SPORT CLIMBING’S FEMALE OLYMPIANS TAKE TO THE TOKYO 2020 STAGE TODAY
Sport Climbing continues its debut Olympic appearance today, where 20 athletes are set to climb at Tokyo’s Aomi Urban Sports Park in the women’s Combined qualification event. Competing in all three Sport Climbing disciplines of Speed, Boulder, and Lead, climbers will battle it out in the Tokyo heat for one of eight places in Friday’s final.
Following an eventful men’s Combined qualification yesterday, where Bassa Mawem of France claimed the first men’s Speed Olympic Record with 5.45 seconds, and his younger brother Mickael qualified in first place for the men’s final on Thursday, today all eyes will be on the women’s event.
As the reigning Boulder and Combined World Champion, Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret is one-to-watch in today’s competition. Bearing an astonishing 47 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup medals and a further seven World Championship medals, the 22-year-old is one of the most-decorated climbers of all time.
Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi is another of Sport Climbing’s most successful athletes. Aged 32, Noguchi holds an impressive 75 IFSC World Cup and World Championship medals, including silver in Combined at the 2019 World Championships in Hachiojo, Japan. Great Britain’s Shauna Coxsey took the bronze in Hachioji, and with another notable resume of 32 IFSC World Cup and World Championship medals, the 28-year-old is certainly not one to be underestimated.
The youngest athlete competing today is 17-year-old Chaehyun Seo, of South Korea. Seo achieved a podium position at every Lead World Cup she participated in during her 2019 debut season – how will she perform at the Games after an additional two years of training?
Another looming question is: who will take the women’s Speed Olympic Record? There are four Speed specialists competing in today’s qualification round, including four-time world-record-holder Iuliia Kaplina, of the Russian Olympic Committee, and China’s YiLing Song. Kaplina holds the current women’s world record of 6.96 seconds; Could we see a new world record set on the Olympic stage?
Let’s take a look at the full line-up for the women’s Combined qualification, which commences at 5:00 PM (UTC+9:00) today:
Janja Garnbret [Slovenia]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Šmartno pri Slovenj Gradcu
- Birthday: 12/03/1999
Akiyo Noguchi [Japan]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Ryugasaki-shi, JPN
- Birthday: 30/5/1989
Shauna Coxsey [Great Britain]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Sheffield, GBR
- Birthday: 27/1/1993
Aleksandra Miroslaw [Poland]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Lublin, POL
- Birthday: 2/2/1994
Miho Nonaka [Japan]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Tokyo, JPN
- Birthday: 21/5/1997
Petra Klingler [Switzerland]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Bonstetten, SUI
- Birthday: 14/2/1992
Brooke Raboutou [USA]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Boulder, USA
- Birthday: 9/4/2001
Jessica Pilz [Austria]
- Qualified: IFSC Climbing World Championships Hachioji 2019
- Hometown: Haag, AUT
- Birthday: 22/11/1996
Anouck Jaubert [France]
- Qualified: Tripartite Commission quota place
- Hometown: Grenoble, FRA
- Birthday: 27/1/1994
Chaehyun Seo [South Korea]
- Qualified: IFSC Asian quota place
- Hometown: Seoul, KOR
- Birthday: 1/11/2003
Julia Chanourdie [France]
- Qualified: IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse/Tournefeuille 2019
- Hometown: Aviernoz, FRA
- Birthday: 25/6/1996
Mia Krampl [Slovenia]
- Qualified: IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse/Tournefeuille 2019
- Hometown: Golnik, SLO
- Birthday: 21/7/2000
Iuliia Kaplina [Russian Olympic Committee]
- Qualified: IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse/Tournefeuille 2019
- Hometown: Tyumen, RUS
- Birthday: 11/5/1993
Kyra Condie [USA]
- Qualified: IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse/Tournefeuille 2019
- Hometown: Shoreview, USA
- Birthday: 5/6/1996
Laura Rogora [Italy]
- Qualified: IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse/Tournefeuille 2019
- Hometown: Trento, ITA
- Birthday: 28/4/2001
YiLing Song [China]
- Qualified: IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse/Tournefeuille 2019
- Hometown: Beijing, CHN
- Birthday: 28/1/2001
Alannah Yip [Canada]
- Qualified: IFSC Pan-American Championships Los Angeles 2020
- Hometown: Vancouver, CAN
- Birthday: 26/10/1993
Oceania Mackenzie [Australia]
- Qualified: IFSC Oceania Championships Sydney 2020
- Hometown: Warrandyte, AUS
- Birthday: 11/7/2002
Viktoriia Meshkova [Russian Olympic Committee]
- Qualified: IFSC European Championships Moscow 2020
- Hometown: Ekaterinburg, RUS
- Birthday: 20/9/2000
Erin Sterkenburg [South Africa]
- Qualified: IFSC African Championships Cape Town 2020
- Hometown: Durban, RSA
- Birthday: 20/3/2003
For the full schedule and results, click here.
