UKC

British Medals in European Universities Championships

© EUSA

Two members of British university teams came home with a haul of medals at the annual EUSA European Universities Sport Climbing Championships in Split, Croatia in July. Ajda Remškar (University of Edinburgh) and GB team member Jen Wood (University of Sheffield) won in the Boulder and Lead events respectively and both placed top three in the overall competition.

Ajda Remškar won Gold in the Boulder event and Jen Wood placed 2nd  © EUSA
Ajda Remškar won Gold in the Boulder event and Jen Wood placed 2nd
© EUSA

Mathematics student Ajda - who is a former member of the Slovenian youth climbing team - won the women's Boulder event, just ahead of Jen in 2nd place. On the following day, Jen won the Lead category and Ajda finished 3rd. Their respectable results in Speed (Ajda 7th, Jen 9th) also secured Jen a win in the combined (Lead, Boulder, Speed) and Ajda a win in the 'supercombined' (Boulder, Speed) - a category unique to the European Universities event.

Jen and Ajda on the combined podium  © EUSA
Jen and Ajda on the combined podium
© EUSA

The schedule for the competition was very intense, with qualifications and finals in Lead and Boulder and the usual Speed format all taking place in a period of just three days.

Ajda told UKC:

'Having finished 4th at the European University Games last year, I'd been hoping to get a medal - I didn't know exactly what to expect from my shape since lead has always been my discipline, but I'd only trained bouldering this time round. It started off with bouldering and I felt really good throughout the whole day, especially during the finals where I just had so much fun climbing. Having won that, I was obviously over the moon but also relieved as the pressure was off for Lead the next day.'

Ajda competing in the Lead event  © EUSA
Ajda competing in the Lead event
© EUSA

She added:

'I wasn't satisfied with my climb in the lead final because I have never seen a route more suited to my style and I managed to screw up in the end, but it was still enough for Bronze and 2nd in the overall. I am always striving for perfection so the climbing could have been better but coming back home with a full set was just fantastic, I'm really pleased!'

photo
Jen on her way to winning the Lead finals
© EUSA

Jen - who has just completed her biochemistry studies - commented: 'The Sheffield team performed really well and made it a very fun trip! It was a great way to finish my time at uni.'

In the University Cup rankings, the University of Sheffield placed 4th as a team and the University of Edinburgh 7th.

More information and full results here.


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