To Canada!

I had never been to the American continent before, so it was a nice experience to discover it! We left on Tuesday early in the morning with 6 Belgian climbers and 2 coaches and arrived at Vancouver Island on Wednesday.

The qualifications (day 1 and 2)
On Friday, the 1st day of the competition, I was able to top out my route just as Julia Chanourdie (FRA) and Jessica Pilz (AUT). Celine (Youth B female) and Loïc (Junior male) topped their first route too.

The 2^nd day I had to climb last. It was the technical route which my team mate Celine had climbed the day before. 11 girls had been able to top in my group and fortunately I topped out too. After the qualifications all the Belgians were in the semi-final!

Whew… a rest day
On Sunday we had a rest day and our coach had arranged a great excursion for us. With a speedboat we sailed in the Pacific Ocean to go whale watching. We were in the middle of a 3D nature documentary. Water birds, orcas, sea-lions and even an eagle. We searched for the fins of orcas who appeared again from time to time to take breath. Breath…taking.

The semi-final
In the semi-final I climbed last but one. During observation we thought that the route was really hard. And indeed it was: flat holds, strange moves and full of risks. I was able to reach hold 45+ in the roof and Jessica climbed a bit higher (46+). I was happy with a provisional 2^nd place because I could have fallen much earlier. Celine climbed very good and placed 8th, just enough to be in the final!

Loïc unfortunately just missed the finals. One move to the next hold would have been enough. Emilie, who had a nice 9^th place after the qualifications slipped sadly enough at hold 8.

The final
The first part of the final route was made of far moves to fairly good holds. Then followed a middle part with only volumes. The top part was a roof with more obvious moves. During observation we did not know very well how to climb that middle part. I finally decided not to hesitate, but it was very hard. From the 16 girls (Youth B and Youth A climbed the same route) who had to climb this route, 11 fell in the middle part without being pumped. I think that is a pity. Luckily the last part was nicer. 2 moves from the top the holds were so bad that it was almost not possible to make the next move. I hesitated because I did not want to give up. Then I was so tired that I could only do a plus to the next hold. I fell at 48+.

Julia Chanourdie from France had climbed to 47+, so both of us were already sure of being on the podium. I was very happy that I could be sure about a silver medal, but I knew that I could also become first. Jessica also had difficulties in the middle part, but managed to climb it. She also fell at hold 48+. Because of the countback to the semi-final she won the competition. Congrats Jessi! Celine ended up 8th, which is a great result for her first world championships! 🙂

Jessica, Julia and me (Picture: Denis Timmermans)