The men's qualifying round at the IFSC competition in Toulouse took place this afternoon. It is already clear which athletes have secured an Olympic ticket.
The qualifying event in Toulouse, organized specifically for the 2020 Olympics, kicked off on Thursday morning with men's qualifying in the Speed discipline, followed by bouldering and lead climbing. On the starting list were the 22 best athletes of the Overall Combined Ranking of the season 2019.
Jernej Kruder breaks volume while climbing the lead from the wall
While Jernej Kruder climbed the discipline's qualifying route, a volume suddenly erupted from the wall. The competition had to be paused and the volume replaced before Jernej could re-enter the lead route.
"Am I too heavy for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics?"
Jernej Kruder jokes about the breakout of the handle and the missed Olympic ticket
The scene of the handle breakout in the rehearsal
While Jernej missed the ticket for Tokyo 2020, six athletes have already secured the admission ticket for the summer games. Actually, the decision should have fallen only in the final of the competition in Toulouse.
However, since two of the eight finalists come from Japan, and Japan had already exhausted its Olympic quota at the World Cup, the remaining six finalists automatically withdrew the “Ticket to Tokyo 2020”. As far as the Olympic qualification is concerned, the final on Saturday is only a matter of form. The following six athletes secured their participation in the Olympics today:
- Adam Ondra (CZE)
- YuFei Pan (CHN)
- Jan Hojer (GER)
- Alberto Ginés Lopez
- Bassa Mawem
- Nathaniel Coleman
Sascha Lehmann misses chance on Olympia, Germany uses country quota fully
Despite strong performance in his lead discipline Lead Sascha Lehmann missed a top result in the combination at the Olympic qualifying event in Toulouse and was able to secure for the time being no place for the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo. The last opportunity presents itself to the Swiss at the European Championships in March.
For the Germans the competition was as desired for Jan Hojer. After the qualifying round today, Jan took third place and is one of the six athletes who secured access to the 2020 Summer Olympics. After Alex Megos, Jan Hojer is the second German climber to secure an Olympic ticket. Thus, Germany draws the country contingent from the men.
The Program, more infos and live streams for the event in Toulouse (Thursday to Sunday) are available here.
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Credits: Cover picture IFSC video