2019 USA Climbing: Combined Invitational | Men's Finals

[Music] welcome to Salt Lake City Utah where the Wasatch Mountains are almost as beautiful as the aesthetically pleasing crazy climbing moves were about to see inside momentum indoor climbing Salt Lake City where the nation's very best climbers have assembled for the final day of the 2019 USA climbing combined invitational alongside former us climbing national team member Meagan Martin I'm Sam Farber it's a pleasure and a privilege to have you with us here today well Meagan these eight finalists for the men are ready to take one step closer towards their Olympic dreams in 2020 in Tokyo it'll be the first time climbing is an Olympic event yes we started with 23 men in the qualification and now we're down to our top eight and it was close they had to fight for every point in every rink so we're gonna see it all laid out today in the final today's final will be the exact same format as we'll see in Tokyo in 2020 the combined format featuring speed bouldering and sport while you can't qualify for the Olympics today you certainly make your path a lot easier yes the manual wins today will then be put on the US overall national team which will qualify him to compete on the World Cup circuit this season internationally coming into this weekend's competition Sean Bailey was widely considered the number one climber in the country and a real favorite to make it to Tokyo in 2020 he has performed as expected entering these finals as the number one seed yes but if I had to pick my pick take my pick for the podium I would probably put my money on Sean Bailey drew Juana and Zach gala not sure the order but those are my podium picks hey don't sleep on the number 8 seed as well John brosser he is the fastest speed climber in the country speaking of which we'll kick off our competition with the men's speed final don't go it's next the 2019 USA Climate combined Invitational is brought to you by the North Face inspiring and enabling exploration since 1966 snow swept Salt Lake City beautiful sight so is we're about to witness here at the speed wall a sprint for the very best male climbers in the country they're able to complete that course in roughly six to seven seconds it's going to be a head-to-head knockout format heading into the final number of points you get is based off your ranking so finish first you're in great shape moving forward if you're an eighth it's going to be tough right there you're looking at Colin Duffy look like he's someone's kid brother but 15 years old he is already a phenom here in the sport and qualified in the top five [Music] today but you know even if he gets me John Ross learned his time will still place him for the rest of the field so he still needs a good round it needs to just try it best one thing we saw from the women result necessarily a huge indicator of how you do in the rest of the competition both our first and second place women were in the top three so rest is not necessarily a huge advantage either communities same wall that will see in 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics think of this a lot like a hurdles race you don't move the hurdles around they don't move these holds around so these athletes so long as they don't quote-unquote hit a hurdle are pretty well trained on where to place their hands and feet yeah they know exactly where the hands and feet are they have memorize the problem is is when you're moving that back sometimes you mess up and slip and if you have to wash down and fix yourself that can be a detrimental thing to your run first up is John Rossler who is the American record holder in qualifications blazed up the wall at six point one eight seconds this is Colin Duffy 15 is the youngest competitor in the field is also the shortest and the lightest climbers on your mark ready to start our knockout round 1 John Rossler the number one swimmer in the country on the left not taking anything off 6.60 on Duffy taps at 10.27 Utley a really good run for John bras were definitely the kind of run that he wanted to have in his first race still very quick and he was super clean the entire time they both came off with a clean start John just kind of running off the walls there was a slip from Collin Duffy unfortunately which lowered his time but John was able to keep his momentum going and just focus on his race to come out with a win saw some of the faster women really take it easy in the first round where they knew they had the head-to-head advantage not so with John Rossler he goes flying up the wall he might be going for a new national record today it's unlikely that we see the guy is taken as consciously as the women cuz their times are so close speaking of which this might be the most interesting race today by Lightner the four seed in speed versus Nathaniel Coleman the five seed both are considered favorites in this competition so this is really a pivotal race that might determine which long one has a chance to win overall competition cleaners on your mark ready for our next knockout matchup kai Lightner on the Left Nathaniel Coleman on the right in qualification they were separated by just half a second for their best times [Music] [Applause] both in under 10 seconds but it's the Fanueil Coleman that's going to advance into the final 4 it was definitely anybody's race here unfortunately they both suffered slips kind of keeping it interesting the whole time and knowing that no matter what they need to keep going cuz if they don't win this round their time does matter Nathaniel was able to end up winning the round so Nathaniel Coleman in a good spot heading into the semi-finals [Applause] next up to the wallets at gala and Julianna Zack was the second fastest climber in this events in qualifications amongst the eight who moved on true wanna the second overall seed for the overall competition but nearly as fast of a speed finer both of these guys are super explosive so I'm expecting to see a really good race from them that can be a little too powerful at times and that's what happened in his qualification so we'll have to hope for a clean run from him climbers on your mark Zack gala on the left in this knockout round he went under 7 seconds in the qualifiers even keep it up here six eight to four Zack gala this time today that gala was extremely powerful right from the start really exploded onto his race he was able to he was able to keep his momentum and then unfortunately drew on his lips and had to look down really killing his momentum and not able to catch Zach gala in the end final pair approaching the wall here in round one of the speed finals that is Josh Levin who had a sub seven second time in qualifiers and then the number one overall seat Sean Bailey who certainly be an underdog in this race against Levin but so long as he doesn't finish last you gotta feel he's got a good chance throughout the rest of the competition I say last meeting worst time he really important for Sean to just run his own race and focus on completing this the chances of him beating Josh are slim and unless there's a slip so for Sean he just needs to make sure that he has a good race climbers on your mark Sean Bailey the number one overall seed in this competition is on the right he is not a favor so in this particular speed race against Josh Levin on the left [Music] [Applause] he's going that's devastating fruit Josh Levin missing the buzzer but extremely lucky for Sean Bailey he looks extremely surprised - actually Josh had a really good start he was super clean at the start and unfortunately sometimes you just can't get that extra lift at the top both of them are off to a clean start I was really impressed with Sean hitting every move as well Josh was just honorable and just came up a little short just the tiniest bit short on the buzzer here frustration for Josh Levin Sean Bailey moves on to the final four speed knockout continues after this welcome back to the 2019 us a climbing combined Invitational we are in the semi-finals now of our speed discipline John brosser and Zach Galipeau went sub 7 seconds in round 1 Daniel Cole been able to win his race to get it in semi some shot Bailey in early win his race but his competitor Josh Levin missed the buzzer so Bailey assured at least a top four finish that's huge for someone who wasn't expected to make it to the sentence this was definitely the questionable discipline for Sean Bailey so coming away with nothing less than a fourth is going to be able to keep an eye on the man on the Left John bras lair he is the national record holder and didn't really take it easy in his first run at 6.6 so he might have a big plan for what's in store these potentially last two runs I'm expecting John's definitely lay it all out here he's looking to win his race each time and you know always looking for a new record claimers on your mark John Rother the national record holder on the left side of the screen taking on one of the overall favorites daniel coleman in our first semi-final [Applause] oh my goodness this is devastating for John Rossler he really needed to number one spot be a contender for the rest of this competition and fortunately he happened to have a minor slip it really wasn't even that bad but then he could have overreacted to it and then got off of his rhythm and I'm gonna choose it wasn't able to make it up [Applause] another look at that slip where his hand came off - it really didn't help him try to get back to that rhythm Nathaniel Coleman with his best time of the competition seven point six six seconds still needed some help with John broster slipping twice unfortunate for him this is certainly his best discipline but he will have to settle for a spot in the small final the consolation bracket if you will later on here in the competition next up Zach gala on the left he is capable of a sub seven second time for sure and on the right Sean Bailey who was not expected necessarily to do well in this discipline he's expected to do really well and everything else so this already is a big wave for him definitely already a great position for Sean Bailey for Zach gala it would be great if he can make it into the big final semi final number two Sean Bailey your overall favorite playing with house money he's not a speed specialist Zach gala is the favorite this head-to-head race [Music] [Applause] that gala barely even he was just racing up that wall so quickly little slip for Sean Bailey but he's still got a time in there the more practice he can get better off he's going to be gala explodes out of the box and Sean Bailey has like a little slip right there and unfortunately it takes him off Zach Ella just speeding through [Applause] Zach gala time of 6.8 for almost identical to his round one time he's in the big final against Nathaniel Coleman when we come back to Salt Lake City [Music] we've had a lot of excitement in this speed finals the knockout format really providing for some tense moments in particular Sean Bailey an