UKC

The second round of the 2017 IFSC Boulder World Cup kicked off in Chongqing, China last weekend.

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In reply to UKC News:

It was good to watch, but the judges on the last mens problem were very frustrating and inconsistent.

In reply to UKC News:

Just as well no one was paying to view this as the camera work was shockingly bad. Just one tip, try not to pick the exact moment one of the finalists is making their final attempt on a problem to cover the screen with a score table.

In reply to UKC News:

I really enjoyed that. I thought the camera work wasn't too bad most of the time, especially when both male and female competitors could be watched clearly from the one camera angle. But yeah there were a few bad moments here and there.

The worst moment was seeing Alexey timed out on M4. He got one hand on the finish hold but the other hand arrived 2s too late. The end of the 4+ rule really was poor decision. Bad for the men's slab too. Hope they reverse it.

Cool to Janja give Shauna some competition. Was very close between them in the final.

I also thought Michaela climbed really well in the semi. She was really close to topping two other boulders and had she done so would have qualified in second place. I think she has a really good chance of a podium this year.

Overall a great final with some really cool blocs, just the right level, and the winners only decided on the very last goes of the very last problems.

In reply to stp:


I know she's made loads of sacrifices this year, training instead of climbing outside etc, so it's good to see it coming together for her and see her realising some of her potential.

10 Japanese men in the semi-finals. Sensational result. Whatever their management team are doing...it's working.

British male competition climbing is decidedly poor.

In reply to becauseitsthere:
Compared to the Japanese, everyone is looking decidedly poor!

Basically, they are MUCH better funded and the JMA take competition climbing much more seriously than the BMC; our athletes have to pay their own way, and China is a very expensive trip. We cant even afford to send a team to the European Youth Championships.

But not to get too despondent; one comp is not fully representative. Dave Barrans was 7th in the last world champ, and won a ronze medal in the world champs a few years ago. Will Bosi and Tara Hayes also medalled at the world championships last september, and Shauna Coxsey isnt bad.
And yes, Shauna and Tara arent blokes, but just thought I'd get a mention for them.

In reply to Ian W:

If only we'd changed our name like the JMA, then we'd have been able to get taxpayers moneys to fund our athletes ......

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Naughty Chris.

I suppose you could put a motion forward at the next AGM.......

In reply to Ian W:

Wow, I'm genuinely amazed the British team have to fund themselves round the circuit. I've much said about how Alexy Rubstov earns money at a wall in order to fund his trips round the World Cups. I never realised the same applies to the whole British team. I'd also thought that paying for that was what all the fuss was about with competition climbing and the BMC funding. Maybe if more people realised that they wouldn't whinge so much. So the only travel the BMC are paying for then is the coach/team manager then?

In addition to the above I also rate Nathan Philips and Michaela Tracy (who even did a problem in the last comp that Shauna failed to do).

Having said that at the moment the Japanese, for whatever reason, are looking particularly strong. I was wondering if it was something about their genetics. Isn't the average size smaller than Europeans, so better power to weight? The population is also double that of here so they have a much bigger pool of talent from which to draw on. Jongwon Chon also looked like he was on another level at the CWIF this year.

In reply to stp:


Don't you remember the 2014 crowdfunding campaign?

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/-Support-GB-Bouldering-at-World-Cups

Part of the problem has to be the number and distance of the rounds of a world cup circuit, as the IFSC seems to have found out with the streaming issue.

There is also a general problem in the UK of getting sponsorship for competition climbing, realistically this is what the whole Sport England, BMC, MoNC this weekend has been about, the high cost of participation in comps and where the cash is going to come from.

In reply to stp:

I suspect climbing isn't yet at a level where genetic limits play much of a role. Austrians are genetically reasonably similar to Brits, and there are a lot fewer of them, neither of which stopped them dominating the competition climbing scene for years.

I suspect it's more to do with who - out of the teams with support & funding - happens to have a good general scene, the best coaching setup etc. at that particular time. Reini Scherer as head coach in Innsbruck seems to have been a huge influence.

