COLIN DUFFY TAKES TOKYO 2020 SPOT AT THE END OF A THRILLING FINAL

The 2020 IFSC Pan American Championships in Los Angeles (USA) closed in fantastic fashion, delivering the final Olympic quota for Pan America at the end of a thrilling final and in front of a packed Sender One Climbing Gym.

ZACH GALLA RULES SPEED

The combined race started off with the Speed discipline, where United States’ Zach Galla took the top spot in a faulty final against Ecuadorian climber Carlos Grnja. Ecuador’s second finalist Danny Valencia placed 3rd, beating Cesar Grosso of Brazil.

In the bottom half of the table, United States’ Colin Duffy and Zander Waller respectively finished in 5th and 6th place, while Mexico’s José Ramon Santos Buhl won the duel for the 7th spot against the fourth American finalist, Sean Bailey.

BOULDERING IS DOMINATED BY US CLIMBERS

The United States of America absolutely dominated the following Bouldering round, all closing with 3T3Z and only being separated by a different number of attempts. 16-year-old Zander Waller eventually claimed the top position, followed by his teammates Duffy, Bailey and Galla.

Carlos Granja and Danny Valencia finished in 5th and 6th position, both with 1T3Z, while Grosso and Santos Buhl collected 0T2Z and placed at the bottom of the table.

DUFFY’S TOP SENDS HIM TO TOKYO

The third and decisive discipline went down to the very last hold, as 16-year-old Colin Duffy climbed last, topping the route and sealing a crucial 1st place in both Lead and Combined ranking. Duffy finished ahead of Sean Bailey, who also topped the route, and Zander Waller, who then slid in 3rd position in the overall ranking.

“I’m pretty excited. It’s not really sunk in yet, but it’s amazing. I kind of knew the circumstances and realized that, oh, I have to climb fast, so I tried to cruise my way through it. I’d like to thank my parents, my climbing team back in Boulder, CO and the whole US team and anyone who supported me up to this point.”

Duffy is the fourth US athlete that earns a ticket to the 2020 Olympic Games, adding his name to the ones of Nathaniel Coleman, Kyra Condie and Brooke Raboutou, and making USA Climbing’s team the only one, along with Japan, to qualify four athletes for Tokyo 2020.

Here’s today’s final results:

  • Colin Duffy (USA) 10.0
  • Zach Galla (USA) 16.0
  • Zander Waller (USA) 18.0
  • Sean Bailey (USA) 48.0
  • Carlos Granja (ECU) 70.0
  • Danny Valencia (ECU) 90.0
  • Cesar Grosso (BRA) 168.0
  • José Ramon Santos Buhl (MEX) 448.0

The 2020 IFSC Season will resume in Moscow (RUS), where the European Championships is scheduled to take place from March 20 to 27, and the IFSC Oceania Championships, taking place in Sydney (AUS) from March 27 to March 29.

2020 IFSC Pan American Championships

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