underdog in round one making it into the Final Four and ensuring himself at a top four finish and then on the other side Nathaniel Coleman who was kind of borderline even to make the final four certainly a huge underdog against John Braun slur who falls off the wall so Holmen and overall favorite is guaranteed of no worse than second it's definitely a good position for both Nathaniel Coleman and Sean Bailey very unexpected for the both of them and going into the bouldering and sport rounds it's going to make it even more interesting probably and closer there's your four finalists right now Nathaniel Coleman on the far left and Sean Bailey on the far right Sean and qualifications was first in bouldering and first in sport so really anything in the top four just gives him a huge leg up assuming he does what he's accustomed to doing in the other two disciplines for Nathaniel Coleman though a win here in speed he's not the favorite if he wins he has such a good pushing heading into the back two events it went honestly it would make it very difficult for Sean Bailey to be anything less than perfect it'll really put the pressure on Sean Bailey if is able to win and in the qualification round of the bouldering yesterday the annual Coleman really didn't have a good day for himself he climbed like a lot worst thing he normally doesn't Boulder so I'm expecting him to have a very good old ring round today as well which will also make it more difficult for Sean to end up being the winner absolutely we're gonna have a brief pause here as the athletes have to take their a lot at rest or a reminder this speed course is the same one we'll see in 2020 in the Olympic Games in Tokyo and really it's the one barrier separating some of the very best climbers like as Sean Bailey from being considered to be an Olympian because generally speaking he doesn't do as well in speed and when you make that a third of the score it takes away his greatness in some of the other elements and really with this combined form at the speed discipline ends up being kind of somewhat of a wild card as well because you just never know what can happen because in a second you can slip and it can all be over even if you are someone like John browser who is capable of having the fastest time so you can have one little mess-up and that could ruin your whole ranking process so yes Sean Bailey needs to improve his speed climbing times but at the same time it's always gonna be that discipline that really sets you up nicely that day in the competition you can't really rely on whoever you're doing against the fall you've got to make sure you're putting pressure on them John Rossler going into this small final this third-place race will certainly be the favorite in this head-to-head matchup with Sean Bailey and you know Prosser he had a bottom five finish and bouldering did not fare well and score this was his joke case see what he could do with his final race and for John browser here it would maybe be to his advantage to maybe not try to go as fast as he can and try to get a record because he doesn't necessarily need to since the first run today [Music] [Applause] [Music] climber's on your mark this is the small final the race for third place in the speed discipline John broster the fastest American speed climber on the left Sean Daly the best overall on the right [Applause] it'll walk away with [Applause] everybody in this this and he just keeps his momentum going he had time to make up and he did it the first American to go sub six seconds John brass learn the only disappointment it didn't come in the big final but everyone here in this climbing community knows just how great that run was perfection from John Roslin [Music] kind of feels like we had our dessert first the fireworks from John brows lair nonetheless the big final is next Nathaniel Coleman chance to score a first place finish heading into his stronger events bouldering and sport against Zack gala on the right who certainly is in the mix for the overall competition I want to sell him short but this is something he needs to put himself in a good position and I think no matter what we're gonna get a good race from these two athletes because their times are pretty similar and they both have the potential to go extremely fast and I do think that what just happened with John browser has just psyched them up to do their best climbers on your mark Nathaniel Coleman on the Left versus Zack gala on the right gal has been the faster speed climber on the model of consistency all his times within a hundredth of a second of 6.83 [Music] [Applause] huge [Applause] another that is dirty pyaare from the weekend at the beginning of this race he got out of the start a lot faster and Zack Galahad an early slip he tried to make up the time but he just wasn't able to do so getting super close to a sub seven-time the opponent will be our final winner for the rest of this competition [Music] Nathaniel Coleman scores a first place finish and speed he certainly was helped by Zach gallon slim but he kept the pressure on with his best run ever he's your winner it's been what a run in our speed discipline here in Salt Lake City the 2019 us a climbing combine Invitational men's finals off to a phenomenal start with Nathaniel Coleman an upset winner in speed he got a little bit of help from some of his head-to-head competitors slipping up a little bit but he still puts himself in a great spot here to really contend for the overall title also in the small final we had John browser become the first American to go sub six seconds on the speed course yeah all weekend John has been wanting a shot at breaking his record and after that devastating mess-up earlier this would had to be the cherry on top for the entire weekend for him no need to fast forward with him he's moving fast enough already five point nine nine seconds he has to be so excited had so many people watch speed and say it looks like they're being hoisted up in the air trust us he's not here your standings after speed Nathaniel Coleman who came in to that discipline is the five seed able to score a huge win that's big for him also have Zach Gallic on Rossler and Sean Bailey getting a boost finishing in fourth place that was a bit of a surprise boost for him definitely a helpful booster shot Bailey especially because we expected John Barrasso to be another the number one spot but now since it from the fan Oh Coleman it's gonna be necessary for Sean to be in fourth place to even have a shot at coming out in the top three because Nathaniel Coleman will be great competition for him in the bouldering and sport competitions keep in mind the way we'll determine our champion here in Salt Lake City you take the ranking from each of the three disciplines and multiply them together so the Fanueil Coleman has a first say he finishes second in each of the next two disciplines one times two times two is four I got some help on the map already so that would be his score and you know other competitors who are chasing say Sean Bailey who is already in the prelims one in bouldering and sport if he has back-to-back first places his score is four so even though he might beat Coleman in both of the next two disciplines it might not be enough well they would both have a score oh no yeah you're right it might not be enough sorry I can't do math here's a look at the boulders and that's a boulder ring is next and you see some of the scoring holds if you can call them that they're worth is the markers there you might not see them all but basically these are very complex problems for these athletes and the goal is to make it to that twenty five point hold with control each of these marked placards are called zone holds with 25 being the finishing hold and that finishing hold you must have two hands on in order to get the 25 points for the zone holds you only need control with one hand in order to get the points but if you grab a hold that has no placard on it that means you're just getting further in the boulder but you're not being awarded points or those holds these are pretty devious problems we did see a couple athletes have a lot of success in qualifying in bouldering so there's certainly some hope for some high scores the three best in it we're Sean Bailey Drew rowana and the youngster Colin Duffy who all were able to complete each of the five boulders whether or not that's going to be possible on the three here today it's going to be tough to find out and we're gonna actually get the expert opinion of our chief route Center for bouldering Chris Danielson he joins us here along the competition floor Chris thanks for taking the time you set the boulders here today I want to know did you have these in mind before the competition began or after seeing what took place yesterday did you switch things up make it easier or harder we did we actually set these about five days ago so we always set them in advance the final round and once we see what they're doing we adjust them a little bit in the case of the men we actually made no adjustments from what we had earlier in the week so qualifying around well well well see how they do in the finals I was gonna guess maybe you might have made them a little harder but it's nice to know that they say the same that means they're definitely gonna be very difficult and looking at these boulders they look very challenging we'll see it should be a diverse round you know we always do our best it's three boulders there's basically a low-angle kind of slab technical problem that's the first a second that has a really tricky dynamic jump in it with a powerful finish and then the third is just a lot of hard climbing throughout now yesterday I requested the jumps do I have my cliffhanger right no you're gonna get you're gonna get some attempts that one at least we saw with the women we saw a lot of tries at jumps and Kyra made it made it happen with a really big the third problem speaking to Chris Danielson our chief routes that are here for bouldering in the women's competition we had two boulders that either had no one able to complete it or only one athlete able to complete it do you think there's something like that in store on these problems that maybe even these phenomenal climbers won't be able to figure out it's always so hard to say I think if you'd asked us before the women would we have expected them to be as hard probably not so in this case yeah we we think that the there's going to be tops we think the guys can do these problems we think that you know maybe even three four or five guys could do each but you never know until they actually what they're doing now get a look at them and assess them and see who's climbing well see the athletes they're getting two minutes to assess each boulder does it tell you anything is a route setter when you know some of them go flying up there and then there's a guy like Sean Bailey who aced the test of the qualifiers who's just kind of hanging back and waiting his turn I think it's