Setting and solving the no-tex crack on Ondra’s return to action ¦ Prague 2024

Hello and welcome to Prague for a Boulder World Cup in the heart of this historic city. Now as usual we've got lots of action, interviews and more, but before we go any further I want you to hammer that subscribe button and join us on the World Climbing Club. Today it's qualifying time for the men and women, so let's get on with the action. The big names were out in force in Prague and Japan have brought a big team. Serato and Raku has qualified for semifinals in first place with four tops out of five in his group. Toby Roberts is fresh from his win at the lead comp in copper recently. Can the GB's Olympic gold medallist make it two World Cup golds in a row? Team France's top qualifier was Sam Avazu in his group. The European boulder champ on form at the moment and looks strong, getting four tops, but as we know he won't be happy with anything apart from finals, so he'll have to focus hard over the next few days. Climbing in front of his home crowd and with all eyes on him is Adam Ondra. He took a bit of a break after the Olympics to focus on rock climbing, but now he's back on the IFSC stage. We have an interview with Adam later in the show, so stay tuned for that. Let's have a look at who made it through to the semifinals and remember only 20 athletes can qualify for that round. Down at the bottom is France's Samuel Richard and Japan's Yuji Fujiwaki with two and three tops respectively. Remember the athletes are in two groups. France's Manu Korno is on his return from injury and will, as always, put on a good show in semis. The OQS winner Dohyun Lee will also climb again and looked especially good on the slab. His teammate Jeon Won-chon is the second Korean athlete to make it. Keep an eye on Austria's Nikolai Usnik, who had a great round with three tops. Do you love or hate a crack? It's a bit like Marmite, isn't it? Well, there is a crack in the qualifying for the men, so let's find out more about it. Now you guys know how hard the route setters work. We managed to steal a few minutes with Sergio and Sergio, you're chief route setter here, so what does that actually mean? Yeah, I'm chief route setter here in the World Cup for the first time. Chief route setter is the leader of the team, so you need to manage the team on the route setting days to make the best out of this time. This time we had a bit less time because of the rain, but I think the team is motivated and we are pushing hard, so I hope we will do a good job. Okay, now we stayed behind a boulder that caught my eye the second I walked in because I saw a no-texture crack in copper for the lead competition, and now you've got a no-texture crack for the boulder, so it's kind of cool. We're seeing that style come in a bit more. Yeah, I mean the no-texture is not to play with the no-texture, it's just to make it nicer, to not have technical incidents with the blood or nothing. So yeah, it's just to make it more smooth and don't have any problem during the run. Yeah, we tried to propose something different because we have five boulders, so I think we can represent climbing with a lot of styles, and we thought the route setter of this boulder thought that it's a nice idea to propose, so we tried something different. I hadn't thought about the no-texture and the skin, that's a really good point, because if it had friction and people are falling out of it, there's going to be blood, it takes time, we don't want that. And also it's safer, so like this, I hope no one gets stuck like a few years ago, so yeah, let's hope. Well, I'm a bit rubbish at jamming to be honest, like I should be better, but I've never jammed on a no-texture boulder, so for people who don't know what jamming is, what's the basic principle? I'm not even professional jamming, but yeah, on this case it's fist jam, thumb inside of the hand, then close your fist and then make pressure with both sides, so yes, I think this is not so bad, I don't say it's the best technique, but yeah, and then try to squeeze and yes. Yeah, because someone else set this boulder, but obviously you know about it, and I watched the guys earlier on crushing it. I'm going to have a go, I've got my shorts on, I'm all ready, I haven't got climbing shoes, and you've put a nice big yellow hole for me to stand on. Okay, well I'm going to give it a go, and I guess I don't really need chalk, because it's... Okay, all right, well I'm going to give you the mic, I'm going to have a go, let's see how this works. Oh, it was a longer effort, almost one. Yeah, almost, like almost, that is so much hard, like I knew it would be difficult, but it's way harder than it looks. All right man, well look, we're going to leave the pros to this, we're going to cut to some qualifying shots, let's see how the experts got on. The crack did prove challenging, with athletes using a variety of methods to get through it, some jamming, others using alternative techniques, but it certainly confused a few. Sam Abazu trusted that left fist, and went out to the zone with ease. Tomoa Narasaki opted for a higher left jam in the crack for his turn, but that worked