Schalck and Bertone lead French rout in Prague
- Tuesday 10th June 2025
Mejdi Schalck and Oriane Bertone took both golds in the weather-affected Prague WC Boulder round over the weekend; French team-mates took two further medals also.
Mejdi Schalck, having built momentum during the preceding WC Boulder events this year, outshone Sorato Anraku to secure his best result at a WC since failing to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games last year.
Talking after his win Schalck said: “It feels a bit like a comeback because last year I had a pretty hard year. I didn’t qualify for the Olympics, so I stayed focused and trained really hard this winter, so it’s a comeback. I’m back, and it feels good to be back.”
Having won all three of the preceding 2025 WC Boulder events, Sorato Anraku was forced to concede his potential 2025 clean-sweep and had to settle for silver. Schalck’s French team-mate, Samuel Richard, took third place and hence bronze; impressively, Richard finished with the same points score as Anraku so placed third on count-back.
Sadly, the women’s competition was impacted by the weather and the final – having been delayed – was eventually cancelled. Accordingly, the three highest placed climbers from the semi-finals were taken as the podium; Oriane Bertone therefore was awarded the gold – her second ever - whilst her team mate Agathe Calliet took second and silver with Japan’s Sekikawa Melody picking up third and bronze.
Team GB’s male athletes had some mixed results and whilst Jack Macdougal had his highest yet finish in 9th, Hamish MacArthur finished in 14th, Toby Roberts in 20th and Max Milne in 23rd. Dayan Akhtar and Sam Butterworth finished in joint 31st and joint 53rd respectively.
In contrast, two athletes from the GB women's squad qualified for the finals, Erin McNeice and Emma Edwards. According to their semi-final ranking they were awarded 4th and 5th respectively – particularly impressive for Emma Edwards given it would have been her first finals. Zoe Peetermans finished in joint 33rd.