BSCC Geneva - 6. Mai 2012
No question, competitions are always challenging, physically as well as mentally. Especially in bouldering you ask a lot from your body in a short amount of time and this weekend I had to experience myself that the concentrated load of power and technique can be really intense.
Like last year, the first national boulder event took place in Geneva. Unlike last year, there is a new system in which there is an additional semi-final to the usual qualifiers and finals. The starters of the semi-finals are made up of the top 10 in qualifiers and the pre-qualified top 10 of the current overall ranking (for further information see the official SAC website). Since I didn’t climb well at the previous lead comp in St. Gallen, I had to take part in qualifiers and already travel to Geneva on Friday evening. Unfortunately I still didn’t get much sleep and was pretty tired on Saturday. Nevertheless, I started off with 3 tops in 4 attempts in the first round which made me placed 1st out of qualifiers. In semi-finals, luck was definitely on my side and I unexpectedly managed to top out the 2nd problem within the last 40 seconds as well as the 3rd problem in my 3rd attempt. I felt that I did pretty well yet was totally surprised to be the only one having topped out on number two. That set me 3rd place going into finals! Happy about making finals in an adult competition for the 3rd time, I was psyched for the next round although I already noticed my body was feeling quite tired. All the other final athletes were pre-qualified and had only climbed one round so far. I just tried to ignore my exhaustion as well as possible and was ready to give my best in finals. Yet the problems were reeeeally hard and I only reached one bonus hold out of four problems which made me fall back on 5th place. I just couldn’t hold on to anything anymore and realized that I definitely need to work on my power endurance. Of course I was disappointed about my poor performance in the final round but I was still satisfied with my climbing in semi-finals and it showed me what is possible when I’m able to climb at my best and the boulders suit my style. Petra Klingler showed us once more that her incredible power, strong will and wide range of skills are making her stand out from the rest and she got well-deserved 1st placed. Cédric Lachat dominated the men’s competition and was the only one reaching all four tops. Congratulations!
I learned a lot yesterday and I hope these experiences will help me do better in the upcoming comps. I’m feeling quite strong (also thanks to my US-Trip) and I’m definitely in a better shape than a few weeks ago. I’m really looking forward to the EYC bouldering in Grindelwald in the beginning of June and will train hard to get even stronger! I just hope to recover quickly and get back to my training schedule, right now I still got really sore muscles, my whole body hurts and all I feel like doing is sleeping. Too bad school starts again tomorrow…