Rainy World Cup

Pilz slips past the final in the climbing chaos

The men's qualifier was canceled due to heavy rainfall, the women had to make their way to lofty heights on the slippery holds without a belay. For Jessica Pilz, the climbing chaos at the start of the Boulder World Cup in China ended in the semi-finals.

Rain, rain and more rain in Keqiao. This meant that the women had to struggle through the qualification. The men's qualification was finally canceled and postponed to Wednesday. After all, bouldering - unlike lead climbing - involves climbing the wall without ropes and hooks.

Austria's best lady, Jessica Pilz from The Hague, coped well with the conditions, at least in the qualifiers: with three tops and five zones on the five qualifying boulders, the newly crowned national champion showed her strong form at this early stage of the Olympic season - that meant ninth place and a place in the semi-finals. "A solid performance," said the 27-year-old, "I still needed a few more attempts on the first boulders, but I'm satisfied. The start certainly showed me that I can keep up."

However, not quite at the top of the best female boulder climbers in the world: Jessica didn't get a top in the semi-final, there were only two zones in there. In 17th place, she missed out on the final of the top six.