The competition is more popular every year and this year there were around 600 climbers registered, highest to date. With that many climbers qualification session had to be split in 2 groups. Qualifying round was on Saturday 23.03, followed by semi-finals and finals on Sunday 24.03.
Qualification
I was there, taking part in the competition as a member of Slovenia climbing team. It was my third year competing at this competition and I think it makes a great preparation for the world cup. The only thing different to world cup is the qualifying round. It consists of 80 problems from which best 20 problems count. Each problem is worth some points that the harder the problem more points it is worth.
Everyone had 4 hours to show their best on the 80 problems. The field was stacked and in a format like this it is really important to make every try count as you don’t want to lose to much skin for the next rounds. With that in mind I really went for it. I was climbing smart, flashing the “easier” hard problems and then carefully solving some of the harder ones. In the end it was enough for 8th place after qualification round. My first semis!
I climbed smart and precise, therefore not losing too much skin but still maintaining in touch with the best.
I think that this kind of format really doesn’t suite me, because everyone know the right beta for the problem and if you find an easier way, everyone else will see it. Being creative in the way you solve the problem gives you no advantage.
Semi-final
I was happy to qualify for semi-finals due to the awkward qualification round. Whole warming up went really great. I felt great in the warming area and it was time to maintain that feeling when climbing on the competition problems. The key was to keep the thought of feeling great in my mind and try to clear my head of any other thoughts. I ran from the transit zone under the first problem. A quick look at the problem and baaam, a flash! I was ready to show my best, since the initial pressure was gone. Everything just went by itself and I ended up with 4/4 tops, which was enough for 3rd place after semis!!!
Final
With a chance to climb another round I was simply psyched for more. What a day!
2 hours of rest and I was already back in the isolation. Quick warm up on the wall, a bit of stretching and it was GO time!
Presentation was ready and we were already having observation of the problems. For the first time I was amazed by problems, they simply didn’t look that hard to me. Since I knew they were all doable, my main goal was to top 4 problems once again. I was feeling so confident in my climbing most of things were just happening as I was making moves. I really didn’t think to much but instead just went for the move. That really rarely happens to me and when it does the feeling is amazing.
Finally I finished my final performance with 3 tops, 1 top more than everybody else. Just what?? Now I really see what a proper mindset can do. Nevertheless I think that no one of the guys in the finals was weaker than me, but I just caught the flow and crushed it. I needed a few days to realise what happened on that day. The feeling is truly amazing but there is no time to waste, because in just 2 weeks there is the next chance to fight for that feeling.
Maybe you remember I said I might be ready for world cups in one of my posts, well now there is no doubt that I am ready!
Now if you’ll let me I’ll get back to working on my mindset and I’ll see you in Meieringen.
Greetings! Very helpful advice on this article! It is the little changes that make the biggest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!