Worldcupseason 2011

The preparation for this year’s competition season started off really well and I had a lot of confidence to improve my performance from last year. Finally the first Worldcup in Milan approached. Few days before the competition I was suffering from a bad stomach flu and only decided to compete on the day of travelling. Considering the circumstances I climbed alright and finished 22^nd. Unfortunately my body was not totally ready for the heavy workload and I inflamed a tendon in my finger, which troubled me throughout the season. Stew climbed really well in the qualification round, but a few hours later he caught as well the stomach flu and could not climb in the Semi-final- DAMN!

Log Dragomer- 24^th. That was the low point this season and my finger injury. I felt distracted throughout the whole competition.

Vienna – 20^th Good start, amazing run in the qualification round. Semi-final not my style.

Eindhoven -22^nd tried hard.

Barcelona- 12^th. Wow finally a good result, the comp with my unfinished top attempts.

Sheffield- 18^th my worst semi-final, everything went wrong.

Munich....coming soon!

Trainingslager Fountainebleau

March saw the Austrian Bouldering Team (Anna,Katha, Babsy, Kili, Lu, Heiko, Klaus, and myself) plus Stew hit Fontainebleau for 10days to prepare for the up and coming season. Except for Kili, Fontainebleau was almost new to everybody. As the weather was unusually dry, we attempted as many blocs as possible during the day but couldn't attempt everything we wanted as there are just not enough hours in the day. To complete the training we even found some time to meet Jacky in the French military training base to pull on some interesting style problems that he'd set.

From Arco to England

On the weekend Stew, Mart and I went to Arco to escape from the rainy Austria. It ended up being too hot to climb but the pizza was great. Back home after a long day of painting a roof Kathi, Stew, Mart and I were off to England. We were really lucky with the weather and had a few awesome days on the rock. However the training for the European Championship was still Stew’s and mine priority. We visited a few of the big bouldering walls to climb some set problems. It’s amazing how much you climb when every problem is new to you. The well earned rest days Kathi and I spent shopping and in Manchester. The week was so quickly over and without realising it Kathi, Stew and I were in the plane back home.

7th WorldCup in Munich

On the Weekend the last World Cup event was held in Munich. After Arco I especially tried to work on some weaknesses and already felt the improvement. In Munich I was confident but exited; because it was the last competition and I wanted to perform well. In the qualification round I flashed problem 1 which was not easy, but unfortunately problem 2 I misread the starting sequence and in my last attempt I got it right but on the top hold I run out of time and the top did not count anymore. The last 3 problem were too hard to make up my mistakes and therefore I was 1 problem to short to qualify for the semifinal and finished in a disappointing 22^nd place. Resume´ from this year´s Worldcup season: lots of training, 7 competitions and only 3 semis (place 16^th 2x and 19^th), 4 times not qualified for the semifinal (22, 25, 27, 30), overall worldcup ranking position 21^st,1 injury (from Sheffield) and a lot of traveling. What to improve for next year: miss out on the comps in America (jet lag, to stressful), train more awkward reachy moves (otherwise training seemed to worked for Stew, 6^th overall!!), and try not to think too much all the time (over psyched). However, in the meantime I am enjoying the rock and to get pumped, before I prepare myself for the European Championship mid September.

Arco Rockmaster 2010 and World Championship Pre Event

This was the hardest competition so far this year. The girls had to climb very early it was super hot and the problems were mega hard. Between climbing, watching the men boulder and the leading competition the hotel pool and Marco´s ice cream was the only way to survive the head. I finished 10^th which was my best competition result so far this year.

6th BWC in Sheffield

The BWC was part of an outdoor festival called Cliffhanger which was located in the Millhouses Park in Sheffield. Beside other competitions the Boulder Woldcup was one of the biggest attractions and the walls were mounted inside a big circus tent. The competition started on Saturday with long, long waiting hours (up to 5 hours) for the girls in the isolation (THE CLIMING WORKS!). My biggest worry was to not get too psyched by the warm up.

The qualification went alright for me, except on the last problem, because you had to bright across two walls and reach to the top on the other side. Unfortunately my legs where almost too short and I tried so hard that I pulled a muscle fiber in my hamstrings. At least I got the top and was in the next round. On Sunday, in the semifinal I had to climb with a lot of pain in my leg, but I managed to top one problem and finished 16^th. Now I need a lot of therapy to be fit again for the Rock Master.