BREAKING BARRIERS IN CHAMONIX
The top 16 men booked their finals places in Chamonix, but other milestones were also reached in the French Alps
The top of the men’s Speed qualification had a familiar look to it with Jianguo Long, Yicheng Zhao and Sam Watson the three fastest climbers all in the 4.7s.
Ukraine’s Hryhorii Ilchyshyn made a new European record of 4.85s to progress in fifth as once again sub-5 was the time you needed to make the Speed final – and for some even that wasn’t enough.
USA’s Michael Hom and Germany’s Leander Carmanns clocked a 4.96 which was the cut off time for the Chamonix final.
Such is the standard of Speed now; personal bests and milestone times can still be found throughout the field as New Zealand’s Julian David and Argentina’s Valentin Sternik proved.
David set a new Oceania record of 4.99s which was actually the first time he had ever clocked a sub-5 run: “First time in a comp, first time in training. First one under five for an Oceania record. It’s incredible.”
Reflecting on joining the sub-5 club David said: “I feel really good on the wall and I’m looking forward to what I can do in the future. I feel like this time has opened the floodgates and I will start seeing 4.8’s soon. It’s been a long time coming and I feel it will drop real quick now.”
David’s Oceania record and 4.99s gave him 19th place, and unfortunately missed finals so will have to wait a little longer to see if he can drop into the 4.8s.
For Sternik, he finished in 59th, but his barrier was a sub-6, and he lowered that figure twice: “First time under six in a comp. First time 5.8. First time 5.7 ever in my life. I’m speechless.”
Sternik’s reflection was: “It’s a lot of effort. I worked so hard every day. I have different goals from others here. It’s a lot of work like all the other athletes know. I’m just really happy and really thankful. I’ll always remember Chamonix, it’s amazing.”
Both David and Sternik will have to watch the finals from the crowd tomorrow, but both can leave knowing they have broken a time that had previously been elusive for them and can take that forward into the future to see just how low they can go.
MEN’S SPEED FINALISTS
1 Jianguo LONG (CHN) 4.71
2 Yicheng ZHAO (CHN) 4.74
3 Samuel WATSON (USA) 4.76
4 Ryo OMASA (JPN) 4.84
5 Hryhorii ILCHYSHYN (UKR) 4.85 (ER)
6 Veddriq LEONARDO (INA) 4.86(0)
7 Aditya TRI SYAHRIA (INA) 4.86(3)
8 Jie YANG (CHN) 4.87
9 Antasyafi ROBBY AL HILMI (INA) 4.89
10 Aphiwit LIMPANICHPAKDEE (THA) 4.91
11 Yongzhi LING (CHN) 4.92
12 Jérôme MOREL (FRA) 4.94(5)
13 Damir TOKTAROV (KAZ) 4.94(9)
14 Rishat KHAIBULLIN (KAZ) 4.95
15 Leander CARMANNS (GER) 4.96(5)
16 Michael HOM (USA) 4.96(6)
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