equally well. Seratu Anraku was struggling for a while, and eventually he used more of a layback and elevator door opening style move, and a clever foot jam. Older World Cups are all about problem solving. Adam Ondra is a bit of a crack climbing expert, and as expected, had no problems with the climb. We of course wanted to speak to Adam, and found a few moments just after his qualification. Adam, we've literally grabbed you at the back of isolation. First of all, talk to me about Prague, because this event is your event, it seems like, all the crowd are behind you. Is it stressful, or do you enjoy being in that environment? Absolutely, it is very enjoyable. I mean, I was waiting for a majority of my career to climb in the front of my home ground at the World Cup, and it took like 14 years until last year. And honestly, like, yes, after the Olympics, I was a bit disappointed, frustrated, I didn't really have much, you know, hunger to compete, and let alone to train for this, like, special style. But, you know, knowing at the back of your mind that if it happens, and you'll be climbing in the finals in the front of the home crowd, it's, you know, it's impossible to forget. So, I think the crowd doesn't help me at all for the qualifiers, because, you know, if it's like a regular World Cup, you know, I know it can happen, you know, qualifiers are very cruel around, but to be honest, I think most of these people would not really understand, hey, how did it happen that I didn't make semis, you know? So, I'm pretty happy that I think it worked out today. The results are not final, but I think I'm pretty confident that it's going to happen, and from now on, I can enjoy. I think, you know, the main goal has been reached, and I will climb in the semis, and the semis, I will definitely enjoy a lot. That's good, because the crowd would have killed you if you hadn't done that. No, it's not the easiest situation to be in, and like, to be honest, yeah, like Jakob Schubert in Innsbruck was just one place out of semis, so it's pretty easy not to be in the semis in the bouldering round. You talked about the Olympics, and like, there was disappointment after that, but when you walked out just now, you flashed boulder number one. Did you get that feeling, you know, the butterflies in your stomach? Were you like, oh, this is actually where I want to be? Yeah, absolutely, but it's like a combination of both. So, when I arrived, I saw the boulder round, oh, I really like this boulder round. This is like rock climbing, so I just went out and flashed it, and it felt really good. So, it really depends on, like, if I go out, I think, like, no matter how much I want to, like, play the game according to the good, according to the good rules, so I don't get, like, frustrated, like, way too before, even before I actually start climbing, I think it really helps me. If I see the boulders which I like, then it's really easy to climb well. Talking to you about boulders you like, there's a crack out there. Did you enjoy that? I mean, you're quite notorious for being good at crack climbing. I was disappointed it wasn't harder, because I think there are two footholds and one handhold which were completely pointless. You didn't need it, and I would love to try this boulder round without, like, the zone hold, just, like, straight fist crack, straight up reaching into the top hold. I think that would be, like, the right difficulty. You need to give me some tips then, because I tried it yesterday, and I just slid straight out of it. I couldn't do it at all, but that was quite easy for you. Yeah, I think, like, physically it's, like, way the easiest boulder round. I think it's, like, sixty if you know how to gem. God, I hate you now. Okay, fair enough. But knowing how to gem is hard if you never ever do it, you know? It's just a different sport. Fair enough. My ego's now been crushed. Last question for me. I know you've been talking about the Olympics, and, you know, it was one of those comps that wasn't quite the way you wanted. If LA has more medals, would you still go for just lead, do you think? Or is it something that you've kind of cleared from your mind now? So, if there are three sets of medals and lead is the single discipline, there is a really high possibility that I will go for it, but I wouldn't say it's for sure. I just want to take two seasons where I kind of accomplish my outdoor projects and dreams, and then I have a time to think about it. So, hang on, are you going to go away for two seasons, or are you going to come back? I think the right strategy for me to kind of keep up with the others in the lead comps is like to do one or two comps a season to know where I'm at, and think of it also the preparation for the comps as a preparation for my outdoor project. But I don't want to do like the full season, and I know I need a break. My body needs a break, my mind needs a break, and I want to feel, you know, what I am as a car, and I feel like the last five years I was just trying to push myself more into the competition direction, and I was just missing the outdoor stuff too much. Well, I can't wait to see you on real rock. Good