amazing actually even just watching the speed because what I do think you can tell is who's confident that's super important and seeing how people are gonna do is who's climbing with confidence who goes in this preview with with confidence do they believe they can do it are they intimidated by the style and when you see what just happened with speed where Nathaniel goes and wins and Sean does much better than you expected yeah you'd think these guys are coming in ready to go for bouldering and right now you see the athletes communicating with each other kind of sharing information trying to figure out how to do these boulders without actually getting on them yet they're allowed to touch the starting holds and the starting room only but they're sharing their information let's try to figure out a plan before they go back into isolation and before they start their four minutes of climbing Chris Danielson our chief routes that are joining us here while the athletes the competitors inspect the boulders which ones the big jump probably the second interesting thing about this first and just as Megan was saying there you can see them just trying to assess what to do sometimes the problems are straightforward and it's just whether they can do it or not oftentimes it's whether or not they can figure it out and this is an example where nothing's very clear in this first problem what do you grab what position do you take where are your feet is it going to be hard to hold on do you just have to crimp through it you won't know until you're on it so these guys are just trying to figure it out so the second one with the big jumps my feet that's your favorite what's your favorite mine my favorites always the round the best thing is when you see a full round of good good problems and where you get everything tested so I'd love to see that this tricky technical problem can get done by someone who's really good at that style and then somebody that can jump can show us what it looks like to do this big jump you want to see I mean my favorite so far by looking at it would probably be the third for some reason it looks very interesting to me and I think we're gonna see a lot of the men have different ways of doing the boulder and just have to fight through the entire thing so they're about to get a look at this this big jump can't can't get to a big jump until you get off the start and move into this where the five holes is that's a large gray shape big great volume there's a pressing up position into that take the ten crimp and you're just going a long distance stabbing the foot out left and jump them into that 15 and this start doesn't look like a gimme start it looks kind of technical yeah we often talk about that it's when there's a move a boulder that has maybe a really special move like a dynamic jump something that will take a lot of attempts you don't want to spend too much time trying to get into that position but you also want to try to test the climbers in more than just one way so in this case it's not inconsequential to get into that position but it's not that not that hard either you'd expect probably that all the finalists are able to find the way through to at least attempting the jump and then the question is who's going to do it and there's still the possibility though of them messing up the beginning just a little bit and that coming back to their attempts and kind of separating everybody a little bit more that's right we're gonna keep Chris around and take a quick break as the men inspect the boulders here in the finals Salt Lake City [Music] welcome back to the 2019 us a climbing combined invitational inside momentum indoor climbing in Salt Lake City Sam farmer Meagan Martin tanley chief route Center for this bouldering course if you will is Chris Danielson kind enough to join us here the athletes are inspecting problem three tell us some of the intricacies of this Boulder well we were just seeing Nathaniel Coleman there take the first crimps and this Boulder is just the way described is just hard throughout sometimes there's problems that where you do an easy move in than a hard move and there's something tricky this is just hard all the way you see these large black volumes that they're trying to figure out look at in the middle it's not even clear from the ground how you hold these positions and from our vantage point here there's a better view you can see these really small crimps that are screwed on to it so not only they have to hold these really bad hard holds they have to find the right body position through it it's going to be a hard one and the body positions aren't very obvious so they're gonna spend a lot of time flipping their hands around within their feet around and the more they hang there on that kind of a incline there the more tire they're gonna get and it's their third holder so that's right one of the things that's hard for us to gauge is just the level of fatigue it's a new competition for us to see these climbers go through multiple rounds of each discipline and they just came off the speed root not too long ago after climbing already for a bit over this weekend so this one should be hard by the time they get to the end of it now do you think that the four guys that did not make it to another speed climb because they've got out in the first round will actually benefit in this Boulder round from having that little bit of extra res could we wondered that about the women as well I think the difference between fifteen minutes versus thirty is the rest you know it might have an effect but like I say earlier I I personally feel like I know you think Megan but for me the confidence is really important and if you go in with confidence I think you can overtake the fatigue and you can push through Chris Danielson our chief route setter here for the boulder discipline thanks so much for joining us and good luck to you competing against these athletes at these problem thanks very much happy to be here and you look forward to seeing the competitors do their thing let's take a look at the start list for this bouldering discipline it goes in reverse order of how they finished in speed so Josh Levin who had a fall in his first round speed attempt will have to go first currently the last place competitor Nathaniel Coleman who is kind of an upset winner in speed will get a chance to go last he gets the most rest of those who had to go up to speed wall three times I will say it will be exciting to see Nathaniel go last because he is very used to going last when it comes to a bouldering competition so you know if some of these boulders don't get done before he comes out he could be the guy to do it because he's better been doing a really good job at being that guy before three positions to watch to four and five Colin Duffy drew on ax and Sean Bailey because those were the three men who so far in this competition have yet to be stumped by a boulder they have reached the 25 point hold in each and every one right there is Colin Duffy who is in the on-deck circle he will be second to attempt first up is going to be Josh Levin the 24 year old from Sunnyvale and again very young ages of 24 he's the oldest finalist he is the oldest finalist isn't that crazy just a two year difference from the oldest finalist in the women's competition a thing to note about Colin Duffy is he came into the speed round in eighth and he actually was able to move up one spot which is gonna serve him well because we were worried about that eighth spot for him see the four minutes on the clock that's how much time they have to solve this problem and you do have to solve it by the time the clock hits triple zero you cannot be on the boulder when it runs out and continue your run wherever you are when it's triple zero that is where it stops you're absolutely right once that clock is done down at zero the judge willing you to get off the wrong Josh Levin will be first Josh bringing a towel out to put down in front of the Builder to make sure that he clean off his shoes before he actually gets on the wall I've been very impressed with josh [Applause] josh levin kicking off our bouldering competition here on boulder number one something special for him coming in through qualifying he's one of only two finalists to beat top eight in all three disciplines he's had a very good weekend I have not seen him do this while I'm bouldering in sport in many years so it's been really nice to see him have some sort of a comeback I would say he's looking really casual standing on this volume you see how he's dropping his heels in order to find his balance he has already gotten control of the number five zone hold he's just trying to figure out the best way for him to get into the 10 zone hold as Chris Danielson said this is a slab climb so you have to move a lot slower and there's a lot more [Music] you know what he did that sport finals last year and it was very entertaining just trying to find that right body position in order to get up to the 10 zone there's got to be able to do it control up to ten so he has ten points already on his first attempt on this Boulder could see the twenty five point hold a couple spaces in front of it those are very slick surfaces though he is trying to balance himself off he's balancing and he's having to engage his muscles so that he doesn't slip because you would think when you're standing on something you don't want to push as hard or you might be afraid to but when it's a slab like that you need the pressure of your foot on the hold in order to actually stand on it plenty of time to give it another go took more than half the clock in Boulder how many attempts do you generally think you want in a four minute round you're gonna usually get between like two to three tries now if it's a jump move and it's early in the folder you might be able to get between five and six but you definitely don't overexert yourself either especially on the first bullet I appreciate it I'm saying one is that is the poor attempt number two here for Josh Levin on blunder one four years old from Sunnyvale zone pulled worth five points he's been here before trying to get back to his high point in hopes to increasing his score by making it to the fifteen zone has to get to the ten first which he already has credit for some of the previous but a little quicker but still very deliberately when you've been on the moves a time before you know them a little bit better so you can move more confidently through them usually but it's still when it's this kind of angle you have to be moving somewhat slow just to stay in control just trying really hard to figure out how to not fly off of this move the clock is ticking down and you know that just trying to get to that 15 to increase a score I'm gonna lose it unfortunately so a 10 score for Josh Levin here on Boulder number one there's a look at Colin Duffy with so much talent in the future of us Amy might be the present to certainly capable of winning this competition