Vikki Weldon

Well, I’m sitting here back in Munich, Germany once again. The coaches said goodbye to our athletes today in Imst. It was so very cool to see how the whole team came together in the very end, having developed new relationships and strengthening present ones. The wide-eyed new climbers left feeling comfortable, donning their various team jerseys after some exciting trading during semi-finals and finals (Elise Sethna proved to be the designated jersey trader. That girl can sweet talk her way into anything, and she has an Austrian jersey signed by Johanna Ernst to prove it).

The semi-final event was very exciting Team Canada. Dung, Sean and I were in isolation with our four athletes, Elan, Alannah, Miles and Marc. Due to a complete 180 degree turn in the weather from blistering heat to freezing rain and snow in the mountains, the event was delayed for 1-2 hours. This is tough for athletes, as they warm up with a specific time frame in mind and then have to maintain this warm up while waiting for the new scheduled time to climb. Our athletes handled this very well however, and each one was calm and collected waiting as the route-setters reset the ending of each route to finish on the roof instead of over the lip due to the rain.

Miles and Marc were both out immediately after preview and as I stayed in isolation with Alannah and Elan, and I was unable to watch their climbs. Both athletes were able to improve upon their qualification results with Marc moving up to 24^th place in Youth A and Miles moving up to 22^nd in Juniors. Congrats boys! As Alannah headed out to the wall, I bundled up and joined up with the rest of Team Canada, who were busy trading t-shirts with goofy grins on their faces despite the cold.

Alannah had an AMAZING semi-final climb. Watching the girls climb previous to her, I saw that everyone was falling just after a great blue feature high up on the wall before the roof. I was confident that Alannah would make it up to the crux, yet I was concerned that she would rush this section and pump out too quickly. However, I’m usually wrong when it comes to predictions, and I am happy to say that I wrong about this as well. Watching Alannah climb was inspiring. She was calm and confident through the technical section in the beginning of the route and climbed strongly up to the blue feature. As I watched her stop, rest and reassess the next section, my heart was beating so fast. I wanted her to make these next few moves so badly. With the entire Team at the bottom of the wall, yelling their hearts out, Alannah stuck each move with determination and ease. She was able to fight hard to be able to be the first competitor in her category to reach the roof. I was so excited for her that I definitely had tears in my eyes when she came down from the wall with a big smile on her face. It is so amazing to see a climber fight so hard and fall at their max. Congrats Alannah, I’m so proud of you!

Our last climber to go was Elan. This boy can climb! And, as we all found out last night, he can sing as well! I think every time I hear “The Edge of Glory”, I will think of Elan. He climbed very well on his semi-final route, climbing high on the route despite looking a little more shaky than usual, which I found out later was due to the cold. Such a change from the day before.

 

Unfortunately, neither Alannah or Elan made it through to the final round (13^th and 15^th place respectively), exemplifying the extremely high level of climbing here in Europe. We returned later on in the evening to watch the final round. It was spectacular. The two highlights that stand out for me in this event was watching Julia Serriere (FRA) climb from 8^th place to 1^st place in the Junior category, as well as watching Domen Skofic (SLO) be the only climber to top his route. The advanced standard of climbing here in Europe is so humbling and inspiring. I could see stars shining in all of our athletes’ eyes that night. I know they were shining in mine!

 

Yesterday was speed finals, which our athletes used as a day of fun and relaxation at the event. Last minute jersey trading was completed, and they said good-bye to the friends they had made from various countries all around the world. We then returned to the hotel for one last dinner, a great slide show made by Ian Stewart-Patterson (our team manager), and fun and games. With a 1am curfew, the kids were psyched! I felt very lame when I fell asleep watching a movie at 10pm. Wandering down at midnight to check on the kids, I was greeted with two of our athletes walking down the hall, soaking wet and fully clothed from being pushed into the pool (I put a stop to that game), and another group of kids playing “drinking games” with espresso as a substitute. Finally, a group of kids were giggling and psyched as Chris Neve had told them he would drive them to McDonald’s for a late night snack, immediately earning the “cool coach” status.  It was a great last night for the team and I just love the community that developed during these last 8 days.

 

I fly home tomorrow, back to Vancouver and immediately back to school. I had an amazing trip, and I learned so much from all of our athletes and team officials. Next year is Singapore! I hope all the kids maintain the psych they felt at this comp and use it as a motivator for the upcoming season!

