It's been a fantastic week for the GB Climbing Team at the World Youth Climbing Championships in Guangzhou, China. We've seen sterling performances and some impressive scores; read on for all our results.
Lead
After a beautiful opening ceremony in Guangzhou the day before, hundreds of young Lead athletes stepped into harnesses on Monday and slapped chalk on their hands to climb for the world title. Our athletes made short work of qualifiers on Monday and Tuesday, and all five GB climbers moved on to compete in the semi-finals on Wednesday; but unfortunately none of them progressed any further.
Molly Thompson-Smith – 9th
Reigning 2015 champion Ashima Shiraishi of the United States was the sole athlete to top every route in Youth B, giving the fifteen-year-old phenom her second set of flowers in just two IFSC World Youth Championships. The Slovenians dominated Youth A and Janja Garnbret earned her third major title of the season; she can now officially be called Overall champion, world champion and world youth champion of Lead. Meanwhile, Margo Hayes of the US upgraded last year's Silver for Gold in the Juniors.
For the Males, Sam Avezou won his second Gold in two years at just fifteen years old in Youth B. Giorgio Bendazzoli continued to distinguish himself from other Youth A athletes, rising seven holds above American Kai Lightner on the final route. And the Male Juniors category brought many surprises. Frontrunner Sascha Lehmann of Switzerland missed the Finals cut, and Semi-Finals leader Fedir Samoilov of Ukraine missed the podium. In the end, Simon Lorenzi of Belgium took home Gold.
Speed
GB Climbing had seven athletes competing in the speed event, four of which had entered into all three disciplines to contest the overall combined title.
Unfortunately none of our athletes made it past the qualification stages in an event which was dominated by the Russians.
Boulder
Tara Hayes had a fantastic boulder competition placing 2nd and William Bosi also shined in his performance to finish 3rd, giving Team GB medalists in both Male and Female Junior categories for the Boulder discipline.
Tara Hayes – 2nd
Most Juniors competitors solved the final problem on their first go, but only three athletes recorded additional Tops. Runner-up Baptiste Ometz of Switzerland and William Bosi of Great Britain were strong on M2, but Borna Cujic of Croatia also recorded an incredible flash of M1 for Gold. Tara Hayes of Great Britain required the fewest attempts to solve F1 for Silver.
WATCH: Highlights of the Female and Male Junior Boulder Finals
VIDEO
Combined
The new Olympic sport of the overall combined title was hotly contested and four GB athletes competed in the combined event, across all three disciplines of Lead, Boulder and Speed. After an epic seven days of competition, Will Bosi placed 2nd overall in the Junior Male category and 3rd in Boulder on the final evening of competition. Molly Thompson Smith showed great consistency placing 7th overall in Junior Female, Jim Pope finished 9th (Junior Male) and Emily Phillips 11th (Youth B Female).
William Bosi – 2nd
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