2012 IFSC Youth World Championships Singapore climbing long jump in the sand — The impromptu long jump competition

In the middle of the Qualifier 2 round yesterday it began raining, hard. Then eventually it stopped. All the countries decided to keep climbing through the night to finish the round. Apparently the kids made the best of the break and had a long jump competition in the sand while the setters were drying the routes. This seriously looks like the most fun competition venue ever!

2012 IFSC Youth World Championships Singapore climbing quali 2 — Pretty sure this is Margo. She fell but she fell at a new highpoint.

Margo’s highpoint on Female Youth B Quali 2 was matched by only one other climber, Molly Thompson-Smith of Great Britain. Rankings are based on combined score of Q1 and Q2 so Margo and Molly, who performed identically on both Quali routes, are tied for 2nd behind Team USA climber Claire Buhrfeind.

2012 IFSC Youth World Championships Singapore climbing quali 2 Team USA — Team USA!

Here are the Team USA scores for climbers who are going into semifinals:

Girls

Shannon Lochridge – Female Junior – 10th

Michaela Kiersch – Female Junior – 21st

Cicada Jenerik – Female Junior – 25th

Kyra Condie – Female A – 16th

Jacquelyn Wu – Female A – 18th

Claire Buhrfeind – Female B – 1st

Margo Hayes – Female B – 2nd

Rita Marsanova – Female B – 13th

Grace McKeehan – Female B – 17th

Boys

Alex Fritz – Male Junior – 15th

Josh Levin – Male Junior – 18th

Noah Ridge – Male Junior – 19th

Owen Graham – Male Junior – 22nd

Sean Bailey – Male A – 14th

Nicholas Milburn – Male A – 16th

Dylan Barks – Male A – 20th

Brendan Mitchell – Male B – tied for 4th with Sergei Bydtaev (RUS)

Jesse Grupper – Male B – 17th

Solomon Barth – Male B – 22nd

And here are the Team USA scores for climbers who did not make semis:

Girls

Nicole Hansen – Female Junior – 36th

Callie Walter – Female A – 29th

Amelia Metcalf – Female A – 39th

Boys

Andrew Lamb – Male Junior – 29th

Dominic LaBarge – Male A – 41st

Cole Skinner – Male B – 41st

Full Results (use dropdown menus to toggle between categories) – IFSC – International Federation of Sport Climbing: General result female youth B lead

A note about the holds

One of the most difficult things about competing internationally, besides of course the travel, jet lag, different food, different climate, different everything, is that the holds and volumes are often entirely new. US competitors competing in the US can reasonably expect to have some knowledge of the holds, because they will have seen many of them before in their home gyms. Internationally, many or all of the holds will be unknowns. This means that route reading is more difficult because you cannot, from the ground, know if that next hold is an incut pinch or a slopey pinch. You don’t know if you’re jumping for a flat ledge or if there’s a sweet spot on that volume. All of this makes for a much more challenging onsight experience.

More Pictures!