taking a second to brush the holes Colin Duffy leaping onto Boulder number one the 15 year old bouldering phenom already got the 5 he jumped on this Boulder so quickly which is exactly what I would expect from Colin Duffy he moves confidently through boulders when he feels good he moves he's making pretty quick work of this already to the qualifications there were five bouldering problems he solved all five one of only three competitors to do so he does climb well on these little Hills to see if you can figure out a way to get to the 15 moving cautiously but in a deliberate fashion right now I'm just trying to figure out if you can get there Oh [Applause] unbelievable stuff Colin Duffy 1 for 1 today 6 for 6 in bouldering this weekend Colin was looking so smooth through the entire Boulder and getting that 15 he made it look so easy and he was able to quickly get to 25 only fingers one of the 15 that tiny little hold he has it with two fingers and is able to control it this just shows you how strong this kid is Khai Lightner taking his turn on Boulder number one KY one of our overall favorites certainly to be in this final coming into the weekend he is the tallest and heaviest of the climbers what kind of advantages and disadvantages does that put forth for a minute so far we've already seen kind of a disadvantage on this first Boulder the other competitors we've seen have been able to kind of just stand there with the number 5 but for him it was much lower so he had to take a different approach to get past the number 5 hold and using it in a different manner but you know KY is a very experienced climber and he's learned how to adapt to his height he also is very flexible which serves him well on the 10 zone now and it's his first attempt still so he's climbing very well just trying to figure out how to get to the 15 and stay in control on the slippery volume feet has a wingspan of 6 foot 8 using his span there that definitely helped him the beginning might have not suited him but that move is very nice for the guy getting the 15 and I think he'll be able to get to the 25 swing-out too much a bit of a slip there a lot of time left on the clock definitely an unfortunate slip for Kai because he could have flashed that Boulder which would have helped him a lot but he has plenty of time and I think if he climbs it the same way just a little more conscious of his foot placement he'll be okay halfway through his allotted four minutes just taking a few seconds for a little regroup they're tight they're ready to take his second attempt here on Boulder one final hold on his first attempt but could not lock it in to flash this Boulder problem and ran here he has to be very careful with his leg there is black tape to the left of him and if his foot goes past it he can be called down so he's being conscious by trying not to get past that Black team third attempt for Kai Lightner here on Boulder number one tallest and longest wingspan athletes in the competition trying to move slowly to get back in that position that he was in before to get to the time zone with that foot over there we should be in a solid position to get to the ten kind of regrouping here to find his footing those volumes are so slippery and it's hard to know where you placed your foot the time before 30 seconds are remaining definitely enough time for him to finish but he needs to make sure he's being careful I'm very conscious of all of his body movements it's the 15 he's been here before i light they're able to solve problem one here in the bouldering finals stepping up next is Drew rawana sorry Megan taking a quick look at the boulder being back in isolation he's had to hear the scream so he knows this Boulder is doable drew rowana next up on Boulder number one just like Colin Duffy and Shawn Bailey he was able to go five for five and qualifiers in bouldering that was a nice dynamic move there from Drew oh no we have not seen it done that way before he has amazing body control he just needs to get his left foot on like he just did very nice into the ten pretty quickly and hearing the crowd everybody in isolation now knows that this folder has been done a couple times just by the noise from the crowd so there's a little more pressure to get to the twenty five slight slip and now he goes it also might be a good time to crush hopefully what does that very good those volumes can get very slippery especially if people aren't brushing after every try now with the chalk the Chuck layman you're thinking that makes it sticky or why do you want to brush it off it definitely helps you grab the hold better but if there's chalk all over the holes when you're sanding it definitely makes it more slippery and over time the more chalk that builds up on the hand holds too can become slippery so you just have to keep cleaning it off but you are always talking up before you climb with second attempt for drew who wanna who so far this weekend has yet to be stumped by a bouldering problem he's got two and a half minutes left to figure this one out really floating through the beginning as if it was no problem for him just needs to find the right body position here and he's already gotten to ten on his first try so the 15 would be the next point value that he needs really being careful with his feet this time he knows it's a subtle movement shoulder strength and control just showed by Drew wanna [Applause] [Music] [Applause] able to solve problem number one we'll take a quick break here in Salt Lake City halfway through Boulder number one for the eighth best male climbers in America the 2019 USA climb and combined Invitational is brought to you by the North Face inspiring and enabling exploration since 1960 says back in Salt Lake City Utah beautiful snow swept Wasatch Mountains outside and one of the most beautiful climbers you'll ever see in terms of his form and his ability Sean Bailey ready to get on Boulder number one he has yet to be stumped by a boulder this weekend John Bailey our overall number one seed coming into the finals making his first attempt in an early slip definitely a little mistake that misstep is going to deduct tenth of a point from whatever his overall score is knowing his abilities having heard the crowd he's definitely confident that he can do this Boulder and he knows he shouldn't have fallen at the beginning but as long as he gets there you know you can't go back with little falls and it shouldn't hurt him too much just trying to figure out how exactly he can be more in control on that number 10 hold for the rest of his body means get his left foot there Oh [Music] second fall for Shot Bailey boulders definitely a really good idea to be brushing right now because they get so greasy looks like he just needs to focus a little bit more sometimes coming out and having to be on a slab angle right away if you're moving a little too quickly you have to kind of bring it back he knows that too and that'll play an important role in being successful on the boulder third attempt on Boulder number one under way here for Sean Bailey too early slips for someone who really breezed through bouldering the first time around had the best overall score only fell twice total in attempts in qualifying and he just did the right thing with his foot he crossed through with his left foot setting it up him up nicely put both hands on the number-10 now he has to be careful here because this is where the volumes are very slippery for your feet and he needs to get to that 15 oh my goodness he almost held that still definitely wasn't in the best position to control the number 15 but he's so strong he almost was able to do it even with his feet slipping even though he was able to touch the 15 point hold in your mind he did not establish control exactly he was definitely not in control of that hold as he was falling out from the wall so unfortunately his score is still just gonna be with the 10 point zone so he still needs to get to that 15 and really he needs to give to the 25 if he wants to stay in the game [Applause] fourth attempt on Boulder one for Sean Bailey he's already fallen more times here in this first Boulder of the finals than he did on the five total boulders during qualifications and that's why bouldering is always another wildcard discipline really I think the most consistent discipline is sport because generally the same people will do well whereas speed there can be a slip-up and in bouldering you just don't know if the rounds hoping he can figure out a way to get to the 15 by cubing his feet oh wow that was a risky move trying to throw the hammock way here Sean Bailey he's normally throughout this weekend all smiles all the time definitely frustrated on problem one here in bouldering next up is John Rossler a national record holder in speed he's not really new he had the old one too but he's the first one to go under six seconds which is quite a feat and should definitely be celebrated now John is pretty good at this style of climbing [Music] john brascia five point nine nine seconds to go up the speed course he'll take a little longer here on Boulder number one it would definitely be a good idea to take a little longer here I feel like in recent years he's gotten better at his slam climbing that was an unfortunate slip but he should at least beginning to the ten on this Boulder it's not John brosser making his second attempts here on Boulder number one in qualifiers he was in the bottom five of the 23 total competitors we had here in Salt Lake City so even though that it might not be that weekend an event for him in general he is not fared well against this set apart yeah he struggled a bit with the boulders and the sport climbs this weekend but here he is getting to the 10 he definitely I would say he got control there because he grabbed it and then he was trying to move up on the volume on the volume that was the 10 zone but it is up to the judges but if I was judging I think that would be the call I would make each zone is marked by the number on the hole that it is assigned to so if you get controlled the five point hold you have put that your score of five not much of a hole there but that's what it is John bras are making another attempt here on Boulder number one he's got about half of his allotted four minutes of time and still having trouble getting his footing definitely struggling with this balance at the start sometimes it's working for him sometimes it doesn't John Rossler the American record holder in speed now on the first Boulder problem of these finals he's still having trouble figuring it out ever so slightly losing his balance there that's a hard moment to have where you can feel yourself falling away from the wall but you think you can hold it and let me just end up on the ground some of the other climbers including all the ones that finish to my recollection all brought their chalk bag with them Sean Bailey didn't bring it with John browsers not bringing it with it what kind of factor is that very