Climbing

Adam Ondra takes silver in Lead at the IFSC Climbing World Championships

Adam Ondra wins the silver medal in Lead climbing at the the IFSC Climbing World Championships in Innsbruck. He won gold in the past two WCH in 2014 and 2016. Altogether he has six medals in lead from the WCH. He will compete in other disciplines in the upcoming days.
10. 9. 2018

Ondra entered the finals with mixed feelings after he excelled in qualification on Friday while the semi-finals did not go as planned due to the problems with very dry hand skin.

However, he was very focused and calm in the final climb. He reached the same spot as the winner Jakub Schubert so the final results were decided by the results from the semi-finals where Schubert did better.

„Silver at the World Championships is a good result. However, I felt really strong in the finals and I was really angry when when I fell because I did not feel very tired at that moment. But there was suddenly this move that just seemed almost impossible. At that point I doubted that I can even make it to the medals because I knew others will fall in this move as well,“ says Ondra right after the competition.

Ondra topped both routes in the qualification on Friday and went into the semi-finals from the first place. He sees qualification as a test of his form, and was happy with the result: „The qualification went surprisingly really well. I was a bit nervous at the beginning but the longer I climbed the more I got into the right state of mind. Qualification is like a test of how well prepared you are for the upcoming competition, and I am feeling really good, strong and I am looking forward to the next round,” commented Ondra on his results right after the qualification on Friday.

He took fifth place together with several other climbers in the semi-finals on Sunday and admitted he had hard time in the route. “It was a difficult route and I had been having issues with really dry skin from the very beginning which was quite a problem especially with those specific holds that have very little friction. I felt uncomfortable from the moment I started climbing and unfortunately I had to control the climb too much the whole time. I made it to the crux too tired and I just did not have it in me to do more there,” said Ondra after the semi-finals.

And he also adds: „The semi-final route was actually the most important route of this competition which unfortunately I messed up a bit. I did not warm up my hands properly, and I also did not read the route properly just before I fell.“

„Anyway, silver is a fine result and I am looking forward to other disciplines. Bouldering will be very important. Especially to get through the qualification which will not be easy at all,“ says Ondra, who competes in all disciplines this year.

10. 9. 2018

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