World Youth Championships 2008: Results
‘Team GB’ do well with Scots climber Jonathan Stocking leading the field
Jonathan (from Kilwinning) made it through to the semi-finals on Saturday. Jonathan’s Mum, Lorraine, was glued to the live feed on the Australian Sport Climbing website through the night and said, “I watched him climb at 3.30am and it was fantastic - he climbed so gracefully and it was amazing he made it look so easy. When he got to the bit where most of the children were coming off I held my breath. He took a minute to shake out and then he was off. I felt sick waiting to see if he got into the top eight qualifiers for the final. I'm sure the other parents felt the same.”
Lorraine need not have worried as Jonathan got through to the final where he finished an amazing 4th place. This follows a very short ‘career’ in international competition climbing in the European Youth Series where he gained 27th at Linz (2007), 23rd at Kranj (2007) and 3rd at Wuppertal (2008). He then gained the British Title at Blackpool this year. His current European Ranking is now 7th after just one event this year and with another 3 to go he has every chance of moving up. After this World Champs his World Ranking is 4th but his Mum said he was a little disappointed at himself for not making the podium as only one point separated him from 3rd place.
Jonathan started competing in climbing at the MCofS Youth Climbing Series gaining 3rd in the 2007 British Final and 1st in the 2008 Final. He also won the 2008 Scottish Youth Championships. He also climbs outdoors, having started on MCofS REALrock sessions a couple of years ago and has climbed E4 Trad’ in Scotland and Wales and 8b sport. A summer ‘training’ trip to Ceuse in France saw Jonathan become one of the very few under 18’s to on-sight 8b!
Natalie (from Bearsden) was happy to gain a very credible 9th place overall as she missed out qualifying for the final. The GB Team Coach did appeal after the semi-final, as it was felt the judges had missed that she had moved for a following hold and so should have had an increased score, but it was not upheld. However, her Mum Sue said “She’s reasonably happy, as this year exams have had to take priority. She got five A’s at ‘Higher’s’, so at least all her hard work was worth it!”
Natalie first started competition climbing at International level in 2005 and has competed in most of the European rounds ever since, gaining top 5 placing on a regular basis and many 2nd positions. She gained 4th in the World Youth Championships in 2006. She was 1st in the final round of the European Youth Series in Kranj in 2007, which meant last year she finished 3rd overall in Europe for the second year running. Natalie can lay claim to be the most successful young competition climber to come out of Britain. She has been invited to a reception at No 10 Downing Street as part of a ‘mountaineering’ delegation from the BMC and the MCofS.
Exams also got in the way of Robert (from Inverness) being able to train and compete as much as usual. Robert gained 21st overall at this years Championships. Having competed internationally since 2005, he gained 16th at the World Youth Championships in 2006 and has placed consistently within the top 12 in the European Series. He also climbs extensively outside with his younger brother (also British Youth Series Champion) and Dad and regularly leads E4/5 on traditional climbs and 8a sport climbs. Robert has also been responsible for a selection of new routes in Scotland.
Other members of the British Team did well, with Luke Tilley and Shauna Coxsey reaching the final and gaining 8th and 6th place respectively.
The World Youth Championship is the biggest climbing competition in the world and this year saw 310 competitors from 36 countries competing for the title of best young climbers. The event was held in Sydney, Australia between 28th and 30th August. It entails ‘Lead Climbing’ and ‘Speed Climbing’ categories in various age categories of Male and Female ‘Junior’, ‘Youth A’ and ‘Youth B’.
A day of ‘Qualifiers’ leads to ‘Semi-finals’ and ‘Finals’. Austria was the most successful nation, picking up three gold medals; Japan won two, and the Czech Republic one.Russia dominated the speed climbing events, winning four of the six gold medals; Venezuela and the USA won one each.
Full results can be found on the IFSC (http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/) website HERE
Photos can be found on the ‘Media Village’ of the IFSC site HERE
More information about the other Team GB competitors can be found on the BMC website.