BUDAPEST – The Republic of Korea’s Seo Chaehyun picked a great moment to produce her best ever performance as she led the Women’s Boulder & Lead field through to the semifinals of the concluding OQS Budapest.
“It’s my first time to top all the boulders and (top) lead, so I am so proud of myself right now,” said Seo (above) after registering a perfect lead score of 100 on Friday.
Less than 24 hours before, she had scaled the top of all four boulder problems in qualification – two at the first attempt, one at the fifth and one on her sixth attempt. This gave her an overall score of 199.1 out of a maximum 200.
It is no wonder her father, also her coach, could not stop beaming in the Hungarian sunshine, especially since the pair had planned for just such a display after OQS Shanghai.
Seo Jongkuk, a former national ice climber, said: “We trained very hard after Shanghai, I was trying to give her more power. I wanted to make her confident when she is stretching (for a hold).
“Sometimes she complains but usually she follows my plan and I think it worked.”
It certainly did. USA’s Brooke Raboutou will not often score 99.5 in boulder and 96.1 in lead and come second but that is exactly what happened. Not that she was complaining.
“I am really happy actually, I think that’s a good breakthrough for me,” Raboutou said. “I haven’t felt the way I’ve wanted to on lead and I was able to just let loose and climb like myself.”
The duo will head into Saturday’s semifinals knowing that they are close to securing a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Things are very different for much of the rest of the field. After a stressful wait, Seo’s iconic teammate Kim Jain squeaked into the next stage as the 20th and final qualifier.
Great Britain’s Molly Thompson-Smith knows exactly how the two-time world champion feels. Occupying the final OQS qualification spot after the opening Shanghai event, she has been driving herself to distraction in the build-up to Budapest.
“The amount of hours I’ve wasted looking at the scoresheet from Shanghai and doing all sorts of imaginary and arbitrary maths in my head,” Thompson-Smith said.
A strong lead score of 88.1 means the 26-year-old can at last relax. At least until the semifinals start.
‘A lot to win and a lot to lose’
In a sign of just how nervy things are, even Spain’s Alberto Gines Lopez admitted that the pressure was getting to him. This from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games champion and a man sitting pretty in second place in the OQS rankings after Shanghai.
“My climbing wasn’t that good,” Gines Lopez said after his lead effort. “I didn’t feel that relaxed as I would like to, or that confident but there was a lot to win and a lot to lose in this round.”
But he obviously thrives under stress. His Friday score of 88.0 was enough to place him comfortably clear of Czech Adam Ondra, German Alexander Megos and the Republic of Korea’s Lee Dohyun – still defying a shoulder injury – as the top qualifier on 152.5.
With the chance to defend his Olympic title looming, Gines Lopez is delighted to have been through the OQS process.
“We are super used to the format, to the timings of the competition, when to warm-up, when to rest or even between boulder and lead what to do,” he said. “We are having super nice practice on that.
“Every round I can do with this format is a plus for Paris, if I get qualified.”
OIS ln/xl/wc
