The Crux Episode 4 | Full Episode | National Geographic
Growing up, I watched the Olympics when they were in Vancouver, and I thought, wow, it would be really cool to be one of those athletes one day. But I never thought it would actually come true. It did on the first Olympics ever, which is like even more special. I don't think you recognize it enough for yourself. Like you are an Olympian already, Alannah. You have achieved so much. Practically what like every athlete out there dreams about. That's really something to be proud of.
Thanks. And for you, like who is going to be competing in Laval? From the top of my head. Oh, Oriane. Oh, yeah. Of course. In Bern, I didn't climb like I wanted to. That was annoying to me. I wasn't trained enough. I think I wasn't strong enough. It being the World Championships, I feel like I might have got a bit overwhelmed. It’s a big deal. There's Olympic sports up for grabs. I climbed almost—almost stuck, I wasn't free. I wasn't relaxed.
The next is the European Championship in France, Laval. The winner of that event will get the tickets for the Olympics. It's going to be tough because there are a lot of strong climbers in Europe. Ever since the Olympics announcement into climbing, that's what everyone's been gunning for. My goal is really to go to the Olympic Games and this is what I'm working for. This is my priority. It's the biggest competition in the world; competing on that stage would be a life-changing moment.
Every day it's a different bit of weather. Sun, rain. It’s been wild. It's pretty. Pretty used to it. Do you feel? Obviously, you're really disappointed after. The rest of that day was pretty miserable. But you've now got that experience. You know how to handle it.
Yeah, I know I'm a bit. I know how hard you work. Yeah. Training-wise. Yeah. I mean, not everyone is peaked for this competition, and everyone’s here. It's a teamwork, uh, training. The French team, we have a lot of different personalities, and, yeah, we all complete each other, I think. Everybody's quite like friends. We're a big family. Everybody understands the struggles, and, yeah, we're all here for one thing: winning.
Yeah. So, we're doing simulation today. The round is set up as a semifinal format. So it's going to be five on, five off with a 15-second transition. Come on, come on. Holy crap. Yeah. Jenya, like definitely caught my eye early on in terms of the way she moves. And I saw the type of climber that I want to nurture. Come on, Jenya.
Coming from Ukraine, being a refugee after the full invasion started, it's been really ******* hard for the first half a year of full invasion. I didn’t understand what—Why am I doing this? Because, how can I be here trying to enjoy what I love while people are dying? This is a simulation. This is where we're at in the simulation. We need to figure this out. Now. No one's smarter than you. No one. Why are you looking at a boulder and not realizing how to climb it?
So these borders are all doable for you. I know you can do all four borders. I know you can top that route. You know, it's like a pattern. Like I feel stressed, I feel nervous. The first thing I do is I try to over control. Yes, but we need to learn from all the experiences we've had where every time we try to control something, **** hit the fan, right?
Yeah. So you do not need to control anything. You need to be okay with being not in control because that's when the magic happens. You climb your best when you're loose and free, and then you're loose and free. No one looks as good. When we just started working together, I shared with him that like, I feel guilty to be here. I feel guilty to be in safety. I feel guilty to compete. I feel like I'm not allowed to have fun or enjoy, or this is like all so unfair.
Jenya and I kind of have a connection with this war because, like, I grew up in a war zone. I've gone through civil war and a couple of invasions, and the fact that she's a rock climber does not mean that it's meaningless and frivolous. This is bringing a voice to represent your country. And the high stage in what you do best is absolutely meaningful. As any has a really good chance at winning. I think, you know, there's 2 or 3 athletes that could, but she's the best all-round, in terms of the starting list for women in Laval.
Welcome to the final day of the IFSC European qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The winner of the gold medal will take that Olympic ticket; only they will get that Olympic ticket. It's a lot to handle. To qualify, you need to win this comp. That is very difficult. Winning is always very difficult as it's on the European countries. Everyone is really good. Everyone is exceptional.
