Tough semis sees no tops in Koper

There were no tops in either semi-final as both the men and women fought for every hold with Janja Garnbret and Filip Schenk the climbers moving through in first position of the World Climbing Series Koper in Slovenia.

The Slovenian home favourite Garnbret climbed to hold 45+ for top spot in the women’s competition being joined by South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo. Garnbret will climb last in the final thanks to her superior qualification round against her rival.

The Koper crowd will also have Rosa Rekar to cheer on as she progressed in third on 44+, a hold she shared with fourth placed Brooke Raboutou.

American Raboutou was one of the seven climbers who managed to move past a tricky collection of holds around 34 to 37 which caught out a lot of the semi-final climbers.

Taking about the holds Raboutou said: “I felt confident on the under cling. It was a powerful move, but I felt I could lock it off and catch the hold in a good position. My goal was to get to the head wall and then try to reset and go for the top.”

Planning ahead for the final Raboutou said: “I’m super happy. It feels good to be back in a final.

“I’ll have a good dinner tonight, maybe watch a show or read a book to wind down. And tomorrow I actually really enjoy having the morning off to do my meditation and have a slow-paced day before getting fired up for the final.”

Raboutou can get fired up with a teammate as Annie Sanders also made the final in fifth on hold 44, just ahead of sixth placed Jessica Pilz who reached hold 43+.

Zélia Avezou was the last of the climbers to make it past the cluster on hold 40+ for seventh position.

South Korea’s Chaeyeong Kim narrowly missed out on a Koper final last year finishing in ninth, but this year she makes it in eighth position on hold 37+ for what will be her first final appearance.

The plus move was crucial for Kim as Czechia’s Michaela Smetanova was on hold 37 in ninth, with all the places down to 17^th after either on hold 36+ or 36.

Filip Schenk and Italian teammate Giovanni Placci climbed one after another knowing they would have to climb a little better than qualification where they were eighth and ninth to ensure they made the final. And both did.

Schenk was top on hold 38+ and Placci who was fresh of a European Championship silver from Laval, France last week finished in fourth on hold 33+, but with a little more concentration should have gone further.

Placci said: “I climbed well but I got a bit too psyched as I heard from the crowd I had moved into first, and after being ninth in quali it was great to be in first. I need to work on it and not get to psyched and think about a top. When I am high on the wall here, I listen to the crowd, which is a mistake, I need to work to it.”

Talking about his plan for final’s day Placci said: “I hope to be able to rest and chill and I just want to enjoy my last climb of the year as this is my last comp. I think I have a good mindset and after Laval I have nothing to lose now as I have already achieved a good result.”

Competition for the two Italian’s will come from world champion Dohyun Lee who was second on hold 37+ and Japan’s Neo Suzuki who is currently leading the overall Lead series. Suzuki was third on hold 34+.

Fifth was Putra Tri Ramadani on hold 33, and the Indonesian has been consistent this year including his first ever gold medal in Prague earlier in the season.

France’s Sam Avezou in sixth and Japan’s Satone Yoshida in seventh both reached hold 32+ and were ahead of South Korea’s Chanjin Jung on hold 30 for the eighth and final spot.

It’s a remarkable debut in the World Climbing Series for the Youth world champion Jung making it through the semi and into the final, but it was tight. Switzerland’s Jonas Utelli also hit hold 30 but thanks to his qualification round Jung made it through at the expense of Utelli.

There was a couple of shocks in the men’s competition as Sorato Anraku slipped on hold 29+ to finish 10 while winner in Chamonix and European champion Alberto Ginés López clipped too late on a blue cross safety point on hold 20 meaning both miss out.