Ever the champion, Alberto Ginés disappointed at not winning OQS Budapest
The reigning Olympic champion, who topped the Boulder & Lead standings in both qualification and semis at OQS Budapest, turns focus to defending his Olympic title after fifth-place finish in Hungary.
Sport Climbing
A champion never likes losing. Alberto Ginés López, the reigning Olympic champion in sport climbing combined, is no exception.
Although the Spaniard obtained a Paris 2024 quota spot* on Sunday (23 June) at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest, you would be forgiven for thinking he’d missed out, given his disappointment at finishing fifth in the final on a baking hot afternoon in the Hungarian capital.
The morning clouds at the Ludovika Campus had given way to blazing sunshine, making climbing conditions tough for the eight finalists who also had to deal with difficult routes set on both Boulder and Lead.
So difficult that of the four Boulder problems, no one reached the Top hold on any of the first three. Ginés scored just 29.6 points in the round, before compounding his day with an error on the Lead route when he felt he could have gone higher.
“The final today… the truth is it went badly, I wasn’t able to enjoy it,” Ginés told Olympics.com in Spanish afterwards. “The Boulder round was very difficult, none of us could do anything, and on Lead due to a mistake I made I wasn’t able to do as well as I would have liked.”
He finished fifth overall on 83.6 points, which also knocked him down in the overall OQS standings from second after Shanghai to fourth – something that grated on him.
“After finishing first in quails and the semi, I wanted to win today… I would have liked to have qualified first (on the OQS standings) instead of fourth, but I also wasn’t able to either.”
Up next for Ginés and his fellow competitors, World Cup stops in Innsbruck and Chamonix. Then Paris calls in August. What will he do between now and then?
“Train, train, and train. Step by step, in Paris we’ll try to make it to the final first and if we do that we can start thinking about a medal.”
Adam Ondra eyes Olympic redemption after missing medal in Tokyo
Another man who obtained his quota is Czechia’s Adam Ondra, who is keen to make up for missing out on a medal in Tokyo.
Carrying a shoulder issue suffered in Boulder qualification on Thursday, the veteran climber only just squeaked into Sunday’s final in eighth.
But he was one of four men to Top the fourth problem in the final, which coupled with the fourth-best Lead result saw him finish on the third step of the podium for the second OQS stage in a row.
“It’s great, the little step to be done [to qualify is done], but still some work in front of me,” he told Olympics.com.
It is a shot at redemption in Paris for Ondra, who did not shy away from confirming that would be his aim in France in just over a month’s time.
“I want to fight for the medal, but I know I have to be at my absolute best shape and then be really lucky. That of course would be the dream.”
And for his fans worrying about that shoulder knock, Ondra had words of reassurance.
“It’s just a problem that happened on day one and didn’t have one day of rest when it could really recover.
“It’s just a cramp in a muscle and needs a few days to recover to get back to 100 per cent, but it was definitely annoying today.”
Adam Ondra, with his left shoulder strapped, celebrates reaching the Top hold on the fourth problem during the men's Boulder & Lead final at OQS Budapest
Avezou celebrates win and quota spot but Schalck misses out
The little bit of intrigue in the men’s final featured the French duo of Sam Avezou and Mejdi Schalck, and their teammate Paul Jenft who missed out on making it into the top eight.
Only a maximum of two of the three could obtain a quota spot, and despite not making the final, Jenft’s fourth-place finish last month in Shanghai meant he remained well-placed, with the onus on Avezou or Schalck, or both, to overtake him in the overall rankings.
With Jenft sitting on 70 points from Shanghai and Budapest, both men knew what they would need to overtake him: a fourth-placed finish for Avezou would give him 71, while a podium finish for Schalck would put him on 72.
Ultimately, only the former did well enough to overtake Jenft, with Avezou’s strong Lead performance enough to see him top the combined standings and take home the first-place trophy from Budapest on 105.6 points.
Avezou sank to the ground in tears after his run with his belay rope still attached as the gravity of what he had just accomplished sunk in.
For Schalck, however, it wasn't meant to be.
OQS Budapest 2024 results - Men's Boulder & Lead final
- Sam Avezou (FRA) 105.6 – 54.5 Boulder, 51.1 Lead
- Lee Dohyun (KOR) 98.6 – 44.5 B, 54.1 L
- Adam Ondra (CZE) 92.4 – 44.3 B, 48.1 L
- Hannes van Duysen (BEL) 86.1 – 50.0 B, 36.1 L
- Alberto Ginés López (ESP) 83.6 – 29.6 B, 54.0 L
- Mejdi Schalck (FRA) 68.8 – 29.7 B, 39.1 L
- Alexander Megos (GER) 67.0 – 24.9 B, 42.1 L
- Yannick Flohé (GER) 52.4 – 24.4 B, 28.0 L
Men's Boulder & Lead sport climbers obtaining a quota to Paris 2024
After both rounds of OQS, the following climbers obtained a quota spot* for Paris: Lee, Avezou, Ondra, Ginés, Van Duysen, Jenft, Flohé, Hamish McArthur (GBR), Sasha Lehmann (SUI), Megos, Luka Potocar (SLO), Pan Yufei (CHN)
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at Paris 2024 depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation. Click here to view the qualification system for each sport.