A ten-strong British team travelled to Voiron for the third European Youth Cup event on 9 June with high hopes of repeating their success at earlier rounds. Molly Thompson-Smith had the best chance of finishing on the podium, but after battling hard had to settle for fifth place in the Youth B final.

Unlike most EYCs, this event had qualifiers and finals all on the same day, so the team knew they would have to be at their best to get good results.

The boys were first up and team captain Luke Tilley and Jonny Stocking in the Juniors narrowly missed out on qualification for the final despite each of them topping one of their qualifiers. Johnny was called off for a technical infringement when he looked on course to top his second route. That penalty resulted in Johnny finishing 12th and Luke in 11th, with Luke missing out on thefinals by a point.

The Youth A boys, represented by Buster Martin and Johnny White, proved to be the toughest category. All the finalists topped both qualifiers, something which proved just too much for Buster and Johnny. Despite good climbs in both qualifiers they just missed out. 

The Youth B boys Angus Davidson, Jim Pope, William Bosi and Luke Dawson fared no better and in another strong category were unable to impose themselves, leaving them to reflect on how tough international climbing is. However, since this was only their second EYCs they can all be proud of their efforts.

And so it was left to Molly Thompson-Smith and Tara Hayes to salvage some pride for the GB team.The routes were tough and technical but Molly once again showed just how good she is by qualifying for the Youth B final in eighth position for her fifth consecutive final.  Tara finished a creditable 22nd.

After a  few hours downtime, it was off to isolation for Molly. With the hopes of GB on her shoulders she was in determined mood and those at the climbing centre and the hundreds watching on the live video stream were hopeful she would continue her good form from Moscow where she came third.

Molly did not disappoint. A superb climb saw her in a podium position much to the delight of spectators in Voiron and watching the webcast. It became clear very early it was going to be a close-run final and the speed component of the rules was going to play a prominent part.

Molly and the team could only watch as the first five finalists were separated by 30 seconds with Molly in second spot.  With two climbers to go Molly was placed third and another podium position beckoned.

Alas it was not to be. Molly finished  fifth, seven seconds slower than the fourth-placed climber and three holds from the winner. This was by far the best and closest Youth B final to date and Molly played her part in a highly entertaining category and enhanced her position as not only a top international but also a very popular climber.

Although the GB team did not get the results they were hoping for Luke and Molly are still ranked in the top three for their respective categories in Europe. Luke is currently second  and Molly is third. Molly is also 4th in the world rankings.

Next stop is Linz in Austria on 30 June were the team are hopeful of adding to the one final position they obtained at this EYC.

Full results and rankings can be seen on the IFSC website.

The Junior British Leading Team is supported by Sherpa Adventure Gear and NICAS.

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