After my tendon strain in late July, I could barely climb for over a month. I only went climbing like three times, but could not really do hard stuff which was really frustrating for me. Just under a week before the World Championship in Paris I went for the last team training at the Studio Bloc in Pfungstadt which should decide whether or not it makes sense to compete. Luckily the training went really good and only a few holds were still hurt my finger. So I decided to start in Paris even though I didn’t feel in best shape.
After a long warmup my fingers felt really good and barely hurt so I was really psyched and had a good feeling going into the comp. The first boulder wasn’t too hard and I could send it in just two attempts. I was really happy when I saw that the second boulder was a slab, which I was super comfortable with. I just stayed really calm and could secure myself a flash 😀 Well on slabs you don’t need finger power and that is my biggest weakness right now. The next boulder was steep and really crimpy, and after slipping off some footholds my finger started to hurt. So I decided not to waste too much energy here and get more rest for the last two boulders. On the last boulder I came to the last move already on my flash go, but then fell there three times…that really frustrated me ! I also fell on the top move of my last boulder and then could not stick the second move anymore. Ohh I hate those slippy lacquered volumes they had…
In the end 2 tops in 3 attempts got me a 33. Place at my first senior World Championships. I think that is a really good result considering my current shape and training effort, but it’s a little frustration to miss semi-finals sooo close once again :/ But I guess I can’t complain about it this time 😀
– Alex
