That is a wrap from the 2019 Canadian Open Boulder Nationals hosted by Bolder Climbing Community in Calgary, BC. The weekend started with 55 male athletes and 34 female athletes and ended with only six of those competitors for each gender making finals. Both Men’s and Women’s final problem was the deciding factor for who sat on top of the podium, making an exciting finish!
Womens Final
On the Women’s side, excitement was high going into finals, with last year’s National Champion Allison Vest sitting in second place and Alannah Yip, a two time National champion sitting in first place. These two competitors have had a healthy rivalry for the past few years and this weekend was no exception!
Women’s #1 saw a quick flash by Ontario’s Madison Fischer, followed by a top from Paige Boklaschuk and Alannah Yip. Unfortunately, Allison Vest took a bad fall off #1 and ended up hurting her knee and through the advice of her coaching team did not competing for the rest of the competition.
Women’s #2 saw a top by Alysa Weber followed by another flash of a problem by Madison Fischer, her second of the night, and then a top by Paige and a top by Alannah Yip on her third attempt.
Womens #3, a wild double gaston problem, saw a top by Alysa Weber and a fighting second attempt by Madison Fischer that ended in a top, and then topped by Paige and then a flash by Alannah Yip. This left the leader board with three athletes who all had made tops with the fewest attempts by Madison Fischer who was looking strong for a podium finish.
The action of the night was coming down to the final problem, a powerful sloper problem with a difficult compression finish. Battling hard, Madison Fischer took two strong attempts on the problem, the first to leave her without a top and opening the podium for Paige or Alannah. Giving it her three attempts, Paige Boklaschuk was also shut down on the last moves of this problem, leaving the door wide open for Alannah Yip to place first if she topped the problem. Coming out with confidence, Alannah made it to the bonus with no difficulty and powered her way through the top with ease, flashing the problem that would put her in first place. What a finish!
Men’s Final
In the absence of Sean McColl and a surprising miss by JJ Mah, the top of the podium was wide open for a number of new and old competitors.
Out of the gate, Men’s #1 saw tops by Zach Richardson and Jason Holowach followed by a flash from Lucas Uchida.
On Men’s #2, the problem was again topped by the first two competitors, Jason Holowach and Zach Richardson. Thinking the problem would be topped by the whole field, it left Lucas Uchida and Tosh Sherkat empty but was then flashed by Guy McNamee and topped by Nathan Smith on his second attempt.
Men’s #3 looked to shut down the field, first topped with Jason Holowach making a wild body position followed by a top by Tosh Sherkat and Nathan Smith.
The podium again came down to the final problem! Men’s #4 was first topped in spectacular fashion by Zach Richardson, then missed by Jason and then topped by Lucas Uchida. Guy McNamee barely caught the top hold, making a flash of the problem, moving into a third place podium finish. This left the door open for Nathan Smith to take first place with his top of the problem! Again, what a wild finish!
Great to see a wild crowd and so many people cheering on these competitor both in person and online. Special thanks to Josh Muller and Reagan Kennedy as hosts to this event and all the volunteers. Thanks to Elise Sethna and Pete Woods for the commentary. What a fantastic turnout by Canadian climbing!
Below are the final results.
Women’s Open
1. YIP, Alannah 4T 4z 7A4
2. FISCHER, Madison 3T 4z 4A5
3. BOKLASCHUK, Paige 3T 4z 7A6
4. WEBER, Alyssa 2T 4z 6A7
5. HOSOI, Mika 0T 4z 0A8
6. VEST, Allison 0T 1z 0A1
Men’s Open
1. RICHARDSON, Zach 3T 4z 9A7
2. SMITH, Nathan 3T 4z 9A9
3. MCNAMEE, Guy 2T 4z 2A4
4. HOLOWACH, Jason 2T 4z 3A8
5. UCHIDA, Lucas 2T 3z 4A3
6. SHERKAT, Tosh 1T 4z 4A11
Full results at Compseason.com
