D3: Speed qualifications
The “big guns” are here! The speed competition began this morning at the AccorHotels Arena. What did we see on the official route?
More or less what we expected to see. On the men side, the 7 leaders of the World Cup took the 7 first ranks of the first round. The fastest climber this morning? The Iranian Reza Alipourshenazandifar. He's the only one under 6 seconds (5'96). “It wasn't really fast this morning", told us Sylvain Chapelle, the French team coach, mainly because of the pressure felt by most of the athletes in those big events.
Just have a look at Danyil Boldyrev's reaction after his round, even if he signed the 2nd best performance of the day:
The Ukrainian climber is followed in the ranking by Libor Hroza (CZE), Aleksandr Shilov (RUS), Stanislav Kokorin (RUS), Bassa Mawem (FRA) and Marcin Dzienski (POL).
On the women side, no big surprise either. The Russian armada fought strong (Anna Tsyganova in 7'88, Iuliia Kaplina in 8'18), challenged by the impressive Polish team - Rudzinska 8'27, Buczek 8'37 et Brozek 8'41. Someone between those climbers? Indeed: Anouck Jaubert did the 2nd best performance of the round in 8'03.
What a difficult first run! It looks like Anouck, seems to like qualifications under tension. “She had a good start but grabs the second hold not as she should have” tells us Sylvain Chapelle. Only one chance left to qualify. A second run without trouble and she finishes 2nd of the temporary ranking. The French lady can finally breathe; she has her ticket for the final on Sunday.
Same story for Aurélia Sarisson who misses her first run. But she climbs fast in her second run and finishes in 8’66. Elma Fleuret didn’t wait her second run to perform though. 8th in 8’89, she will be part of the finales on Sunday. As will be Victoire Andrier (13th in 9’31).
The only one not to go through is Charlotte Durif, who was climbing for the combined event. “But with 10’48, she is very close to her personal record. It’s a good thing for her, she was able to be at her best on the D-Day, that’s what is important”.
On the men side, Bassa Mawem secured his sport: he is in the top 10 (6th) in 6’30 for his first run. Quentin Nambot will also go to the finals (10th in 6’53). Deception on the other hand for Guillaume Moro who will not succeed today (19th in 6’80). Manu Cornu, competing for the combined event, finishes at the 32nd place in 7’82.
