UKC

Jorg Verhoeven recently penned a short Facebook post on the issues surrounding the upcoming European Bouldering Championships in Munich this August. His concerns - mirrored by many other athletes - revolved around the fact that the Munich round of the IFSC Boulder World Cup was effectively 'doubling up' as a European Championship event, bringing with it the associated problems of having separate qualifying groups. Following consultation with the Athletes' Commission and the IFSC, some changes have been made. Jorg sent us the following article to explain.

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In reply to UKC News:

>"those athletes that make it to the European top-10 in their groups, but do not qualify for WC semi-finals (top 20), will be allowed to compete in semi-finals immediately after the regular World Cup round. This round will decide the ECHB. A World Cup final will be held as usual, for which the extra athletes of course cannot qualify (since they didn't qualify for World Cup semi-finals)."

So am I understanding this right...?

1) The WC semi finals problems will have some extra Europeans climb them after those that have qualified for the proper WC semi finals.
2) The scores of the extra Europeans will be compared to those of the Europeans that have qualified for the proper WC semi finals and the ECHB winner will be whomever has the best score from this round regardless of whether or not they have qualified to progress in the WC competition.

Complicated but seems sort of reasonable...

In reply to UKC News:

A good result for all involved.

I guess this is the best solution given the circumstances. But if climber A wins the World Cup and ends up 5th in the Euro Champs, that's gonna be confusing. Same if climber B gets 4T4 in semis but can't climb in finals.

In reply to Angel P.:

Not to mention that it disadvantages European climbers who may want to tactically not perform at their best in the semis to save energy for the finals...

In reply to Angel P.:


If Climber B is capable of 4T4 on semifinal problems then s/he should have got his/her finger out in the Qualis. "Selber schuld", as we will be saying over here in Munich if/when that happens.

In reply to Angel P.:

And guess who has to answer all of the questions at the Technical meeting.

In reply to fraserbarrett:

Do you really think that people hold back? The margins are so small to get into the final, and countback counts

In reply to AlanLittle:

Sure, but I was referring to the spectators, who will see a climber doing very well and not making finals.

In reply to Angel P.:

And guess who has to brief the commentators (webcast and live).

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Hard to know at the very top end, but just the thought of it may affect performance. Sports psychology is a funny thing.

But all in all it sounds like the most pragmatic approach, in the given circumstances.

In reply to Angel P.:


Will they announce the winner of the ECH after the semis? People will know who's won it even if it's left til after the WC presentation.

They usually clear the spectators to set for the final, I wonder if confused people will think they've seen everything? So the euros will delay things a bit, or give the setters less time, plus is the field going to be bigger because there are euro climbers who might not have turned out for the WC? That would lengthen the day too.

Perhaps the crowd will think 2 for the price of 1 and enjoy a competitive end to the Euros.

In reply to winhill:

Yes we will announce the ECH winners immediately and then have the medal ceremonies straight away, for both the ECH Bouldering and the ECH Combined.

The spectators will (probably) get extra bang for their buck, at the extremes it could be an extra 40 athletes (if no Euros qualify for the WC semis) or zero (if only Euros qualify!).

Qualification day is going to be looooong, we had 224 athletes last year and we are expecting more, the day will start at 8am and finish at 10pm.