MONTREAL – From the climbing walls of Elevation Place to the national stage, top Canadian climbers Allison Vest and Becca Frangos have duked it out for years.
So it’s not a surprise the pair of Canmore natives once again found themselves competing against each other at the 2019 CEC Lead and Speed National Championships on May 18 and 20 in Montreal.
But due to injuries and timing, only one of these two climbers is gunning for a spot to make the Olympic qualifiers later this year.
In the women’s open lead climbing this past weekend, Vest and Frangos finished in first and second, respectively. Frangos then added another top 10 performance to her weekend, finishing ninth in the speed climbing competition.
Vest didn’t compete in speed, but cheered on Frangos and Canmore native Alex Fricker, who finished eighth in open men’s speed climbing and 15th in the lead.
After a few seasons of mental struggles at Nationals, which led to performance issues, a relieved Frangos shook off the past and claimed her first podium spot since she won gold medal at the event in 2015.
“I felt I was in a good mental place,” said Frangos, 21. “I had confidence through the semi-final round and the finals went quite well. It wasn’t perfect, I didn’t get to the top of the challenging route, but I was feeling good about everything.”
For the lead climbing’s victor, Vest felt confident with her decisions and power moves during the competition.
“I felt I was staying calm and focused and not making decisions to quickly or rashly, I was making smart choices in my movement,” Vest said.
It was a big win for Vest, who’s dealt with numerous pesky injuries in 2019, such as in March, where the top Canadian climber was forced to withdraw from the Bouldering Nationals final after tweaking her leg and ankle.
The pestering injuries are one reason the 23-year-old has taken the 2020 Olympic qualifiers off the table for herself.
“I’ve had a lot more nagging minor injuries than I ever had in any other seasons,” she said. “Then trying to train in speed on top of what I was doing, something had to give and I was already behind in speed climbing, so it was OK.”
For Vest, she said in a way she’s disappointed about not being in a position to compete for a qualifying spot at the 2020 Olympics, but a proposed change that would make speed climbing a separate event in 2024 has her hopeful in the future.
Sport climbing was officially added to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which combines the three disciplines of speed climbing, lead climbing and bouldering, and this year, Olympic qualifying events are being held. Only 20 men and 20 women will be selected to go to Tokyo.
In February, at a press conference in Paris, France – the location of the 2024 Olympics – the Paris Organizing Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games proposed a new format that would separate speed climbing and lead climbing/bouldering into two events.
The proposal also includes expanding the number of qualifying athletes from 40 to 72.
In countries such as Canada, Frangos said not many people compete specifically in speed climbing like other countries, with the majority of Canadians competing in bouldering or lead climbing, or a in combination of all three.
The potential separation of these events in 2024 would allow climbers such as Vest to hone in on preferred disciplines.
In order to get to the Olympic qualifiers, Frangos, who is still gunning for Tokyo, would first have to make the national team, something she feels confident in doing.
“I had a good run at nationals and my world cup season went well,” said Frangos. “I have a few more weeks of training and preparing before national selections.”
National team selection camp takes place June 10-14 in Calgary.