good observation there when it comes to a slab climb it's definitely a smarter idea in my opinion to wear a chalk bag in any Boulder around I generally would just in case because you don't to get to a certain point on the boulder and realize that you need to chop up [Music] [Applause] john brascia back up on Boulder number one he reached the ten point hold but it's unclear whether or not he had control of it so he might know he might have checked with the judge already but we don't know at this point whether or not he got credit for it exactly and the athletes can ask the judge questions whether it be if something is on if they can't go around the corner if they got control for something they're always allowed to communicate with stood with the judge and so we are still with just three competitors who've been able to solve Boulder problem one Zach gala is next immediately start brushing these formations here and Boulder problem one especially when you've come out later on a boulder like this and since these men got to preview these boulders they know that rushing is gonna be very important in terms of their success on a boulder that's so finicky Zac gala is a phenomenal boulderer did really well that shareholder nationals making five [Applause] Zach gallim aching his first attempt on folder number one he was our second-place finisher in speed so a great start to his final and he is one of the stronger boulders in the competition as well definitely working his way through this Boulder with ease already on the 10 zone just having to make sure he finds the right positions and you know everyone's gonna do it a little differently but it's definitely necessary to find the right position while you're on the wall which other place he has now this next move seems to be the move that is the most difficult but once you get the 15 getting then the 25 doesn't seem to be as difficult the pinch strength he has in his left hand I don't think I saw anyone grab it that way and then he gets that little number 15 zone with two fingers just has to hold the swing even around his feet through [Music] [Applause] this pup and Zach Allen has figured out Boulder problem one Zach gala is reaching through to the finish move or finish hold by doing a rose move which we saw in the women's final on the sport route really nice move very difficult to reach through and then to come out of the move can be very difficult to but no problem for Zach Ella this is our local favorite Nathaniel Coleman making his first attempt at Boulder one falling into formation he almost saved it Nathaniel Coleman 22 years old from Murray Utah making his second attempt here on Boulder number one he's a crowd favorite every climbing competition he goes to but when you're 15 minutes away from home you bring a few more gifts oh definitely a fan favorite here today I think the crowd was the loudest I've heard them all day when he ended up winning speed and getting another PR just moments go even with the PR he was a bit of a surprise winner in speed needed some help from some other competitors having some mistakes nonetheless he's your leader overall as we have begun bouldering each of the three climbing disciplines your ranking will be multiplied together so having a one in any column he is huge and he's climbing really well on this Boulder already definitely approaching those subtle movements with caution but still control and confidence which is necessary should be a little easier for him to Littlefoot slip there looks like he was about to set up to go to the 15 but unfortunately he lost his balance solving this problem would be massive for him considering Sean Bailey didn't it was definitely put him even more in a place to win the overall if he can do this Boulder he has plenty of time to do so and the beginning luckily does not seem to be giving you too much trouble so we should be able to see him get back to that position approaching the 15 again third attempt for Nathaniel Coleman in qualifying by his standards he struggled in this discipline but generally speaking he's one of the best boulders in the field definitely one of the best builders he has won the last two bouldering nationals and he also did all four boulders in both of those nationals without falling I believe which is kind of crazy so he definitely has the ability to come out on top in this competition and the top here would definitely send him up nicely see that 25 point zone he has to get control with two hands on that 25 point Joan she's not this bold and to do it he's been chalking up and he can little slip there but looks like she got it under control needs to get to this 15 and really keep the pressure on the foot he's eyeing it up oh man just not just not there time for one more attempt here for Nathaniel Coleman just over 30 seconds left on his four-minute clock as he gets back here on Boulder one and it's not always the smartest thing to jump back on a boulder with that little time left but being that there are only three boulders and he's heard people cheered letting him know that other people have done this Boulder he knows that he needs to getting back on this builder is a great idea for him patience for mothers he's got five seconds good last second truck [Applause] good effort but Nathaniel Coleman unable to solve problem one we're going to take a quick break boulderr2 in front of our eighth men's finalists in Salt Lake City this is the 2019 USA Climate combined Invitational in Salt Lake City we are in our bouldering finals each of our eight male finalists taking on these three bouldering problems your score from all three added together and you're put into a rank and that rank [Music] with you and we're seeing Josh Levin take on Boulder number two Josh Levin off and running here on Boulder number two you see the score he got on problem one at ten each one is out of a 25 point Max and this Boulder is gonna be a lot different from the last one it's a little more dynamic right now we're seeing a cool press mood right now he has the five by pressing into that volume of the gray volume which those little tiny black holes are screwed on to it's worth five now he has the ten but this is the move it's gonna be a swing kick to your foot out and jump good effort by Josh Levin there so you've got a technical beginning on this Boulder but then it goes right into a super powerful dynamic movement that gonna be pretty difficult for these guys to catch you're also going to be seeing the men rest a little more on this builder because a little exert more energy folder number two underway on a tech number two is Josh Levin and if you like cliffhanger bullets and climbing this is your Boulder this is definitely your bullet over because we have a really fun dynamic movement where they're gonna have to swing their foot out to that other black volume get the hand out left on the second gray volume and come into that pocket hold a very powerful move but then a lot of coordination and timing necessary in order to make it work get a bigger swing this time a little bit closer and it doesn't look where he's reaching for like that's you know clear hold with you know something to grip with what is it he's trying to latch on to he's just trying to get high enough on that hold so that he can jump into the pocket which is the 15 zone hold because he'll be able to grab onto that better third attempt for Josh Levin here on Boulder problem number two second of three disciplines here at the 2019 us a climbing combined Invitational he did a better job last time of generating more momentum oh this is an interesting way to try and do it he's gonna try to go static unfortunately it doesn't look like that's gonna work let me say static what are you referring to static being that slower more controlled movement the jump that he was trying to do is a dynamic movement where you need to use your momentum to propel yourself to the next hold but you're generally not as in control as he would be with a static Josh Levin jumping back on Boulder problem number two with less than a minute remaining he's attached his trot bag for this attempt what does that tell you about what he's going to try and do to me that means that after the jump he just wants to make sure he's ready in case he needs to oh wow he tried to do that static method again it looked like it was maybe gonna work that time I really think that he might be falling out too far in order for that to work watch the crowd he knows he's got 20 seconds left so he's got a hurry [Applause] definitely need quickly [Music] looks like it's the dynamic way Oh unfortunately if you would have just brought his right hand into the 15 I think he would have done it good effort from Josh Levin but he is stumped here by Boulder upper two [Applause] [Music] here's Colin Duffy looking ready to attack this next Boulder he's got his brush in hand I'm gonna brush off those holes before he gets going here and it doesn't take him long to get going he'll brush and then we'll be on the wall in a flash Colin Duffy has attempted six folders this weekend at Salt Lake City and he has completed all six 15 year-old Colin Duffy making his first attempt here on Boulder problem number two he solved Boulder won in his first attempt party has the five here looking pretty comfortable gonna have to match that which means putting two hands on that small hold has the 10 now he's gonna get ready to set up for this jump lots of coordination of power involved very nice definitely a very good first try when it comes to these coordination jumps the more you do the jumps and just the coordination moves in general the easier they become because your body kind of understands them a little better each time so for his first attempt to get his handle a hold like that it's really looking good for him to try itself this Boulder [Music] Hollan Duffy making his second attempt here on Boulder number two Collin Duffy on his second attempt on Boulder number two he is the shortest competitor at five feet tall this Boulder seems to require a pretty big jump how much more difficult does that get for him at five feet I mean it's probably more difficult but he's such a good jumper I don't think it's gonna [Applause] clothes I mean I do believe that if he was a little taller the job would be easier but because he's so good at jumping I don't think it's gonna be too detrimental to him he's got about half his allotted four minutes remaining this is such how many attempts does he really have at this he could definitely have around four to five attempts probably because for him at least the first parts not giving him too much trouble let's see if third tries to charm for Colin Duffy here on Boulder problem number two we solved boulder number one in his first attempt for the full 25 points he knows what he needs to do here he just needs to have the timing man he is getting closer and closer every time with a little more height off of that first hole that he grabs with his left hand I think he'll be able