In the second day of Para Lead qualification at the IFSC Climbing and Para Climbing World Championships, six sport classes were in action to lock in all the finalists that will fight it out for the coveted world titles.

With 13 men’s and women’s sport class finals lists already secured on day one, it was up to the RP, AL and AU climbers to claim their places on day two.

RP SPORT CLASSES

Brayden Butler finished in first place in the men’s RP2 leading four men from eight starters into the final. The American is joined by his teammate Bejamin Mayforth who was tied in second with India’s Manikandan Kumar.

In the men’s RP3, Yamashita Kazuhiko was the only climber to top a route and with it progress in first place. The strong category started with 14 climbers and four will contest the final with Belgium’s Camille Caulier one of the four joining the Japanese leader.

Talking about his qualification Caulier said: “Bit scary. In the first route I slipped a little on a sloper. It was a bit frustrating because the crimps after the sloper I was looking forward to, but I got caught in the danger zone.

“Overall I was happy though as I needed to do a good performance in the second route to secure my place in the final and I got lucky as the route was my forte with nice crimps, really long and I was able to climb like I should.”

Caulier is fairly new to the competition scene, but is holding his own among a strong field of climbers: “I was quite nervous I have to admit. There is really good competition with Kazuhiko [Yamashita] and Tadashi [Takono] who are really strong so getting into the finals wasn’t that easy. It’s stiff competition, but it’s motivating having this huge competition and having to fight for your position.”

AU SPORT CLASSES

USA’s Brian Zarzeula has not won a world title – yet. He has finished on the podium multiple times but is pushing for the top spot and hoping Seoul is his lucky place. He started well leading four climbers from the men’s AU2 sport class into the final from 12 in qualification.

One of the climbers joining Zarzeula will be Great Britain’s Sebastian Musson who finished fourth last World Championships, and like the American is hoping for an upgrade: “I’ve matched my best so it’s either the same or up. My goal before the champs was to medal and fight for gold.”

Talking about qualification Musson said: “Qualis went really well. The first route was really good, but I fell off a little early in the second route but I was safely through to finals in fourth.”

Musson had a plan before the event, and is currently on schedule with it: “Focus on qualification, make sure it went smoothly, have some fun and enjoy it and then I focus on finals when it comes to it.”

There were also 12 starters in the men’s AU3 sport class with Hungary’s Bence Kerekes the men to currently beat progressing in first place. Four different nations will fight for podium places with Israel’s Mor Michael Sapir, USA Mason Keough and Japan’s Yasuraoka Nobuhiro joining Kerekes.

AL SPORT CLASSES

The AL1 sport class has fourteen starters mixed with men and women. Joining together to ensure the numbers for competition, it was Angelino Zeller who is yet again the one to beat. The Austrian is joined by teammate Markus Pösendorfer who progressed in third with Slovenia’s Matej Arh in second and Belgium’s Pavitra Vandenhoven in fourth.

Men’s AL2 had the biggest number of qualification climbers with 20, and it was France’s Thierry Delarue who showed he is the one to beat with two tops. Delarue was the only climber to top in the round which had six climbers qualify to the final.

USA’s Ethan Zilz and Corey Ramos shared the fifth spot to make it through as two of three American’s who will now contest the final.

Those finals will take place over two days on 24 and 25 September to crown the new world champions of Para Lead Climbing.