Oscar Baudrand (Photo World Climbing)
Oscar Baudrand of Canada displayed an impressive round and made the third semi-final of his career in the men’s Boulder qualification at the World Climbing Series Comunidad de Madrid that also saw two of the discipline’s biggest names take control.
The Canadian athlete topped all five boulders to finish second behind Anraku Sorata in his qualification group and third overall with 124.4 points.
Anraku of Japan and Mejdi Schalck of France topped their respective groups to ease into the semi-finals.
Baudrand said: “Honestly it was probably the best round of my life. I don’t think I could do much better than that.
“I used to train in Salt Lake City but I moved to Montreal, and my whole Climbing environment changed. After the World Championships in South Korea I was considering quitting, but it didn’t last long. The Climbing environment is so inviting, it’s so family-orientated and they make you feel like you belong. I just got addicted with going to the gym. The gym now has changed my whole outlook on how I see high performance Climbing.”
Baudrand added: “I had an identity crisis, and I tried to find out who I was outside of climbing and not attaching my results to my climbing. It’s all evaporated now and it’s a task of passion now and not identity and fear.
“I feel I have set myself up perfectly to fail. I had such a good qualification but coming out among such great climbers I wouldn’t be surprised if I finished dead last and I am in over my head.”
JAPAN ADVANCE FIVE MEN INTO SEMI-FINAL
Japan moved five of their six climbers into the men’s Boulder semi-final, once again showing the team’s depth.
Kawamata Rei of Japan matched Baudrand’s position with the score of 94.8 points, while brothers Narasaki Meichi and Tomoa qualified in fifth with 109.5 points, and 13th overall with 93.9 points, respectively. Dohi Keita of Japan secured the final Japanese semi-final position in 21st overall with 84.2 points.
MOKROLUSKY AND PAN RETURN TO SEMI-FINAL
Eighteen-year-old Lukas Mokrolusky of Czechia advanced to the third Boulder semi-final of his career in five World Climbing Series starts. The Czech climber scored 108.7 points and will look to improve on his career-best finish of 10th place in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2025.
Pan Yufei of China also returned to the semi-final after narrowly missing out by one place in Bern. The Chinese climber recovered strongly in Alcobendas to place 15th overall with 94.4 points.
Pan said: “I feel my condition is better than Bern. My performance still isn’t fixed because I hurt myself a bit in Keqiao, my right middle finger, but before the Series moved to Europe I tried to do a lot of recovery. I sometimes feel afraid to catch the holds, but this time I didn’t feel pain, so that’s good.
“I won in Bern last year and this year I didn’t do so well. But the men’s Boulder is outstanding. You have to be so strong all the time or you will fail and you will go out of the competition. For me it’s a bit about dealing with the injury though and focussing on myself rather than others,” Pan concluded.