luck with the projects, and hopefully we'll see you in finals here in Prague. Well done, Adam. Thanks. With the men done, it was time for the women to compete. Two groups and five boulders per group. GB's Erin McNeese is through, topping her group and sending all the boulders. Returning to comps is Natalia Grossman, who also climbed all five. Shion So is just inside the top 10. A great performance. Japan continued to crush. The women's team will be out in force in semis. Of course, Team France was also good. Nally Mignon and Zelia Avezou safe. So it's time for the IFSC gridwalk. You know the drill by now. I go and find some athletes, and we're about a quarter way through the women's qualifying session, so there are some people hanging around. There's Erin McNeese over here. Let's see if we can grab her. First of all, I haven't seen you since Paris. Congratulations on that. How are you feeling after all that settled down a bit now? I think like my body, I was really psyched to get back into training, but I definitely had to take a bit of a rest. So I haven't been doing too much. You are looking like ridiculously strong at the moment. Every time I watch you, I sort of my mouth drops some more. Are you feeling good right now? I wasn't feeling too good coming into this comp. It sort of tweaked my finger and cofas, so I've been trying to recover from that. But I felt really good on the wall today. Hey, Zelia, how are you doing? Nice, thank you. How was your qualifying round? I had fun. I hope it's enough for semis, but I still don't know. It was cool climbing in a bouldering round with no pressure. Yes, it was amazing watching you. Congratulations, as usual. I hope, fingers crossed for semifinals. Thank you. Right, let's continue our walk, shall we, down here. We've got lots of members of the audience. Hello, guys. You've looked at me, so I'm going to say hello. Are you enjoying the women's competition? Yes, very much. Who do you think is going to win the women's? We have a bet ongoing. I'm saying Natalie Crossman and he's saying Erin McNeese. Oh, OK. I like this. It's like USA versus Great Britain. That's good. We'll see what happens. Team Japan out in force. Let's go and have a word with Mao, shall we? How was your qualifying rounds? How were the boulders? I think it was a hard round, but everyone stopped. Are you going to the South Korea competition? Yes. Are you competing in lead and boulder or just boulder? Lead and boulder. I'm not good at lead climbing. OK, I think you are pretty good at lead, but fair enough. I'll see you in a bit. I've just spotted the best sunglasses in the business. You have the best sunglasses on. No, please put them back on. They are incredible. The glare is so bad. They are amazing. You look really good on the wall today. How was qualifying for you? It was really fun. I enjoyed all the boulders. I didn't have the best time on the slab. I really liked the vibe here in Prague. It was fun. I'm actually going to talk to your sister for a sec. You follow Osh around the world. You act as a coach with her as well? Actually, that's more me. I did it last year. I made it this year. We share. So you both share the duties with Osh. It's been really, really great. It's always super fun to just be able to support her and get her where she wants to be. I mean, we're three sisters traveling the world together. You can't go wrong. When you put it like that, it sounds like complete carnage. No, it's so much fun. Honestly, it's the sunshine and rainbows. It's a good time. I want to hear the stories you won't tell me on air later on. For now, we'll leave it like that. Cool, guys. I'll talk to you in a bit. And welcome back to the circuit, because it's so nice to have you back in Salt Lake. How are you feeling? How's the knee? How's all the injuries? Everything OK? Yeah, I feel like I felt a couple of years ago mentally, and it feels really good just to feel that, I don't know, excitement again and just be back physically and mentally connected and not worrying about my knee and Olympics and other things. So are you doing the rest of the season as well? Are you in South Korea? I'll be in Korea for boulders. No lead. Best of luck for that one. Hopefully we'll see you in semifinals tomorrow. Thank you. So here's the top 20 women. Slovenia's Jennifer Buckley joins Erin McNeice on the top spot, both athletes climbing all five boulders in their group. Jennifer's teammate Katja Debovitz was equally impressive, and she's inside of the top five, sending the powerful climbs that suited her style. The highest placing Japanese athlete was Anon Matsufuchi, and she joins Mao Nakamura and Melody Sekigawa in the next round. Cruising into semis is Osh McKenzie, clearly that double sister support playing off. And Alma Bestvarta is part of a strong German team, three moving forward, and Alma will be looking to beat her last World Cup performance of 15th in Innsbruck. Andrea Kumin and Sofia Yokoyama, representing Switzerland, will climb again. So that's it for today's World Climbing Club. Semifinals and finals to come for the men and women, so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any of the action.