 

 

 

What another great day for Team Canada!

 

It was another hot day here in Imst. With the second qualifier and speed qualifications for all categories, it was also a looooong day! We were at the wall from 8:00am until after 8:00pm. Phew! Our early climbers enjoyed the morning coolness, while poor Robert Stewart-Patterson who climbed near the end of the largest category (Youth A Boys) climbed in the heat of the day. Despite the heat, he still pulled off a great climb, sticking a move that spit the majority of the category off.

After another great round of qualifiers, we have four Canadians moving forward to the semi-final round. Congratulations to Alannah Yip (Junior Girls), Elan Jonas-McRae (Youth A Boys), Marc Eveleigh (Youth A Boys) and Miles Adamson (Junior Boys)! I also want to congratulate every other team member who competed this year. I felt that everyone climbed extremely well and made Canada look good!

 

I especially want to congratulate those climbers whose first year it was: Becca Frangos, Amy Sutley, and Caitlin Wu of Youth B Girls; Navy Gale, Andrew Funk and Matt Hendsbee of Youth B Boys, as well as Alyssa Webber of Youth A Girls and Sean Beaudoin of Junior Boys. Worlds is a massive first experience, and you all climbed extremely well! It was great to see the wide eyes, the smiles and the energy!

Finally, I would like to congratulate all those athletes who are aging out this year after multiple years of participating in the Youth World Cups. Arianne Forbes and Ayesha Khan of Junior Girls and Eric Sethna of Junior Boys. You’ve all grown so much from being those wide-eyed little gaffers in Youth B!

 

Speed is always a fun experience for the Canadian Team. We do not have a separate speed team, so our difficulty competitors are given the option to compete. In years past, we have had athletes dressed in capes and wearing mustaches. Yet this year, Canada was told to act a little more seriously due to the possibility of climbing being incorporated into the 2020 Olympics. Therefore, we resorted to some face paint and sent the athletes on their way. The most memorable moment was little Becca Frangos pushing hard to finish the route and falling off after being unable to reach the buzzer. She may have not gotten a time, but she sure had the loudest cheering squad!

 

Congrats Canada. Looking forward to some fun spectating tomorrow and cheering on our four semi-finalists! Semifinals start at 10:00am in Austria! Tune in and check out the IFSC website for results.

 

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!

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. 17^th 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.

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!

 

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

Hello from Imst, Austria! I’m currently sitting in a very beautiful hotel with one of the most amazing and fun group of kids I’ve had the pleasure of working with in a very long time. I was chosen this year to attend the Youth World Championships with the Canadian Youth Nationals Team as a coach! I attended this event for 6 years between 2002 and 2007. My first World Cup was in Canteleu (sp?), France when I was 13 years old. It is such a distant memory, but I can still remember the excitement of being at such a prestigious event. Looking at the youngsters competing here for their very first time is such a treat.

We are one day away from the competition. Since meeting up with the team on August 21st, we have been having a blast. The kids were able to work through their jet lag by sweating and getting their pump on in the fantastic gym in Innsbruck. The climbing in Europe is a very different style, with longer routes, unfamiliar holds and route setting. The kids all did very well and were able to feel confident moving forward to the competition. Yesterday was a fantastic day. We went to an amazing water park called Area 47. With a deep water soloing wall, a giant tube jump, an air pad, water slides and floating trampoline, the kids were in paradise. It was a fantastic day and a great team builder. To top it all off, we organized a formal dinner, a tradition that was begun the previous year in Scotland. I have to say; we have a very good-looking team! These kids look amazing after you wipe away the chalk and sweat! (Not that they don’t look amazing with the chalk and sweat!)

Today is a day for the kids to prepare for the competition tomorrow. I can see the jitters beginning and am getting some myself! It’s going to be an overwhelming experience tomorrow, with some categories having up to 90 competitors! The wall is outdoors and we have been learning how to deal with the heat and humidity over the past few days in order to prepare. No matter what, I know it will be an amazing experience for each athlete.

I will be attempting to update this blog each day after the competition. There will also be a live feed available at www.ifsc.tv. The time difference for Calgary is 8 hours and for Vancouver is 9 hours. The first qualifier round will begin at 9am here in Imst. Check out the running order for each athlete at www.ifsc-climbing.org. Go under the link Calendar and click on the each category under the Youth World Championships event. It is here that you’ll be able to see results!

Let the games begin! Go Canada Go!