It's Jenya Kazbekova, Ukraine. Representing Serbia, Staša Gejo. Oriane Bertone. I'm pretty confident that I can make the podium, but winning is also very, very possible. But it's going to take everything to come into this place. Well, good reaction from Staša. She did what she needed to do. And that again, is a statement.
I think I can pull it off, but of course, the competition is really, really strong this year. Can Oriane get this done? She has so much potential. She's a great caliber. She's really strong. But yeah, we're all humans. Anything can happen. I want to win. I want to win Laval. I have trained so much. Since Bern, I am confident in my training. I don't know about the others and I don't care. I just feel like I want to go climb and give it my best.
To represent my country, it means so much not only to me, but to everyone in Ukraine. To have hope, to have hope for a better future. The bigger stage you have the better because you can put hopefully more pressure on society. Everyone around needs to see what we are going through and why it needs to be stopped. Going for this goal to qualify for the Olympics has more meaning. I just, yeah, I just really want to be able to hold the Ukrainian flag and, you know, make my country Ukrainians proud. It is definitely a huge motivation.
Big move over. - But no - so frustrating for her. You can see the emotion on her face. That's what it means. It's okay, you’re okay. You did great; it was just you needed a tiny bit more time. You just need a good lead. Welcome back to Laval for the lead side of this boulder and lead competition. Let's have a look at the score. So Oriane Bertone leading the way: 99.9 Staša Gejo, after that. Jenya Kazbekova. That makes our top three. But remember we're only looking for the winner. They get the Olympic ticket.
Setting things up nicely for this one, isn't it, Shauna? Just. I mean. Right, well, we’re getting into the section of athletes that really have a chance. Jenya has an opportunity right now. All she'll know is she has to climb as high as possible. There are way deeper core values for me in competition climbing than just showing the result. It's a lot for me about having to search unity, to show the world that we are resilient and we are going to get through this no matter what the future might bring.
Risky move from Jenya. That was close and that was lucky. Can she keep pushing? I am proud that I am able to wear my Ukraine uniform. That gave me a lot of energy and strength to, you know, reach my potential and show the world what I'm capable of. And she's into second, but she's got a long way to go if she wants to be up in that top spot. This is great from Jenna. But she keeps going. It's not going to be enough, unfortunately, to put her in that top spot as it stands. But it's really going to come down to the last moment in this competition because Oriane is leading and she's out last for the lead.
As she comes out to climb. At that point, we will know the exact hold she needs to get to on this route in order to qualify. Two to go. Staša Gejo up next and Oriane Bertone to see who takes that Olympic ticket. Comps, I really like this adrenaline. It really hypes me up to do better, and to fight is really like for me it's a fight. I like it because you're trying to be better than others at something, and it hurts a lot when someone else is better than you.
Right now she's looking calm. She's looking composed. I think she's going to have to motor a bit, though. If she wants to get up into that top spot. And it is a total score in this route of 61.5, which is the hold after the 60, I believe. If she hits that and holds it, I should see her jump into that top spot. She's held it. She is currently in first position with one climber to go. Personally, it matters to win, of course, but sometimes you see some people that are a bit too full of themselves. That's okay. They're young, they're young. You know. Maybe you'll figure it out yourself.
Oriane, this is hers right now to take. If she can just do a few moves on this lead wall. She's going away and work on her lead. It's what let her down in Bern, the first qualification event where a lot of people expected her to walk away with a ticket. And this French crowd, they want to see her take it. There was a massive amount of pressure on her shoulders. I feel like it's hard to unplug the brain and tell yourself, okay, this is my moment. This is what I trained for.
What I try, I'm training to do more is telling myself that if I mess up, everybody is going to be mad, angry, or sad. But it's on me; it's on nobody else. So just climbing for myself and not thinking about everything else. But she's got through that tricky sequence since she's close now to that Olympic ticket. That is the hold we need to look at. This is a big committing move. She gets it. And that could be it. She takes that Olympic place.
