Winning and loosing an Olympic salary in China

Nicolas Collins from Belgium traveled to China totally under the radar and did come back as #6 in the Combined overall. Most probably this means that he now will get a salary from the state being an Olympic athlete. Interview is coming up. Another example of an athlete suddenly becoming an Olympic prospect, due to only a dozen Combined climbers participated in China, is Speed specialist John Brosler. His best Speed result over the season is, including the last two in China, #13. In Lead and Boulder he is normally among the very last but anyhow he was #13 overall. Another way of showing the impact of the few Combined athletes competing in China is Gregor Vezonik. If he had traveled to China and ended dead last in all events he would have been #9 overall. As a matter of a fact, if I myself had done two Boulder WCs and also traveled to China I could have put #35 in the Combined World Cup. Not bad for a 53 year old that currently struggles topping out the Speed in a sport that is Olympic. I am sure many similar stories can be found among the female. The 2019 season will be long and a good portion of strategy for which comps to do will be as important as how well you climb. Saving energy for the end of the season when the selection will be done in the qualifying Olympic event will be crucial.