The European Youth Championships were held in Imst this year. When we arrived in Imst it was really hot. In the evening during the opening ceromony the rain started pouring down, so all climbers had to take shelter in the big tent. 🙂

The next day we started early and in the morning it was still cool. The first qualification route had a crux in the beginning. I almost fell at this point, but I could luckily continue. When I arrived in the last part of the route I hesitated. Some girls before me had fallen here by taking an intermediate hold, so I thought that the hold had to be bad. I decided to skip the intermediate hold and make a plus to the next one, which of course was the wrong decision.

The beginning of the 2nd route was vertical and then the route became very hard. I was really happy that I managed to top out!

The second qualification route (Photo: Yves Guérit)

3 of my team mates were in the finals as well: Nicolas Collin (male youth B), Celine Cuypers (female youth B) and Loïc Timmermans (male Juniors).

On Sunday all the girls had the same final route. It looked nice, but also logical for which I was happy. The first part was harder than I had expected. In the roof there was a hard move and it was difficult to clip. I became more and more tired and did some more moves. I fell totally pumped and was really satisfied.

The girls final route

Jessica Pilz from Austria climbed amazing and topped the route! Congratulations Jessi :-)! She was 1st, I became 2nd and Hannah Schubert (AUT) 3rd.

Female Youth A podium 🙂

Nicolas became 5th, Celine was 10th and Loïc 4th. He fell at the same place as Jefta from Israël who won bronze because of the countback.

After the competition my parents and I stayed a little longer to try some of the routes. Then we finally drove home after 3 weeks of holiday and competitions. 😉

The first worldcup of the year and for me the first time I competed in Briançon. I really liked the place with its surroundings!

The first qualification route went really well. In the last moves which I made I was very pumped, but I was happy with the result. I topped the 2nd qualification route, so I was selected for the semi-final just like Mathilde and Loïc from Belgium.

In the semi-final route there were lots of small holds. In the very beginning there was a tricky point where I had to keep my balance. In the roof it started getting really hard. I was happy that I passed the big volume and I could rest a little. Just after the big overhang my feet came off and I did one more move. This time I was really satisfied and happy! 🙂 I became 16th.

The worldcup was won by Jain Kim (KOR) and Ramón Julian Puigblanque (ESP).

My parents and I drove to Chamonix the Tuesday before the competition. We had a nice restday at the lake of Annecy and arrived in Chamonix on Thursday. I enjoyed meeting everyone again at the opening ceremony. The mens qualfication round had already taken place earlier that day. We heard that Loïc Timmermans from Belgium was placed 26th in the semi-final, due to slipping in his 2nd qualification route.

While climbing my first qualification route the next day I was really nervous and did not climb fluently. Nevertheless I was able to top out.. I was less nervous for climbing the 2nd route and I was very happy when I reached the top.

The next day was the semi-final. When I started climbing I was very surprised because the holds were so bad. I was pumped very fast and could not recuperate anymore. I fell quite early in the route because I was so tired. It was quite disappointing, but I learned a lot of this competition. 😉 I ended up 19th.

Climbing in Chamonix

Congratulations to Loïc for his 14th place and Mathilde who climbed really well and became 6th in the finals! Elodie Orbaen took the 1st place in the paraclimbing competition! Well done!

Loïc and Mathilde in their semi-final