BUDAPEST – South Korean Seo Chae-hyeon had a golden opportunity to perform at her best, reaching the semi-finals of the women's bouldering and lead category at the final event of the OQS Budapest.
“I'm very proud right now because this is the first time I've been on top and led every boulder,” said Seo (above), who recorded a perfect lead score of 100 on Friday.
Less than 24 hours later, she summited all four of her qualifying bouldering problems: two on her first attempt, one on her fifth, and one on her sixth, giving her an overall score of 199.1 out of a possible 200.
It's no wonder her father and coach was all smiles in the Hungarian sunshine, especially since the pair have just such a performance planned after OQS Shanghai.
“After Shanghai, we trained very hard. I tried to give her more strength. I wanted her to have confidence when she was stretching (for holds),” said Xu Jong-guk, a former national ice climbing athlete.
“She complains sometimes, but for the most part she goes along with my plan and I think it works.”
It certainly was. It's not often that American Brooke Labatou comes in second with a score of 99.5 in bouldering and 96.1 in lead, but that's exactly what happened. And she wasn't complaining.
“I'm actually very happy, I think it's a good step forward for me,” said Labatu, “On the lead I didn't feel the way I wanted to, but I was able to just relax and climb in my own way.”
The pair go into Saturday's semi-final close to qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics. For many of the other competitors, the situation is very different. After a tense wait, Seo's iconic team-mate Kim Jae-in barely made it through to the next stage as the 20th and final qualifier.
Britain's Molly Thompson-Smith knows all too well what it's like to be a two-time world champion, having secured the final OQS spot after the opening round in Shanghai and has been training hard for Budapest.
“I've wasted hours looking at the Shanghai scoresheet and doing all sorts of imaginary, arbitrary calculations in my head,” Thompson-Smith said.
A strong lead score of 88.1 means the 26-year-old can finally relax – at least until the semi-finals begin.
“There's a lot to win and a lot to lose.”
In a sign of how tense the situation is, even Spain's Alberto Ginés Lopez admitted he was feeling the pressure – and this coming from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and second in the OQS rankings after Shanghai.
“My climb wasn't that good,” Gines Lopez said after his lead performance, “I wasn't as relaxed or confident as I wanted to be, but there was a lot to win and a lot to lose in this round.”
But he clearly thrives under stress, and his score of 88.0 on Friday was enough to top the qualifiers, comfortably beating Czech Adam Ondra, Germany's Alexander Megos and South Korea's Lee Do-hyun, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury, with a score of 152.5.
With the chance to defend his Olympic title looming, Ginés Lopez is pleased to have gone through the OQS process.
“We're getting used to the format of the competition, the timing of the competition, when to warm up, when to rest, what to do in between bouldering and lead, everything,” he said. “We've had really good practice in that respect.”
“If I qualify, every round that can be played in this format is a positive for Paris.”
OIS ln/xl/wc