Heroes actu ': May 2024

At the beginning of the month the French championships of difficulty were held at the climbing factory of Tarbes, a room well known for its impressive wall of 19 meters high. For the second year in a row, Manon Hily has once again demonstrated his talent by retaining his title as France's lead champion. She makes a faultless journey by putting her 2 qualifying tracks on top and keeping the leader in the semifinals. It is the last to climb in the final and falls on the last movement of the track, allowing it to retain its first place. She is accompanied on the podium by Ina Plassoux Djiga and Camille Pouget.

The week after the French championships, we were at the Salt Lake City Bouldering World Cup and for his first World Cup of the year, Oriane Bertone won the silver medal behind Natalia Grossman. She was followed on the podium by the French Naile Meignan. 5th in qualifying, she placed 2nd in the semifinal with a flash in boulder 4. It will retain its place in the final with 3 tops and 4 validated zones. Oriane revives her return to international competitions with a good second place.

Still in Salt Lake City and after Oriane's podium, it's the turn of our Arkose hero Solenne Piret to win a gold medal on this world cup of paraclimbing in her category. She fell to a few shots from the end on the final track, adding a new gold medal to her list. Solenne has remained undefeated since 2018.

From 16 to 19 May the first stage of the series of qualification for this summer's combined test took place. Absent from the Salt Lake City competition, we found Mejdi Schalk this weekend in Shanghai to defend his place. From the qualification stage, he placed 4th. Accompanied by the other two French climbers Paul Jenft and Sam Avezou in the semifinal, Mejdi went 2 places in the final and finished 10th with 68.7 points in bouldering and 26.1 points in lead. Manon Hily was also present on this event. 13th at the end of the qualifyings, she finished 15th at the end of the semifinal.

As a reminder, the 2 stages of the qualification series will lead to a combined classification. The top 10 climbers will be qualified, up to 2 athletes per country. With Oriane Bertone already qualified thanks to her victory in Laval, there is only one place left for the French women. But nothing is still played on this first result since it remains the Budapest stage from June 20-23. Our 2 Arkose heroes still have a chance to qualify for this summer!