Michael Piccolruaz Olympic preperation interview

Michael Piccolruaz qualified to the Olympics by finishing #14 in the World Championship in August 2019. During the last five years he has been studying and training in Innsbruck where he, for the last 3.5 years, has shared apartment with Jakob Schubert. Now he is just one exam away from his Bachelor degree in Geology. Since Covid-19 emerged, he has mainly been studying and training at home in Val Gardena in the Dolomites.

How do you plan your last six months of Olympic preparation?
Well as for now the preparations are focused on getting fit for the bouldering season. It will be important to do a few comps again before the Olympics, especially after not doing any for so long. I'm not entirely sure which Boulder world cups I will do but for sure those in Europe. Hand in hand with the boulder preparation goes Speed training. Most definitely I will also start all the Speed World Cups which are taking place together with the bouldering world cups. They are the best training we can have. Before the season starts it would be cool to go to Japan for a training camp for about 10 days but unfortunately with the current situation that might be difficult.

Unfortunately, the gym in Innsbruck is closed for everybody but the Austrian national team, so I haven't climbed with Jakob (Schubert) since November, which is very unfortunate. So now I'm training back home in South Tyrol, but I hope the gym in Innsbruck will open as soon as possible again. New boulder problems are something I am definitely missing most from my training in Innsbruck. We train in small gyms now and we do not have the chance to regularly climb on new comp style boulders, however, as the gyms are closed right now and only we athletes can go in I sometimes bring along my makita (drill) and set a few specific moves (slabs, jumps...) for myself. That is really helpful. Hopefully, we will also have some national training camps in the future

Right now I normally train 5 days a week with mostly double sessions. Twice I train Speed, the rest is Bouldering training. I now sometimes train with Filip Schenk as he lives in the same small village as I do. It's good to have somebody to train with and share motivation. Alone it would definitely be harder. I do have a trainer who writes me my training plans and regularly checks in on how I am doing. With the season going on we will then start to insert some lead training, however, it is not gonna be too much since I always feel that a lot of Lead training is not good for my bouldering and speed performance.

Do you do any specific speed training? What is your PB?I don't do specific leg training for speed. But when I am in the gym I always do one or two exercises for my legs in general. Good leg muscles are also good for preventing injuries. My personal best in speed is 6:65. My goal would be reaching a time under 6:30.

What about getting stronger legs from ski-touring?
It is Amazing right now. I go once or twice a week, on the rest days basically. It's between 1000 and 1800 meters of altitude up to 7.5 hours of walking.

What is your goal for the Olympics? Any specific plans due to the Combined multiplication format?
My goal for the Olympics will be making finals. From there on everything is possible and it will really depend on the shape on the competition day, and mostly also the setting style. I will leave lead a bit behind and focus to have the best bouldering and speed shape.