The women’s Boulder qualification at the World Climbing Series Comunidad de Madrid 2026 saw Erin McNeice of Great Britain and Oceania Mackenzie of Australia lead their respective groups in Alcobendas, Spain.

McNeice produced the top performance of the round with five flashes and a perfect 125.0 points score, while Mackenzie secured first place in the second group with four tops and 124.8 points. The only other athlete to top all five boulders was Ayala Kerem of Israel, who finished second in her group and third overall with 124.5 points.

ANOTHER STRONG ROUND FOR GREAT BRITAIN

Great Britain placed three athletes into the women’s semi-final as Emma Edwards and Zoe Peetermans joined McNeice in advancing to the next round.

Peetermans qualified 11th in her group and 21st overall with 69.5 points to secure a place in her first semi-final of the year despite struggling with the hot conditions throughout the round.

Peetermans said: “Qualification was interesting. I actually didn’t have that good feelings in the round. I wasn’t having as much fun as the last one in Bern. I just kind of kept going and slogging on, and then I came out and was like 'Oh, crap, I didn’t have much fun'. And they said, 'Sorry, I think you made semis'.

“Bern was air conditioned, so it was a lot cooler. Maybe that got to my head, the heat," she added.

"On boulder three, I basically couldn’t pull off the floor the entire time, which is never a very nice feeling to have in a round, kind of beats you down and then you somehow keep going.

“I don’t know how I'll do in semis. I’m excited to just do another round. It’s my first semi of the year. I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to repeat semis from last year, so I’m happy to be making progress at every comp. I think this means I’ve qualified for Euro Champs as well for my federation, so I’m pretty psyched,” concluded Peetermans.

JAPAN SEND FIVE THROUGH

Japan advanced five athletes out of six starters into the women’s Boulder semi-final. The team’s best result came from Ito Futaba, who finished second in her qualification group and third overall with 109.6 points.

Sekikawa Melody and Matsufuji Anon also delivered strong rounds, ending qualification tied in fifth place overall with 109.7 points. Nonaka Miho of Japan advanced in 13th overall with 94.2 points, while Nakamura Mao secured the final Japanese semi-final place in 15th with 94.4 points.

NEXT UP

The event in Alcobendas will continue this afternoon with men's Boulder qualificaton round, starting at 16:30 (UTC+2:00). Women's Boulder semi-final and final are scheduled for tomorrow, respectively starting at 10:30 and 19:00.

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