OQS: Erin McNeice takes a brilliant Bronze in Shanghai

Olympics News
19 May
3 min read

Erin McNeice and Hamish McArthur put on a world-class show in the finals of Boulder & Lead competition at the Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai, on Sunday (18 May).

McNeice stormed out onto the finals stage, flashing Boulder problem one. Her fellow competitors followed suit, with four other competitors also taking the flash. On problem two, only Brooke Raboutou of the USA made the top, with the rest of the field taking points from the low zone. Finishing the round in joint second place with Zhilu Luo of China, McNeice chalked-up 59.7 points, but with three more athletes behind on 59 points it would be all to play for in the Lead.

Erin in the Lead finals of the OQS Shanghai. Image: IFSC | Kazushige Nakajima⁠

Climbing first, McNeice cruised into the scoring zone with the crowd behind her, fighting her way up to hold 40+ to take a score of 68.1. The 20-year-old then had a tense wait while the remaining seven athletes took the wall. She led the finals of the first Olympic Qualifiers until eventual-winner Brooke Raboutou reached hold 37+ with Chaehyun Seo (South Korea) also doing enough to push McNeice into third overall, her best result on the international circuit to date.

Erin’s breakthrough performance sees her take 41 qualifying-points into part two of the OQS next month in Budapest.

In the men’s finals, a set of four very hard boulder problems meant a low-scoring round across the board. GB Climbing’s Hamish McArthur took a provisional third place with a score of 48.8 after finishing behind Adam Ondra (Czechia) and Paul Jenft (France).

McArthur was the only athlete to unlock the beta on problem four to find the top, doing so on his eighth attempt.

The midday sun made the Lead a very hot round. Slipping down to seventh, McArthur finished the OQS in Shanghai with a score of 93.9, which gives him 34 qualifying-points going into Budapest. The gold medal went to Lee Dohyun of Korea who topped the Lead round.

The Olympic Qualifier Series is composed of two parts, the first one in Shanghai from 16 to 19 May, and the second one in Budapest, Hungary, from 20 to 23 June. Every competition round at the OQS will be streamed live on Olympics.com.

Hamish McArthur mid-fall in the Lead finals of the OQS Shanghai. Image: IFSC | Kazushige Nakajima⁠

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