to get into the pocket that hold that he's trying to latch on to is it possible even to hang on with one hand or is the way it's shaped neatly by this use it to boost yourself to the 15th exactly it's just a booster hold to the 15th whoo that as you can see the pocket is very deep [Applause] [Music] under a minute remaining for kind of be here on Boulder number two in qualifications and in today's final he has seen six boulders before any Saul Kamal so he's under some pressure to stay perfect he got so close last time so I know he's looking to try and get up in there and he couldn't have been closer Oh 30 seconds and he's gonna get back on the wall the youngest competitor knows that he can do this Boulder and he's going to give it all he's done with just seconds left gonna have to move even if he doesn't finish the 15 it would be super helpful to get setting up for the jump : up he's gonna go for it unfortunately not gonna happen today but what an African Colin Duffy first time this weekend Colin Duffy has failed to complete a bouldering problem [Music] next up on Boulder number two it's our tallest competitor right now this definitely is a boulder where Kai's height might be helpful for that jump move Khai Lightner making his first attempt on Boulder problem number two you see the score of twenty four point eight that means he did complete Boulder one but it took him two tries this is interesting again we're seeing Kai's have to do the beginning of the boulder a little differently with his height having to make sure that the moves aren't too bunched up for him Oh little foot slip there he always has really good fall they're very entertaining [Music] if he can get in a better position to get into the 10 zone I think the job will be a bit easier for him [Music] Khai Lightner making his second attempt here on Boulder number two as our tallest competitor at six foot two with a big jump required to solve this one he might be the athlete but the best position for definitely for the job but I love when the route sitters do this kind of thing we're sure the jump might end up be being easier for Kai but it's not like the whole Boulder is easier because this beginning is definitely harder for him with his height good he's definitely gonna need to try to get his feet out left in order to be in the right position although he could do it with his feet to the right if he can figure out the right body position for his height on this Boulder reroute setters when you have a competition where you're dealing with athletes of so many different heights you have to try and just figure out a way that it's somewhat fair for everybody [Music] highlighter as the crowd behind him as he makes a third attempts here on Boulder number two back into the five he got the ten on this on last attempt trying a different way this time this is better for him to try and get his feet out left so he can set up for the jump better a good idea if oh definitely a risky move there would have been nice if he could go into the little crimp hold on the gray volume and then sink down to set up for the swing to try and jump to the 15th fourth attempt for highlight are here on Boulder number two second of three boulders in this discipline trying to figure out a way to set up for this jump better [Music] unfortunately he's looking so bunched every time he tries to get over there really there we go this is what he needs to do speaking yes yes yes that's it now we should be able to get it bolder the pursue continues to befuddle our climbers he was able to solve polder one will make an effort to go two for two now taking a second to check out the boulder again make sure he remembers exactly what he wants to do after his preview [Music] drew wanna ready to attack Boulder number two as you see he solved Boulder 1 on his second attempt he's been moving confidently through the first Boulder and now the second Boulder which is really important and he knows this is a jump so he needs to figure out how to set it up with enough power to try and get to that 15 good effort able to at least slap the hold that he needs to boost him to that 15 zone trying to get some brushing in there as one of the later climbers coming out I've had a lot of rubber and chalk on these holes already one minute into his allotted format at time chalking up right now but he's not bringing the bag with [Applause] [Music] through rowana making his second attempt on Boulder number two we haven't seen anyone get to that 15 zone hold yet drew one I've had a very good first attempt in terms of getting his body in the right positions or trying to figure out how to do this coordination move interesting instead of trying to go one two and buy one - I mean one handed than the other to the left hold and the 15 he tried to go one two - the bad sloper that we're seeing on the screen right now so if he tries that again and just brings his right hand to the 15 I think I think he could do it that thumb hole that the 15 tape seems to be pointing to a batca target yes drew rowana back on Boulder number 2 no one has made it even to the 15 point scoring zone so far he has a lot of time if he doesn't get it this time he definitely has time I knew high point on this builder I threw on I can just put it all together on this next try seems extremely excited teenage Redmond Washington native might have this one figured out he's got a minute 20 left to prove it and I really I just really am loving Drew's confidence when it comes to climbing [Applause] still fall for drew wanna he wants it bad I think he jumped so hard and he got his fingers into the pocket but unfortunately when he hits the pocket he kind of slips right out of it and ends up turning and falling on his back really good effort from Drew wanna he clearly wants to do this bolder he's gonna give it all he's got might be his last attempt right here flapping along as he was about to attempt that swing let's see if they do it again let's see if he can pull it off the coordination here with that hand [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 10 seconds try to figure it out see if he can make it worth his while Oh one hand but not two hands on the 25 but the 15 be a high point for guru Lana some serious excitement for what is ultimately a failed effort to reach the top drew ruana completes the jump first man to do it unfolded to [Music] Boulder problem two has befuddled the first four male competitors that have attacked it but maybe Sean Bailey one of the world's best can figure it out I think it's a good rule want to figure it out a bit these shoes look grown-up climbing together at the vertical world team we train together so Sean Bailey the number one seed entering competition here in this final has not had his best starts in bouldering he was unable to complete that one but so far no one's been able to figure this one out so he tops against the 25 he'll be in really good shape moving forward he could definitely use a top here it would definitely make him feel better I'm sure going into the final Boulder because he really should have done the previous Boulder and I will say that this kind of job move the pocket is something that Shawn is so good at so we'll see if he can get the power not really the momentum he's kind of holding a neck there wonder if he's having a little injury problem over there but the jump there to that volume was not the most powerful he didn't really have the right body position if he can figure out that body position I feel like that swing that you have when you come into the 15 will be something that he can do he was wearing some tape on the back of his neck before in competition I saw that earlier yeah it's not there anymore but he definitely was grabbing it as if he was in pain not really ideal second attempt for Shawn Bailey here on Boulder number two Shawn was able to complete all five boulders in qualifying failed in his attempt to figure out Boulder number one here today in the finals let's see if he can get a better swing going for this move see he can definitely do that move unfortunately when he came into the 15th on time he kind of hit the outside of the hold above that little hole which is what we call a pocket so he just kind of had his timing off a little bit as long as he can get his fingers into the pocket without hitting anything else you see his hand go above and kind of fumble to try to get into the hole even one less fumble there and I think he would have had it so plenty of time left for Shaun to do this and now he knows what he needs to do less than 90 seconds remaining on the clock here for Sean Bailey as he attempts bolder number two and the crowd is behind him flapping along anticipating the jump he'll have to make to get to the 15 point scoring zone and hopefully he's able to make the jump here [Applause] [Music] / Oh a little low on the jump that time he definitely had more power in the previous attempt continues to grab at his neck was seen yesterday gettin some work after the competition here's the jump he has his hand in the pocket but he's just not high enough to really grab the pocket and control the swing they're under a minute remaining for Sean Bailey this could be his final attempt at Boulder number two and it's one he needs definitely needs to do this and he knows he needs to do it setting up for that jump again I'm sure he is too but this folder is not over this is a subtle movement to the 25 unfortunately but Africa Sean Bailey the 15 will be very helpful unfortunately we did not get the top but he's in a better position Sean Bailey outstanding effort the second competitor to reach the 15 point scoring zone really powerful jump from Sean Bailey and he was able to get his hand in the pocket he swings so far out but it's so strong and able to control his body it's a little messed this up here it's a little difficult for technical of the top than I think these competitors are realizing he had his ring finger in that tiny pocket trying to hoist yourself up by one finger unbelievable next up on Boulder problem 2 is John Brosnan John was our number one ranked speedster through qualifiers bouldering however was not his best event he was in the bottom five out of the 23-man field and qualifiers very strong shoulder moved there that john browser just did established establishing the five zone hold working his way to the ten questionable whether or not he's gonna get control for that ten looked like it to me but we'll have to wait and see plenty of time to progress in this boulder how would you assess his leaping ability he is pretty powerful so he could do you could do the jump it's just gonna be more about making sure he can get his finger into the pocket and holding the swing more some the actual height of the jump he's strong legs twenty-one-year-old Texas native John Brosnan making his second attempt here on Boulder number two training you back up to the five this is a very powerful way to do that move he's our new national record holder in speed and he