Extreme impact of Bassa's injury

Bassa Mawem, who won Speed in great style and secured a position in the final, seemed to have torn his left biceps at the start of the Lead qualification. He let go and did not untie but instead tried to just hold his bicep in place. Most probably he will not take part in the final. As he was ranked as #1 in Speed, the starting order was that he was going to meet the slowest finalists from the qualification, i.e. Adam Ondra. In practice, this would mean, that Ondra automatically will be qualified to the Speed semi.

On their half, of the Speed starting list, are also Colin Duffy and Alberto Gines Lopez, battling for a run against Ondra in the semi. In other words, whoever wins that quarterfinal is almost secured making the Speed finals as Ondra is about one second slower.

The further impact of Bassa's injury is that whoever wins the predicted semi, Tomoa Narasaki against Mickael Mawev, will most probably also win the final. We should not forget that Nathaniel Coleman who faces Mickael in the quarter-final looked like he could make close to six seconds which will set some pressure on Michael to push at his very best.

Due to the multiplication format, the chances for Jakob Schubert taking the gold has dropped significantly, due to Bassa's very unfortunate injury. Most probably, he will now end as #7 and all the others will be moved one step higher in the ranking, with a much greater impact. In theory, Bassa might consider trying to do at least the quarterfinal against Adam Ondra, as he might win such a race even injured.


It should be mentioned that I am not 100 % sure about the thoughts above. It has been said in the media that if Bassa retires, Alex Megos could possibly take his position. That would be very strange as then how would Bassa be ranked overall? Another option could be that the Speed starting order could be redone and Bassa is ranked as #8, meaning Michael would get the free ticket to the semi.