Paris 2024: Women’s Boulder Semifinal

Performance News
06 Aug
5 min read

Erin McNeice and Molly Thompson-Smith put their first points on the scoreboard at Paris 2024, as the Women's Boulder Semifinal took place at Le Bourget yesterday, part of the Boulder & Lead event.

Erin holds steady in 10th

20-year-old Erin McNeice was the second athlete out on the mats and the first to get scores on the leaderboard after she secured the low zone on boulder one.

With five points to her name, she made a confident start to problem two, securing an early top in the competition and 24.7 points.

A top on boulder three saw McNeice approach the bloc in a way that the route setters hadn’t anticipated. The young athlete, who has often shown creative approaches to problems, put her right foot by her hand, bridging across to allow her to take the left hand hold statically. Showing her immense strength, she secured the top hold taking 24.9 points on the problem. Only Oriane Bertone of France would go on to flash this bloc.

McNeice finished the round in 10th place, just 4.4 points off 8th.

Molly Thompson-Smith on boulder one. Image: IFSC, Lena Drapella, Jan Virt

Molly’s Olympic dreams come true

Coming back from injury, 26-year-old Molly Thompson-Smith's Olympic dreams finally came true as she pulled onto problem one, officially becoming an Olympian. Thompson-Smith struggled to unlock the powerful, steep problem and along with other athletes, didn’t manage to take points.

On boulder two, Thompson-Smith got into the low zone well on attempt one but couldn’t quite find the match on the high zone. With temperatures heading up to 25 degrees in Le Bourget, she struggled to find grip on the slopers.

Boulder three saw the Sheffield-based athlete pass the low zone on her first attempt, but the following coordination bloc saw her fighting to unlock the beta for the high zone on a boulder that split the field, taking her score up to 9.8.

Finishing the round in 19th, the self-proclaimed Lead specialist will hope to move up the scoreboard on Thursday during the second part of the Semifinal.

Rachel Carr, GB Climbing coach, said: “The first two days of competition have been unforgettable for all involved. The crowd out here is amazing and so supportive of every athlete. All the athletes put in fantastic efforts after long journeys to get here. Now we’ll all be resetting, ready to give it their all at Lead and doing what they can to make it to finals. Either way, we're incredibly proud to say that we have 4 new Olympians on our team.”

Erin McNeice on boulder one. Image: IFSC, Lena Drapella, Jan Virt

Favourites at the top

Defending Olympic champion, Janja Garnbret of Slovenia, holds a commanding lead with a round score of 99.6. Oriane Bertone (France) took second with 84.5 points, and Brooke Raboutou (USA) secured third with 83.7.

Click here to view the full results.

Looking to lead

The Women’s Semifinal continues on Thursday with the Lead round offering 100 points. After combining the scores, the top eight athletes’ will progress through to Saturday’s Final.

Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur, lying 3rd and 8th, will return to the wall tomorrow for the Men’s Lead Semifinal at 9am GMT.

Molly Thompson-Smith walks across the mats at the Women's Boulder Semifinal. Image: IFSC, Lena Drapella, Jan Virt

Coaches Corner with Michelle Forrest

Michelle Forrest is a GB Climbing Coach, with over 10 of years of international competition coaching experience. She has played a pivotal role in developing the next generation of climbers in Great Britain through her role as GB Junior Coach. In 2023, Michelle was selected as part of the UK Sport Coaching in High-Performance Sport development programme.

"The women’s boulder semifinals was packed with exciting moves as all the boulders saw tops. There were no surprises at the top of the leader board with raining Olympic champion Janja Garnbret topping all 4 boulders. Great Britain’s Erin McNeice put in early tops on boulders 2 & 3 as she showed us power and incredible flexibility. She’s currently sat in 10th with a respectable score of 59.6, less than 5 points away from boulder specialists Camilla Moroni & Miho Nonaka who are currently sat in 8th & 7th.

Molly Thompson-Smith who has battled back from injury had a tougher round but will have chance to shine on her preferred discipline Lead along with Japan’s Ai Mori, Italy’s Laura Rogora and Slovenia’s Mia Krampl who all sit in the lower 1/2 of the group. Expect the ranking to change up after Thursday’s round."

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