Paris 2024 Olympics – Women's Semi-Final Lead

• Thursday 8th August 2024

Garnbret, Mori and Pilz finish  top three in women’s Lead Semi-Final to qualify for Final; Erin McNiece also through in 7^th

In another action-packed Lead Semi-Final in Paris, Janja Garnbret and Ai Mori both fell going for final hold so share the top spot with Jesse Pilz taking third place.

Team GB’s Erin McNeice climbed superbly well and finished the Lead Semi-Final in 7^th place with 64.1pts; her combined score of 123.7pts was enough for 7^th overall and therefore a place in Saturday’s Combined Final! Erin’s Boulder and Lead round scores of 59.6pts and 64.1pts respectively show how well-balanced Erin’s climbing is at the moment and that she’s a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. After a difficult boulder round earlier in the week Molly Thompson-Smith posted a super solid performance in the Lead Semi-Final falling just short of the headwall with a thoroughly well-deserved score of 57pts. Sadly, it wasn’t enough for Molly to progress to the Finals alongside Erin but her superb Lead run was enough for a 9^th place finish today. News had emerged recently that Molly’s final preparation for the Games was hampered when she broke a toe in training five weeks prior to the Games and she had been forced to complete her final training preparations wearing one climbing shoe and a slipper!

With Erin McNeice qualifying for the women’s Combined Finals, Team GB have now got a total of three athletes in the two Combined Finals. The teams from USA, Japan, Austria and home-nation France all have two athletes in the Finals; Team GB however are the only nation to have qualified three athletes for the two Sport Climbing Combined Finals. Irrespective of their eventual paces, having three athletes in Combined Finals is a remarkable achievement and one which everyone involved with the team will be justifiably celebrating.

As in the Boulder Semi-Final earlier in the week, Erin McNeice established an early high point which proved too much for many of the other competitors to better. After a very steady and considered performance throughout her climb, Erin fell at the base of the headwall when she attempted a long left-sideway move. She didn’t look pumped when she fell and her disappointment as she was lowered off suggested she felt she had more to give. Effectively, Erin’s Combined score became a marker that the other women hoping to make the Final would need to beat.

Amongst the lower half of the seeded athletes, it was 15^th seed Yuetong Zhang (CHN) alone that was able to climb beyond Erin’s high point for a Lead score of 68.0pts; however, her combined score of 97.7pts didn’t better Erin’s Combined score. Although she fell below Erin’s Lead point with 45.1pts, Oceania Mackenzie’s (AUS) Combined score of 124.7pts was the first to improve on Erin’s 123.7pt. Oriane Bertone also fell at the same point as Oceania Mackenzie but her higher Boulder score meant that Oriane’s Combined score was 129.6pts.

When neither Miho Nonaka (JPN) nor Natalia Grossman (USA) was able to better Erin’s Combined score only four climbers – Jessica Pilz, Brooke Raboutou, Ai Mori and Janja Garnbret - were still to climb the then third-placed Erin had qualified for the Finals. Jessica Pilz stormed onto the headwall for 88.1pts and a Combined score of 156.9pts after which Brooke Raboutou added a Lead score of 72.1pts to give herself a Combined score of 155.8pts.

Moving superbly throughout, both Ai Mori and Janja Garnbret almost topped the wall only to fall off with their hands on the final hold; Mori and Garnbret’s Combined scores were boosted to 150.1pts and 195.7pts respectively.

Although Janja Garnbret and Ai Mori with Jessica Pilz had taken the top three Lead places on the day, it was Janja Granbret, Jessica Pilz and Brooke Raboutou who had qualified in the top three places for Saturday’s Combined Final. Ai Mori qualified in 4^th, Oriane Bertone in 5^th, Oceania MacKenzie in 6^th, Erin McNeice in 7^th and Chaehyun Seo in 8^th.