Welcome to Behind The Wall, a weekly newsletter published every Saturday.
Each week, I highlight the favourite things I’ve watched, read and listened to from the world of indoor and competition climbing. I also keep track of what climbing competitions are coming up and where you can buy tickets.
The final two episodes of The Crux were released this week. We heard about their Olympic experiences from Campbell Harrison on the Circle Up podcast and Erin McNeice on her YouTube channel. Josh Rundle and Jonathan Sin show us how hard competition boulders are. Finally, Niki and Jake talk about their favourite holds on the 10th episode of Another Setting Podcast.
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Watch
- National Geographic has released episodes 3 and 4 of The Crux. Episode 3 looks at Miho Nonaka’s struggles with competing against her teammates and friends at the Asian Olympic Qualifier and Campbell Harrison at the Oceania Qualifier. Episode 4 focuses on Toby Roberts, Mejdi Schalck, Oriane Bertone, Jenya Kazbekova and Stasa Gejo at the European Qualifier in Laval.
- How Hard are Olympic Boulders? | Josh Rundle. Josh Rundle tries some of the GB Team training blocs at Parthian London to see how hard competition boulders actually are.
- The Olympic Debrief | Erin McNeice. Erin McNeice breaks down her performance at the Olympic games on each of the boulders and routes.
- 5 Lessons I learned training with Olympic-level Climbers - Toby Roberts, Jakob Schubert | Jonathan Sin Climbing. Jonathan Sin shares what he learned from taking part in an international climbing training camp with some Olympians on the EP Titan wall at Parthian London.
- Is this Janja Garnbret’s biggest weakness? | ROAP Coaching. Robin O’Leary breaks down Janja’s performance on the semi-final slab boulder and how the smallest changes can be the difference between making progress and not.
- The Rise of Climbing | FT Scoreboard. The Financial Times explores the rise of indoor and competition climbing since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
- World’s Hardest V5? | Crispy Crimps. Crispy Crimps shares his experience working several V5s in B-Pump Tokyo (where he currently works). He goes into the complexity of the climbs and why experimenting with different beta and techniques is so important.
Read
- Where the Heck Does Janja Garnbret Go From Here? | Climbing Magazine. John Burgman interviews Janja Garnbret after the Paris Olympics for Climbing Magazine about her experience competing in Paris.
- Alannah Yip Didn’t Have a Picture-Perfect Career Ending. And That’s OK. | Climbing Magazine. Anthony Walsh talks with Alannah Yip about her experiences competing in her last competitions, how she felt about not qualifying for Paris, coping with Alopecia and what she is looking forward to next.
Listen
- Post Paris Perspectives with Olympian Campbell Harrison | Circle Up Podcast. Campbell Harrison shares his experience at the Paris Olympics with Kyra Condie and his ambitions for the future.
- Our favourite holds & the inevitable Oasis comeback | Another Setting Podcast. Niki and Jake talk about their favourite climbing holds, from macros to pockets to jibs.
International Climbing Competition Tickets
The Olympics may be over, but there are plenty of climbing competitions left this year to follow. Here is a rundown of climbing competitions to watch out for the rest of the year.
- Koper (Slovenia) September 6 – 7. Tickets for the semi-final and final will be available for pre-sale from July 8th – August 24th at the Koper 2024 World Cup site.
- Prague (Czechia) World Cup September 20 – 22. VIP tickets are sold out, and seated tickets are almost sold out, but standing tickets are still available.
- Paraclimbing World Cup in Arco (Italy) September 27 – 28. The event will be free to attend and tickets are not needed.
- Seoul World Cup October 2 – 6. Tickets are yet to be announced
- Asian Continental Championship in Tai’an (China) October 10 – 14. Tickets are yet to be announced.
- IFSC Madrid 4 Speed (Spain) October 18 – 20. Tickets are yet to be announced.
- Pan American Championship in Santiago (Chile) November 18 – 24. Tickets are yet to be announced.
That’s a Wrap
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Behind the Wall. Let me know what you think at behindthewall@insideclimbing.com or D.M. me on Instagram.
See you next week!
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