(I was going to go on and say that the "Austrian" national team was in fact pretty much the Tyrol national team, so drawing on an even smaller population base, but then I fact-checked myself and two of the first four names I googled - Johanna Ernst & Kilian Fischhuber - aren't from Tyrol. So that was the end of that idea)

In reply to stp:


We get enough to pay for entries, chaperone / coaches travel for the youth events, and er.....thats it. Everything else is done on a voluntary basis, and is paid for by the athletes / parents. Often athletes at senior events "double up" as "manager" to save costs. Other national bodies are far more willing to pay up for international representation, whereas we are not. We wont be sending a team to the European youth championships this year because we simply cant afford it. We get lots of "moral" support from within, but as soon as there is a danger of more money going towards the team, that support miraculously evaporates. I dont entirely blame the BMC hierarchy; we are after all a representative body.

And I didnt miss anyone off the athletes list on purpose; I was only listing those who had won medals. Michaela, dont forget made the world championship final in 2015. ALL the athletes are brilliant in their attitude and approach, and deserve far better than they get; its a privilege to work with them.

In reply to Ian W:

How are the team getting on with their Speed training?

In reply to becauseitsthere:

It passes by in a flash......

In reply to winhill:

No I must have missed the crowd funder campaign.

Whilst I can see the high cost of comps is a valid concern the impression I'd got was that the MoNC brigade came more from a prejudice against certain kinds of climbing, rather than funding. But that's only an impression.

I'm guessing the cost of travel then might be the reason Matt Cousins doesn't enter the World Cups perhaps.

It seems especially sad for Brits then. No sponsorship to cover travel costs on the one hand. And virtually no World Cups over here either (well there's a lead one in Scotland this year - hope it's not just a one off).

In reply to Ian W:


And no coaching? I thought I'd seen the odd Team GB coaching session at the Climbing Works before and presumed that was going on elsewhere too?



Well said. Seems a shame they don't get more, particularly since Britain has such a long rich history of climbing, compared to many of the other countries now doing so well in World Cups.

In reply to stp:

Our boulderers are 3rd in the world rankings form last season - we punch well above our weight!
There are coaching sessions at various locations throughout the year; the coaches give their time voluntarily, and put a huge effort into preparing the ground for the development squad and world class programme required for the UK Sport funding bid.
we get brilliant support from many walls, who not only allow us access for coaching, but have been known to put their hands in their pockets to help athletes get to various comps.

In reply to stp:

We have had a few male finalists and podium makers over the years - Andy Earl, Gaz Parry, Mark Croxall and Dave Barrans. I think an important point to note is that the circuit has grown in both number of entrants and the scope of the locations. Years ago there were more European rounds (it appeared, perhaps I am wrong?) as the reach of the comps wasn't so global. Also, the funding in some countries has likely increased whilst ours has stagnated/decreased. More money equals more training opportunities and more competition entries and more experience which is crucial for doing well competitively. We also don't have enough competitions in the UK for lead climbing. One national event, one day each year. Many countries have national competitions in multiround 'Cup' formats which means more events and experience (and cost, inevitably) and easier access to other events in mainland Europe.

Our podiums in previous years show that we have the talent, and athletes will put even more work in if funding opportunities arise. In summary, money is definitely a limiting factor for Team GB! Many of the frequent international finalists are both climbing full time professionally and receiving funding from other sources i.e. governing body, whilst most Brits are juggling full time jobs and not getting any other financial support.

NB Typing on phone so apologies if garbled!

In reply to stp:


Er, lead & bouldering world cups have been won by climbers from from France, Spain, Czech, Slovenia, Japan, Austria, Korea, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, the USA and Belgium.

I'm not quite grasping the obvious lack of long rich history of climbing on that list. All of them have produced everything from long lists of alpine & Himalayan loons to, well, competition climbing world champions. (Apart from Ukraine & Belgium, for which the list consists of one person, Muriel Sarkany)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFSC_Climbing_World_Cup

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Don't forget Stew Watson made a few finals as did our very own ginger ninja, Ned! And more recently Tyler - who was a matter of inches away from winning the Meiringen comp last year.

In reply to AlanLittle:

British climbing (free rock climbing) goes back much further, well before the start of competition climbing. Germany, France, Italy and the US also have longer histories of free climbing. But the other countries? I don't think they've been around anywhere near as long.