was leaping up that wall now he knows where all those holes are but is that skill set translate at all to something like this oh definitely to be a speed specialist you have to have extremely strong legs so something like this jump he should be good at getting the height for again I would say it's more about will he be able to hold the swing and get his finger into the pocket third attempt for John Ross slur on Boulder number two he's about halfway through his four minutes of a lot of time going for the five little stuck there this is a much better way less energy exerted than the way he was doing that first move before sometimes you do something one way and you think oh this works but it could be harder than it needs to be setting up for the job not a bad attempt at the jump just doesn't have his body in the right position his whole body was going to the right he needs to continue left so that he can come in less than a minute remaining in his four-minute period you're on Boulder number two likely time to attempt here for john brascia on Boulder number two spot just over 30 seconds getting back into the groove with this Boulder making his way to the five needs to set up for the jump in a little bit of a different body position I think if he could bring his left foot in to be better set up unfortunately don't think it's gonna be enough time for him to do any more on this builder so far Sean Bailey drew on the only to have reached the 15 point scoring zone stepped out in front of his second folder taking a moment to brush the holds making sure that he is going to have the optimal amount of success on this folder I think he's really gonna like this one he is extremely powerful as we got to see when he competed in the speed portion of this competition he would explode out of the start so I think he has a good chance of being able to get to that 15 now the only problem with everyone who's gone to the 15 so far is they're not realizing that there's a technical element to the end of this folder if you think it's the jump and it's over Zach gallim a king his first attempt at Boulder number two he aced the first one and having finished second in speed if he's able to top here he would be in a phenomenal position for the remainder of the competition yeah that would be really great that guy was doing a little different sequencing here on this Boulder looked a little difficult - maybe he'll try something different on his next attempt these climbers have not seen what their fellow competitors have done they always have a plan after their preview but you never know until you get on the boulder [Music] second try for Zack gala on Boulder number two definitely a better way to get into this Boulder realizing that there was an easier way to this jump whoa really good attempt by Zack gala knows that he can make that jump hopefully he's thinking about what he needs to do after getting 15 because we've yet to see anyone solve that part of the puzzle not taking too much rest third attempt for Zack gala on Boulder number two he's got about half of his 4-minute a lot of time to go he was pretty close to reaching that fifteen point scoring zone the last attempt definitely capable of doing the move to the 15th zone we're gonna see him set up for the jump right here [Applause] we just need to figure out what is the best way to get to the 25 we have yet to see anyone do the move to the 25 and stick it Oh unfortunately not this try but at least half-gallon knows now that he has not only thinks about the jump but he needs to have a plan for the ending because it's not as easy as it looks from the ground luckily he has just over a minute so he can figure out what he needs to do say we've seen two other competitors reached that 15 point hold but no one's had a second chance afterwards really at it he's the first one to get a second crap exactly Zack Gallup poll Durr number 2 on his previous attempt he reached the 15 point scoring zone couple other competitors have done that before but none had time on the clock to try it again afterwards he does is he gonna go again going to take that extra try really good everybody's AB gala unfortunately not able to top 15 zone the door is back open for Nathaniel Coleman here in the bouldering competition half the field top Boulder number one he wasn't in that group but no one's top number two so he doesn't he's right back in there with the leaders local favorite Nathaniel Coleman making his first attempt on Boulder number two this would be a great place for Nathaniel to move himself up in this boulder competition since he did not top the first Boulder a top here would be crucial for him he was the five it's got to work his way now to the 10 being a little taller here like we said like the other competitors [Applause] see if he can do it on his first try [Applause] excels at and he knows that he can do it he has plenty of time in the clock he swings his foot out comes into the pocket just a little too late but he knows it with the smile on his face he knows that he can do that move that was really the most controlled anyone's been at 15 a kind like a dunker where the rim is at eye level for everyone else they're reaching for it he's at eye level their second attempt for Nathaniel Coleman on Boulder problem number two he's got a lot of experience in these leaping type of moves see if he can pull it off and be the first competitor to top that has been the most difficult problem yet he has a lot of power and a lot of body awareness and coordination skills so let's see this junk right here Oh into the pocket again it's all about a tiny thing at this point plenty of time left on the clock for him to make it through this move you see he sets up he gets his hand in there and he's just coming in a little late to the pocket it's like he's coming out a little too much and then he reaches back in but his body's already pulling him back down to the ground he's to get a little closer to the wall when he's jumping up into that left hand home to then come into the pocket this is a crucial attempt coming up for him he might realistically only have one more shot at this at full strength if he pulls it off he's right back in the mix he doesn't it's a tough hole to climb out of it Boulder third attempts for a Nathaniel Coleman Murray Utah resident lives just 15 minutes away from here in Salt Lake City a lot of this crowd here cheer him on trying to be cautious to get back into the 5 and the 10 zone so he can tell it for this jump and he's been oh so close to it gets it with two figures in the pocket to be careful here because we have yet [Music] he does have 48 seconds left is he gonna try it again is the question the crowd is asking him to go for it just one more time awesome words of the gets it in the right height and position time for one more attempt for Nathaniel Coleman on Boulder number two his last ride he reached that 15 point scoring jump question is does he have time to reach the top he definitely needs a top here and if he can do it it would be so exciting he knows what he did last time here will not work so he has to be smarter about it this time but will he figure out the subtle movement to get him to the 25 unfortunately it comes up just a little too short Nathaniel Coleman makes it to the 15-point zone unable to reach the top though a boulder to one Boulder left to go we'll see if our competitors have a little more luck on Boulder three [Music] one Boulder remaining for our 8 male finalists here in Salt Lake City Sam farmer Meagan Martin here with you at the 2019 us Atlanta combined Invitational first up so far he struggled comparatively speaking on the first two boulders yeah he definitely needs to do a little bit better in order to move himself up especially after his speed standing Josh Levin underway in his first attempt here on Boulder number three great reach for that five point zone two really tricky start move with the shiny part on that hold the dual tax part on that start hold being so slippery and here I'm sure there's multiple ways to do this Boulder but there's gonna be a lot of you know turning around using your heels flipping your hands around just not really knowing what to do while you are on and overhang so it's gonna zap the men's energy pretty quickly so it's important to make your tries count on this Boulder it's also Boulder number three so everyone's gonna be a little more tired only able to score five points on that Boulder even though he made contact with the ten point Boulder he he didn't actually get a hand on his own so that's not enough exactly he needs to make sure he can get the hand on there and show control for that ten points own taking a second look at the Boulder because after being on it now he's realizing he's a little more confused than he was when he was looking at it from the ground sometimes you have to kind of figure it out after your first try Josh Levin making his second attempts on Boulder three he's got half his time left making his third attempt here on Boulder three half is a lot at four minutes remaining really impressive campus move there where he went from one hole to the other hold with his hand and not using his feet but clearly this Boulder is proving to be extremely challenging having exerted so much power from the start it kind of doesn't ever stop after talking to Chris Danielson we know that this Boulder is kind of on you the entire time there is no moment of relief just over a minute left for Josh Levin here [Applause] 24-year old Josh Levin making his fourth attempt on Boulder number three and with the amount of energy it's required it could well maybe not his last one he'll get think he definitely does have time for one more needing to brush these holes now this little holds the red ones that are screwed on to those black volumes are not that good so the more chalk you get on them the grease here they're going to get harder they're going to hold he wants the crowd fifth attempt on Boulder three for Josh Levin likely his last one he's got under 30 seconds left really smart to use the wall that's mine we kicked to the wall that came into the black because campuses he was becoming too hard as he got more and more tired trying to get into this 10 and questionable whether the judge is gonna give him that I think they might but we'll have to wait and see I'm gonna have to oh really risky move there really good effort from Josh Lebanon Boulder number three crowd seems as confused by Boulder three is Josh level here comes god of death [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] taking a moment to brush those holds though he's the youngest competitor he is still an experienced competitor and knows that brushing is necessary 15 year old Colin Duffy ready to make his first attempt on Boulder number three he saw Boulder 1 on his first try Boulder two might have been too tall for him good effort there for Colin Duffy Boulder - definitely he was at a disadvantage but he was close I think he could have done