Men's Finalists Tokyo 2020

The qualifications on Wednesday evening were an exciting time for the climbing world with the men stepping up to be the first athletes to debut Sport Climbing to the world!

We saw incredible triumphs by some lesser ranked athletes such as Colin Duffy of the USA and Bassa Mawem from France. Additionally we saw some, in the famous words of Dave Graham, ‘ultimate devastations’ for the likes of Kai Harada and possibly most devastatingly Alex Megos missing finals by 1 spot.

The big headline of the evening however was not the results table. It was the result of Bassa Mawem managing to completely rupture his bicep tendon on the 3rd draw of the mens lead route. Bassa came down holding his bicep, it seemed if he let go his bicep could completely detach. He has since been flown back to France to have immediate surgery to reconnect the tendon and as such has had to withdraw from finals. 

This left some speculation as to who will get a bye on their first speed route. People believe that this may be given to Adam Ondra which is a huge advantage getting automatically placed in the speed semi finals when Adam was one of the slowest athletes in qualifications placing 18th.

Full Results can be found here

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‍1. Mickael Mawem (FRA)

Age: 30

Hometown: Aubervilliers

Height: 179cm

Qualification speed time: 5.97

Mickael has always been a strong competitor however rarely breaking into finals on the world cup circuit. Generally known for his and his brothers instagram account. However the climbing world took notice when he was the only competitor to top 3 of the mega hard boulders the men were assaulted with on qualification evening. Additionally, there is something in the Mawem genes that Mickael was able to tap into when training with brother Bassa for speed as Mickael got an incredibly time of 5.95 on his first heat of speed, a mighty impressive feat for a non speed climber, i suppose training with the big bro and world champ Bassa didn’t hurt.

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2. Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)

Age: 25

Hometown: Tochigi

Height:170cm

Qualification Speed Time: 5.96

Tomoa had the homeground advantage (which in climbing is minor), but definitely his acclimatisation of the 80% humidity in Japan would have helped. However, we by no means are insinuating Tomoa doesn’t belong in this final, in fact quite the opposite. Unlike Mickael there have been few boulder world cup finals Tomoa hasn’t qualified for and he has multiple gold medals under his belt. 

It was clear for Tomoa and Mickael that after the speed and boulder rounds, there wasn’t much that was going to remove them from finals.

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3. Colin Duffy (USA)

Age: 17

Hometown: Broomfield

Height: 168cm

Qualification speed time: 6.23

Now this kid rocked out socks in qualifiers! When Colin first qualified for the Olympics through the Pan-Am champs there were many sceptics that believed Sean Bailey should have been given the spot with only a minuscule result separating the two competitors on boulders that were deemed ‘too easy’ and one foot slip costed Bailey the spot. However, Duffy demonstrated on Wednesday night that he deserved his olympic spot. Qualifying above heavy weights such as Ondra, Schubert and Megos at only 17 years old. 

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4. Jakob Schubert (AUT)

Age: 30

Hometown: Innsbruck

Height: 176cm

Qualifying speed time: 6.70

Schubert has 21 world cup gold medals to his name, has been competing for decades, yes you heard correct decades. This man is a true ‘competitor’ has the ability to dig deep under pressure and create diamonds as we saw on the final boulder of the qualification round, giving him his only top and shooting him up in the rankings to 7th, without which we would have seen a final result of 15th in the bouldering. You could see the frustration Jakob felt through the boulder round however he held it together to secure that necessary top right at the end and from there he got to do what he does so well - lead climb the shit out of a wall! 

The lead finals saw Schubert and Duffy tie on the route, ultimately Schubert pipping him by getting there 42 seconds faster and taking out 1st spot on the lead rankings.

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5. Adam Ondra (CZE)

Age: 28

Hometown: Brno

Height: 186cm

Speed qualifying time: 7.46

Ondra, what can we really say about him that hasn’t been said before.. He isn’t a good speed climber, we know that and he hasn’t been particularly quiet about his disdain for the discipline, but alas if he wants the first Olympic gold he had to swallow that bitter taste and do something he hates and is not good at. Luckily enough his performances in Boulder and Lead meant he was able to hold his standing and proceed through to finals. People often associate Ondra with outdoor success and as an outdoor climbing, however the reality of the situation is that Ondra has always done both, from the junior ranks he was a world champion and he still competes in world cups all over the globe taking gold in many and ranking highly in many more.

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6. Alberto Gines Lopez (ESP)

Age: 18

Hometown: Sant Cugat del Valles

Height: 178cm

Qualifying speed time: 6.32

Alberto has always been a strong lead competitor, occasionally dipping a toe in the other 2 disciplines. It was uncertain how he would compete in boulder and speed but with a qualifying time of 6.32 in speed he was in a good position to make finals and after a less successful boulder round he was able to pull it together to get a 3rd place ranking in lead behind Schubert and Duffy securing his place in finals.

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7. Bassa Mawem (FRA)

Age: 36

Hometown: Clermont Ferrand

Height: 184cm

Qualifying speed time: 5.45

Unfortunately we will not see Bassa in the Olympic final as he will be under the knife. With a traumatic bicep tendon rupture Bassa was forced to withdraw and make a fast return to France for immediate surgery. We wish him all the best with his recovery!

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8. Nathaniel Coleman (USA)

Age: 24

Hometown: Murray

Height: 182cm

Qualifier speed time: 6.51

Our last finalist and only abercrombie model. Nathaniel, not generally known for his leading ability, really pulled it out on the qualification route ranking 5th behind some impressive names. A climber that is more suited to boulder and speed, Nathaniel is a very powerful athlete but when the first two disciplines didn’t 100% swing in his favour a single last ditch effort on the lead route was enough to see him through to finals. Not unfamiliar with world cup podiums lets see if he can find his way onto an olympic one….

Stay tuned for our female finalist line up…….