Ondra comments his victory in SLC

Adam Ondra, who won the first Boulder World Cup 2021, was #1 also in Salt Lake City last weekend and here is his press release as well as his answers to two follow up questions from 8a. (c) Christian Adam

"I felt quite nervous in the qualifying and semi-final rounds. The style of boulders was a bit random - when a person made one mistake or did not think of the right method, he lost some time and then he could not finish the boulder problem," says Czech climber.

The finals followed the very same day and this time, the “final six” consisted of five Europeans and one Japanese. Ondra was the only one who managed to finish all four final boulders. He enjoyed the very friendly atmosphere in isolation and the amazing support of 3,000 spectators. "I think this feeling is kind of rare for both competitors and spectators and we all enjoyed it," smiles the Czech Olympian nominated for Tokyo.

Ondra himself admitted that this time he needed a little bit of luck. The style of American boulders was a lot about thinking: "During the whole race the boulders were quite technical, the profiles were not very overhanging and rather than strength or technique or agility it was more about finding the simplest possible way," comments Ondra, who will be competing at another World Cup competition in Salt Lake City next week, also with the Japanese Tomoa Narasaki.

How did you prepare yourself for SLC in terms of competition simulations, technical and physical training?
I definitely did not expect that boulder problems (especially in US) would be that technical and requiring very little physical power except for B2 in qualifiers and B3 in semifinals. The trend of the last two or three years was obvious - just technical and coordinative skills are not enough, you need to be strong as well. So I prepared myself for both - doing simulations on technical and coordination boulders in Hangar gym in Brno, as well as climbing a lot on spray doing more basic moves, mostly on slopers, but mixing up some crimps as well.

How do you deal with the mental pressure in the isolation in between boulders when you hear and notice other send or struggle?
There is no way how to avoid hearing the crowd, so you just have to deal with it. In the semifinals and qualifications I just stay focused even in the breaks between the problems, and try to focus on myself and not on the others. There are longer breaks in between final problems, so in the finals some distractions are welcome, a few minutes before the actual climbing are enough to recompose myself back into the fighting mode.