Yeah, sure, sure, sure. But that's. Yeah. But yeah, be careful to Adam too, you know. Yeah. And even Toby, I think he’s climbing a lot. Yeah. I saw him in the gym. Yeah. And two days. Zero bouldering. Like six, seven hours in a row. We will see fights for qualification, and after it will be tonight. We get to find out who will take our second Olympic ticket of the day. Mejdi Schalck, well. It was a dodgy round in semifinals, but he pulled it back. Toby Roberts, he's qualified in first place. One of the favorites for tonight.
This feels like Groundhog Day. We're doing it all over again. Mejdi Schalck has just been announced as French flags flying. The Men's circuit is there; there are so many good, especially in the rope, so they're going to have to be very good and very strong. So many people that can do it. There's Adam Ondra. There’s Toby. He'd like to get 25 on the board. Let's see if he could. You know, Toby. He struggled a little bit in Bern. He's the first to admit that. He's gone away, worked on weaknesses. Mejdi, look at the confidence as he leaps through. This is his—this is bread and butter, this.
All right, Toby goes up. Okay, well, he made it work. Nice, Toby. And he wants the crowd behind him. Of course, they respond. We haven’t seen Mejdi reach the top of the lead wall in a while, so he needs to stack up as many points in this boulder round. That's Mejdi done. That's his boulder round. It's Toby Roberts' last time out. Boulder number four. But interestingly, that has bumped him up to the second spot. However, Toby getting the 25 on this will have a massive boost, leaving him less to do on the lead wall if he wants to take that ticket.
Toby, he came close. Not enough to change his score. The athletes have very kindly set this up to be one of the most exciting moments in competition climbing this year. To have it so close, it's just really, really ramping this lead route up to be a true spectacle. It's going to be a nail biter. Wave the crowd, cheer, and look at that stride for Mejdi; he means business. Mejdi has to do something special though here. Mejdi throws, and he's starting to really fight here, though as he swings the legs down. I say that, actually, he's looking fairly composed.
He looks disappointed, and I think that's because he knows that it wasn't enough; that 60 points is so, so high up on that wall, and he didn’t get there. Two climbers to go. One of them is Adam Ondra. He’s two hand movements away from reaching the first position. Oh, he slipped and Alberto, suddenly. He is, wow, one climber away from being in the Olympics. Wow. Drama at the end of this competition in Laval. And that means that Toby Roberts has a chance as well. He is the last athlete out. He obviously has to give for the performance of a lifetime, but it's all open.
It's really hard not to let the occasion get to you. The crowd's going to be electric, and it's going to be great to climb in front of them. You just got to harness the crowd's kind of energy, and then just put that into your climbing. Toby is about to enter the no-foot section, the first place where really he could make a mistake. It's not looking as comfortable right now as I would expect to see Toby at this point.
Yeah, for sure. This is not the smooth performance Toby fans would have wanted to see, but he's still going up towards it. Cuts loose as he finds some feet. Come on, Toby. He's really nearly approaching the point at which he will be getting an advance ticket on TV. Come on, Toby! Remember his burn when he missed that swing in a jumper that put him out? There it is. Toby takes the top spot. And the Olympic ticket!
Toby Roberts is gonna become an Olympian. What a way to finish, as Toby Roberts takes an Olympic ticket. Let's go. Come on, come on. Oh! So good. Yeah. It's not—it’s not quite got in yet that I just qualified for the Olympics. I’m truly, truly lost for words. Yeah. I don't think it's ever going to sink in. Yeah. Oh, congratulations man, that's so good. Congrats. That was amazing.
For each climber, the goal of this season is to qualify for the Olympics. And now that the season is over, reality sets in for each of them. They've been working their entire lives, so you can be sure those who do qualify will put on quite a show in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, and I cannot wait to see it.