INNSBRUCK, Austria – Sitting close to the outdoor training wall as light rain falls in Innsbruck, Austria, it is easy to tell, even over the phone, that Becca Frangos is smiling ear-to-ear.
As joy fills her voice and a laugh seeps out after each sentence, the elite Canadian sport climber has a lot to be happy about with a renewed perspective on her attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Frangos, who lives in Vancouver but grew up in Canmore, recently had the best two weekends of her climbing world cup career, which bode well for the big dreams and aspirations she has.
“There’s usually 85 to 100 women [competing in the lead on the world cup] and everyone is top notch in quality,” said Frangos, 25. “Being able to have back-to-back results so close to the semifinals is encouraging, and, more than the results, I’m happy with how I’m climbing. That’s the most important thing to be able to carry forward for future events.”
The lead specialist finished 31st on July 2 in Villars, Switzerland, and then a week later, she beat her freshly snagged PB with a 29th in Chamonix, France. She was the top Canadian woman both times.
Although she missed qualifying for the semifinals in both (top 26), Frangos’ confidence is blooming at the moment and she’s encouraged it will carry over to some of the Olympic qualifying events on the horizon.
“It helps with motivation that things are going well,” said Frangos. “Like last season, I was in Europe for a couple months, as well, and things weren’t going my way and I remember wanting to go home. That’s very much not the case this year.”
Consistency is something Frangos has struggled with in the past. Last year, it caught up to her on the walls, which gave the Canmore rock star a lot to think about in the off-season. She took time off to re-evaluate whether to continue competing; however, once back, she primarily did focused training rather than competitions for the first few months.
The choice paid off, she said.
“Going into this season, I felt the best I ever had in terms of physical ability, but I think the biggest shift for me was in terms of my mental state,” said Frangos. “I feel like at the last two events I’ve shown up and been so confident in my abilities and I belong and I look at the routes and I go I can do these.”
While in Innsbruck, a town she considers a second home, Frangos is resting and getting in some practice in the scenic mountainous area before the climbing world championships start Aug. 1 in Bern, Switzerland. The event is an Olympic qualifier.
She’ll compete in the lead and bouldering, which will be combined at Paris 2024. In Tokyo 2020, when sport climbing made its Olympic debut, all three disciplines – speed, lead, and bouldering – were mashed together in one event. Many didn’t think it was a true representation of the sport.
There are a total of 20 spots each for men and women in lead and bouldering combined. Speed is its own event.
However, she hasn’t had many opportunities to compete in bouldering this season, but that’s also part of the plan. In lead, Frangos thinks she can make the biggest gains.
“Right now, my strategy is to pretty much throw all my eggs into one basket,” said Frangos. “Like, if you can get first, second or third place in your one discipline at these qualifying events and just have an average result in the other discipline, it bodes pretty well for your world ranking, rather than being mediocre in both.”
Paris is in the back of her mind; however, Frangos’ immediate goal is qualifying for the Pan-American Games in October, which is another Olympic qualifier. There are three spots for Canadian women at the Pan-Ams and Frangos currently has one of them.
With Olympic qualifying events occurring until June 2024, climbers get into those events based on how well they do at world cups. For Frangos, things are trending up.
“There’s definitely still work to be done,” Frangos said. “I’m confident I can keep improving over that time.”
