 189 male and female athletes who featured this year put on a superb display in front of a full house.

The event coincided with the announcement of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth, so the event only went ahead - with a social media blackout - following some high level consultation.

The first medals to be decided were for the speed climbers who ascend a 15-metre wall, with a 5 degree ‘overhang’ in well under 10 seconds and this genre witnessed two ‘firsts’.

The first ‘first’ was in the men’s event, where USA’s Samuel Watson won the first Speed Gold for his country, with China’s Long Jinbao and Spain’s Erik Noya Cardano taking Silver and Bronze

In the women’s final the second ‘first’ happened when the podium was occupied by Polish twins, Aleksandra and Natalia Kalucka, who won Gold and Silver, respectively, with USA’s Emma Hunt taking Bronze (see photo).

The lead competi ion was played out on EICA: Ratho’s big wall and was another nail-biting watch for the capacity crowd.

The qualifying and semi-finals took up all day Saturday and Sunday morning, and the climbers were whittled down to eight men and eight women for the finals and both competitions went down to the last seconds of the six minutes available.

With everyone’s eyes on Janja Garnbret of Slovenia, Japan’s Mori Ai quietly came up on the ropes and snatched Gold by a few seconds, both climbers having topped out. Bronze in the final went to South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun, who was last on the wall, but couldn’t quite match her rivals.

The men’s event also went down to the wire with USA’s

Jesse Grupper leaving it to, virtually, the last second to top out. Silver and Bronze in this event went to Slovenian, Luka Potocar , with GB’s Toby Roberts picking up his first, senior, World Cup medal.