Sam Avezou – France – qualified
Sport ClimbingLanguage warning
BUDAPEST – Comments from France’s Sam Avezou after he finished first in the Men’s Boulder & Lead at the OQS Budapest on Sunday and secured a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Sam Avezou – France – qualified second (overall ranking position)
On his performance securing one of the two spots available for his home Olympic Games:
“I never reacted this well to pressure before. You could see in Shanghai it wasn’t great (he slipped on the first hold of his lead climb in the final). I am super happy I could manage eventually the pressure here and yeah, probably under pressure my best climbs ever.”
On his slip in the lead final of OQS Shanghai being on his mind today:
“Actually yeah, because from the observation, I saw the beginning of the route and it was a bit sketchy. I didn’t know what to do and all of a sudden it came back to me. This was very tough to get over.
“But I did three tries this comp and no slip on the first hold. I was quite relieved about that.”
On the difficulty of battling his teammates Paul Jenft and Mejdi Schalck for a Paris place:
“I don’t have anything to say except, please three spots in Los Angeles (at the 2028 Olympic Games) for team France, please. It was terrible doing this.
“Paul and Mejdi are some of my best friends and I hated the process of doing this selection.”
On climbing in the final with Schalck knowing one of them could miss out on a Paris place:
“You can’t deny the fact that he was here and he was climbing next to me and it was the same for him. Probably, it was tough for him after the boulder round, he knew he was just a little (fewer) points. So, it was probably super hard for him.”
On winning OQS Budapest:
“It’s super good winning this comp. The other guys were already qualified so you could see they were OK, they were chilling a bit. So, it’s not like full pressure for everybody but I am still super happy I managed to win this. And very promising for Paris.
“All of this is just training and training. Eventually I am starting to manage the pressure. I don’t know how it’s going to be in Paris. I am obviously not one of the favourites, so I hope less pressure and maybe just try to do my best without looking what everybody is doing.”
On competing at Paris 2024 alongside his sister, also a sport climber, Zelia Avezou:
“Well, that’s amazing, I was so f***ing happy for her yesterday (Saturday). It’s amazing, I can’t wait for the last month of training and the Paris Olympics. It’s going to be very nice.”
OIS ln/wc/xl