Slovenia Battles for Olympic Place, Medals for Japan and France

Five of the six available spots for Tokyo 2020 were filled on the first day of the women’s competition, but the last spot came down to two Slovenians Lucka RAKOVEC and Mia KRAMPL in the final.

KAPLINA DOMINATES SPEED

With five speed specialists competing in the women’s qualifications, claiming the first-place spot during the first round of competition was key to attaining a coveted quota place. Despite racing against two world record breakers, it was Russia’s Iuliia KAPLINA who finished at the forefront of the qualifications to become her country’s first Sport Climbing Olympic athlete. Even in a tight race during the final against Kyra CONDIE (USA) for first, she continued to excel and finished the weekend in sixth place.

A Pivotal Moment

After finishing within one ranking point of each other in the speed round, the battle heated up between RAKOVEC and KRAMPL in the bouldering final. Both athletes had achieved all four tops in the qualifications, alongside Ai MORI (JPN), but now it was time to create some distance in their scores. RAKOVEC fought hard on the first boulder, taking nine attempts to find a top before continuing to top the remaining two. Unfortunately, KRAMPL was only able to find a zone on the first problem to fall behind her compatriot.

Both MORI and Futaba ITO (JPN) found tops on all three boulders, with ITO landing in first due to the number of attempts taken.

KRAMPL PULLS THROUGH

The first on the wall during the Lead round was KRAMPL, who fell at the seemingly disappointing 32nd hold. With seven other climbers poised to take their turn, it didn’t look like it would be enough to put her ahead of RAKOVEC in the overall rankings to take Slovenia’s final Olympic spot. However, as each of the remaining climbers took on the lead wall and continued to fall just short of KRAMPL’s highpoint, the audience was in for a surprising outcome. Despite finishing lower than her rival in both of the previous rounds, with a miraculous first-place in Lead, KRAMPL squeaked ahead in the rankings to finish with a bronze medal and seize a spot at Tokyo 2020.

Local favorite, Julia CHANOURDIE (FRA) completed the event with a silver medal behind ITO who claimed the gold.

Six Olympic Qualified Athletes

The following athletes have officially qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games at the end of the IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse 2019: 

  1. Julia CHANOURDIE (FRA)
  2. Mia KRAMPL (SLO)
  3. Iuliia KAPLINA (RUS)
  4. Kyra CONDIE (USA)
  5. Laura ROGORA (ITA)
  6. YiLing SONG (CHN)

All qualification places are provisional until confirmed by each athlete’s National Olympic Committee (NOC). Formal invitations will be sent by the IFSC to the relevant NOCs within five days of the conclusion of the Combined World Championships. The NOCs will then have two weeks to confirm the quota places.

More information about the Tokyo 2020 Qualification System can be found here

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