Tokyo 2020 Olympians Bassa Mawem (FRA) and Aleksandra 'Ola' Miroslaw (POL) have qualified for their second Olympic Games in Paris 2024 by winning the European Speed Qualifier in Rome. Great Britain's Rafe Stokes qualified for the final and finished 15th.
© Jan Virt/IFSC
Mawem beat Marcin Dzienski (POL) in the final with a time of 5.28 versus Dzienski's 5.34 seconds.
Hryhorii Ilchyshyn (UKR) finished third in the small final against Leander Carmanns (GER) (5.31 versus 5.33 seconds).
In qualification, Miroslaw set her seventh world record in a row of 6.24 seconds. A tense all-Polish final between Miroslaw and Aleksandra Kalucka was won convincingly by Miroslaw (6.36/7.41 seconds) after a slip by Kalucka.
Miroslaw told the IFSC: "It was like magic. In the world they say that every road leads to Rome, now my road to Paris starts in Rome! I am really happy to be here, to be part of this event. It's been a while since I've enjoyed an event this much. I finally found a really good mindset, I'm really proud of myself, I'm emotionally and physically exhausted, but it was worth it."
© Jan Virt/IFSC
Kalucka's twin sister, 2021 World Champion Natalia Kalucka, finished third after a fall by Capucine Viglione (FRA) in the small final.
Mawem is the first French athlete in Sport Climbing to qualify for a home Games in Paris, where 28 Speed and 40 Boulder & Lead athletes will compete. In Tokyo 2020, Mawem qualified for the Combined final, but a bicep tendon tear meant that he could not participate further.
He told the IFSC:
"I'm very happy, I knew I had two chance to qualify for the Olympics. I've always wanted to end my career at the best event in the world, and now I can. It was very hard to end my competition in Tokyo with an injury, now I just want to focus on being at my very best next year, in Paris."
Mawem and Miroslaw both hold the current Olympic Speed records, at 5.45 and 6.84 seconds respectively. Paris 2024 marks the first time that Speed will be separate from the Boulder & Lead disciplines.
They join the four previously-qualified Speed athletes from the IFSC World Championships in August: Matteo Zurloni (ITA), Jinbao Long (CHN), Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi (INA) and Emma Hunt (USA).
The European Lead & Boulder qualifier takes place in Laval, France from 26-29 September.
Speed Men
| Rank | Name | Nation | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bassa Mawem | FRA | 5.28 |
| 2 | Marcin Dzienski | POL | 5.34 |
| 3 | Hryhorii Ilchyshyn | UKR | 5.31 |
| 4 | Leander Carmanns | GER | 5.33 |
| 5 | Ludovico Fossali | ITA | 7.10 (5.35) |
| 6 | Luca ROBBIATI | ITA | 5.65 (5.40) |
| 7 | Yaroslav Tkach | UKR | FALSE START (5.42) |
| 8 | Erik Noya Cardona | ESP | FALSE START (5.48) |
| 9 | Pierre Rebreyend | FRA | 5.41 (5.26) |
| 10 | Gian Luca Zodda | ITA | 5.489 (5.44) |
| 11 | Guillaume Moro | FRA | 5.51 (5.45) |
| 12 | Kostiantyn Pavlenko | UKR | 11.03 (5.60) |
| 13 | Marceau Garnier | FRA | 6.16 (5.64) |
| 14 | Sebastian Lucke | GER | 5.64 |
| 15 | Rafe Stokes | GBR | 5.92 (5.70) |
| 16 | Oskar Szalecki | POL | FALL (5.75) |
| 17 | Lawrence Bogeschdorfer | AUT | Qual: 5.93 |
| 18 | Linus Bader | GER | Qual: 6.063 |
| 19 | Alessandro Boulos | ITA | Qual: 6.069 |
| 20 | Jan Kriz | CZE | Qual: 6.14 |
| 22 | Matthew Fall | GBR | Qual: 6.39 |
Speed Women
| Rank | Name | Nation | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandra Mirosław | POL | 6.36 |
| 2 | Aleksandra Kalucka | POL | 7.41 |
| 3 | Natalia Kalucka | POL | 7.26 |
| 4 | Capucine Viglione | FRA | FALL |
| 5 | Beatrice Colli | ITA | 7.14 (7.07) |
| 6 | Carla Martínez Vidal | ESP | FALL (7.12) |
| 7 | Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez | ESP | 7.32 (7.27) |
| 8 | Lison Gautron | FRA | FALL (7.35) |
| 9 | Victoire Andrier | FRA | Qual: 7.39 |
| 10 | Manon Lebon | FRA | Qual: 7.458 |
| 11 | Patrycja Chudziak | POL | Qual: 7.459 |
| 12 | Oksana Burova | UKR | Qual: 8.04 |
| 13 | Alina Shchyharieva | UKR | Qual: 8.42 |
| 14 | Giulia Randi | ITA | Qual: 8.79 |
Comments
Really pleased for Bassa after that horrific injury at the last Olympics.
What a miserable comment. Rafe finished 15th in Europe with 2 runs under 6 seconds. I'd say that's pretty impressive.
Firstly, it wasn't Great Britain as a team that came 15th, it was one particular guy, so mocking the achievement seems slightly mean-spirited towards that individual.
Secondly, this is speed climbing, a pursuit that almost nobody here partakes in, so I don't think we could ever expect to see great team achievements. Even an extraordinarily well-organised governing body with limitless funding* can't create many successful athletes when there's no significant base of people participating in the sport.
*And clearly the BMC/GB Climbing are neither of those things right now, but pinning this on them seems silly
So what if we are far behind the rest of the world? We've got years of work to do to catch the big speed nations - that doesn't mean we're not progressing significantly. For example...
In 2022, the British record was still held by Will Bosi with 7.07 seconds; now it's held by Rafe Stokes with 5.588 from the British champs the other day. He's taken a second and a half off the national record, in just 15 months. You still reckon there's no positive spin??
I wonder if there's some medication you could take to address the exceptionalism that leads you to think that GB should be world beaters at a sport it's only taken seriously for a couple of years.
I think you've hit the nail on the "Ed" here...Ed! "A sport the BMC have only taken seriously for a couple of years!" Cripes! When did Nadin qualify? 1989 if my memory serves me correctly. 34 years ago. In the meantime, all the other European nations have been taking competition climbing seriously .... for 34 years and that is why we are so far behind.
I'm not for one minute belittling individual achievements from our British competitors. I'm just pointing out we have a very looooonnnnnnnggggggggg way to go in terms of being on a level field with what's going on in the rest of the world.
Ian Dunn made a valid comment a few week's back when he said the training facilities for competition climbing in the UK were inadequate, with no specific 'centre of excellence'. It's also about mind-set as well. Ian Vicker's father mentioned the lack of funds and expensive costs associated with competing. Surely, this is an 'obstacle' any competitor at National Level shouldn't have to worry about... whatever their discipline be it leading, bouldering or speed climbing.. Their focus should be to concentrate on scoring points and achievement. Not where the next few quid is coming from to buy their lunch and pay their fuel to get back home!