A Successful Day One at the YWC!
It’s just after 10pm here in Imst, Austria and we’ve just tucked in 25 tuckered athletes after their first qualifier at the YWC! What a great first day for Team Canada! I am extremely proud of how all our athletes climbed today, as well as how they handled themselves and represented their country. This has to be one spectacular team!
This year in Imst is very unique, as it marks the first time that all continents are present here at the Youth World Championships. The sport is growing! There is also great excitement and many remarks have been made regarding sport climbing’s chance of becoming an event in the 2020 Olympics. It’s amazing how far this sport has come since my first World Cup.
It was a hot day here in Austria. The kids who climbed early in the morning were psyched! The indoor gym at the Kletterhalle was used as the warm up area, while the comp wall was down the hill. Team Canada came prepared with walkie-talkies for team officials to communicate and keep track of running orders. It was a far better option than running up and down that hill all day.
The Youth B Boys (Scott, Navy, Matt and Andrew) had a long day, being the only category that climbed both of their qualifiers. All four boys fought hard on their routes, but none advanced to the semi-final round. Congrats though boys, many more years to come!
Scott Eveleigh on Youth B Boys Qualifier
Matt Hendsbee on Youth B Boys Qualifier
The highlight of the day had to be Marc Eveleigh fighting hard on the Youth A boys route. I could hear him yelling from way back up the hill. It was impressive to watch him climb the route extremely well, and fight hard to end up in a fantastic position. 17th place! It’s what each athlete wants, to come off fighting hard. Unfortunately, not every athlete can have that satisfaction, and we had a couple upsets today. But the best part is that tomorrow is a new day! The kids are psyched and ready for a brand new day and new routes.
Marc Eveleigh giving it his all on Qualifier 1
Elan Jonas-McRae looking solid for a 5th place finish on Day 1
Youth A Boys scoping out Qualifier 1: Elan, Marc and Jarred
Caitlin Wu on her first ever international comp route!
Maegen Kelleway shaking off the nerves and pulling off a great first qualifier!
Becca Frangos on Qualifier 1
Miles Adamson giving the blue hold "the look" on qualifier 1
The opening ceremonies also occurred today. It was fun to march in the parade, listen to a few speeches and watch a high-line slackliner. Short and sweet! Sean and I can remember suffering through some loooooooong opening ceremonies, so it was nice to experience an enjoyable one in the cooler evening air! We all looked incredibly sharp in our bright red t-shirts as well. Always stylin’ Canada!
We look good!
Highliner for Opening Ceremonies. Very cool!
That’s all for now. Thank you so much to Pam Eveleigh for the use of these fantastic photographs! Good luck to all the athletes tomorrow!
Here are the results after Qualifier #1:
Youth B Girls
21. Pia Graham
59. Becca Frangos
64. Caitlin Wu
70. Amy Sutley
Youth B Boys (Qualifier 1 and 2 Result)
43. Matt Hendsbee
60. Scott Eveleigh
68. Navy Gale
74. Andrew Funk
Youth A Girls
30. Elise Sethna
41. Iyma Lamarche
41. Alyssa Weber
55. Alison Stewart-Patterson
Youth A Boys
5. Elan Jonas-McRae
17. Marc Eveleigh
25. Ryder Hoy
53. Robert Stewart-Patterson
66. Jarred Plamondon
Junior Girls
16. Alannah Yip
32. Maegan Kelleway
39. Ayesha Khan
40. Arianne Forbes
Junior Boys
23. Miles Adamson
23. Eric Sethna
40. Zach Watson
41. Sean Beaudoin
August 26th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Go Team Canada!
August 26th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
Thanks for the update Viks!
August 27th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Your blogs are always the best Vics! Congratulations to all of our Canadian Youth on the Team. Well done!!