it if he had just like another minute on the clock for Boulder - second attempt for Colin Duffy here on Boulder three a little difficult here for Colin Duffy just because that shiny part of the foothold he keeps needing to stand on to get the height in order to get to the 5 where as Josh Levin was able to put his foot in the hole where there's actual friction third attempt for Josh Levin to reach that hand hold on they call McDuffie sorry on problem three he tried something different that last time Collin Duffy making his fourth try and when Ella was a quick one he's trying to move his body positioning to the left a little like put all the weight on the left so he can use the good part of the foot hook because the slippery part is just too slippy to jump off of very frustrated look Collin Duffy's face I also think those holes hurt a little when you fall off Collin Duffy this struggling to complete this wound this is definitely a moment where his height is a serious disadvantage here it's a hard move but unfortunately yes Colin Duffy anyway using everything he can to try and get to that number Five's on which she was able to get now that he's gotten the five I think he'll feel a little better and now he can think about what he needs to do next after he gets the five again colin duffy continuing to work here on Boulder three leaps up for that first five point hold he's clearly figured out that that way to get number five works for him so now he's going to just try to figure out how we can get to that number ten zone which we haven't seen anybody get too good for him - this is very slippery tensioning so much strength needed to be moving around all those terrible holes trying to use his feet to get into the tent that should be ten for Colin Duffy's lose David his foot out no he can match this whole up freak both hands in maybe take a little bit of a breather for a second work his way up on the number ten trying to not slip Oh unfortunately a slip but really good progression there for Colin Duffy [Applause] it is just incredible watching this young man climb he's gonna have to move really quickly if he wants to get a little if you want to try to get to that 15 this time but looks like you might be done really great round and really go try hard for college out fees [Applause] one top in the round doing pretty well on the other to Boulder is Sutton West tonight sets him up nicely the crazy amount of strength that it took for him to keep his feet on there on those very slippery slippery holds and he's got three fingers on basically nothing just ripping with his leg to try to come into that number 10 and increase his score next up is Kai lightener Khai Lightner ready to make his first attempt here on Boulder three he's the tallest competitor to attempt it so far what kind of advantages does that give him Megan on this Boulder it might give him a little bit I wouldn't say that the way he just started this Boulder was an advantage it's still looked difficult it was definitely a different way to do it but I didn't really look any easier now he's in a good position right now and he's very good with his feet he can heal him very well and he's very flexible which will plane as his strength also swinging the foot out like that with his head is definitely a bit hopeful as well trying to make his way into the ten you and I have very different definitions on what the position is look at that flexibility I told you he might be he's one of the more flexible male climbers that we will see here today spirit from Thai only the second person to get to the ten though he doesn't know that and he has plenty of time to figure out how he can make his way further into this Boulder I'm sure he exerted a lot of energy with that tribe so he's gonna need to take a little bit of time to rest good 20 seconds or 15 seconds I think would be great so that he still has enough time to you know give it at least one more really good go and maybe even two if he needs to [Applause] [Music] Khai Lightner making his second attempt here on Boulder number three he topped Boulder one if he does it again here he's got a really good chance to maybe win this discipline definitely a good chance and this time when he got on the boulder he decided to try it the way that I believe the route Center is intended which was going with his right hand first on his first attempt he went with his left hand which if he wasn't told you wouldn't be able to do but I do think he made it further in this way is better really [Applause] if you can't this is where his height kind of hurts him he is a very good sports climber so he's taken a moment to rest using a knee bar a little bit and wrapping that hold Oh unfortunately tried to go to hand mclean falls off that finish hold with one hand but waving it's not 15 for the new high point on this boulder 30 seconds left time for one more attempt for chi Lightner think he knows that's it Highliner looking so comfortable as he put both hands on the ten-point hold and then moved easily to 15 looked like he was about to be in a good position to try to get to the 25 but unfortunately had to jump and just fell short of latching that 25 hold great performance from Kai Lightner it's gonna bring up three rowana who right now is at least in the top two here in bouldering definitely in a good position right now [Music] guru on on his first attempt on Boulder number three he reached the top number one and was one of just a couple athletes to reach the 15-point zone at number two so he's done very well in this discipline definitely doing really well in this competition today really good start on this Boulder I think it would be in his benefit to try to keep his feet on a little more though you can campus those moves which means you would not put your feet on it's gonna save you energy as you use your feet second attempt for Drew ruana on problem three in a better position this time looks like his feet are more secure on that number ten volume though he needs to get his hand there in order to get the ten points another fumble there for Drew wanna if he's able to top this by my calculation he could finish no worse than second discipline believe that is correct he at least needs to get to the good possession through rawana working on his third attempt problem three about halfway through is a lot of time struggling to figure out how to use his feet in order to five the one in between those times and ten under control so he gets the ten just kind of slipping all over the place here brush up these holes so we got some very talented athletes to come Sean Bailey there's a lot of pressure on him to top this Boulder and for Zach Galahad if he's able to top it they'll likely win this round and having already finished second in speed he'd be in a great position moving into sport yeah and kind of a bit of it not a Dark Horse because we know he could do well but he wasn't it the initial favorite to win the whole thing number two qualifier into today's finals working on the problem 3 here in bouldering and he's got one minute left to make one more attempt right now I think he's only been in the 5 zone he only has the 5 zone he's been struggling to figure out how to get his feet to stay on so he can make his way through to the 10 zone rawana would be his last attempt on three [Applause] unfortunately it's just not gonna work see if he can give it one more go he may not have enough time to do the entire Boulder but if he hits the ten it would be worth it to try again 15 seconds rourou wanna make one last-ditch effort to get to the pan point scoring zone we'll take the commercial break but back with our final four attempts at Boulder three in Salt Lake City [Music] Kyra Conde front and center the 2019 USA climbing combined Invitational winner for the women journey here in today's final she won in bouldering and then went on to women's sport that was her path to a victory champ Sean Bailey it was had a frustrating day so far is next up on Boulder three he did have the high points in Boulder two so could still win this thing our number one seed out of qualifying Sean Bailey ready to make his first effort on Boulder problem three already off to a good start with control of the five able to get that foot to stick so he can try and work his way down into the number ten zone really vital for him to do well on this Boulder to kind of stay in the game here little twist it up here it's not a very obvious sequence for these climbers they kind of kind of to be on the wall in order to feel what they need to do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] kneebar another another really good squirt climber so finding rests on boulders definitely is something they always gonna have to match though by putting both hands on the 15 it's gonna nice piano match moving one finger on the time to make room for the other finger finish this Boulder and Sean Bailey do it you had to hand on there but no control hopefully it's okay they're grabbing his neck what an effort from Sean Bailey [Music] whoo Sean Bailey going to the 15 he went with his right hand which required him to put both hands on that hold and match the hold really impressive match that he does here he moves one finger at a time in order to make room for the other hand sets up for the jump here it's a really big jump gets high up on the hole but unfortunately he's not able to control it takes a pretty bad fall and it looks like he's decided to end his tries knowing that he did pretty well he doesn't know how well people are doing on the boulder but he can tell that nobody has actually topped it by the way the proto I'm doing where he thought on the boulder so to save his neck since he still has a sport time to do he's choosing to walk off and save it I have to check the final scores he does have the high point here on Boulder three but still three climbers left to go behind John broswer the new six second and under finisher in the speed discipline trying his hand here at problem three in bouldering now this Boulder actually to me looks like the boulder that would suit John the best out of the three boulders in this round he had a very first a very good first go on this Boulder kind of slipped out of it but I think he'll be able to figure out which body positions gonna work best for him on his next try kind of just looking at the boulder to see what it is he could do differently this next time he gets on the wall climbers only have four minutes and he's already over a minute into this Boulder so he needs to be smart and make every try count and you know to conserve his energy he needs to be efficient johnross are making his second attempt on Boulder three bouldering has not been his strong suit in this competition trying really hard they're able to get his feet over on the far side he will get control up to ten there he doesn't mean to match he just needs the one hand to have control so really good effort there from John browser he was slipping there but in your mind he was bringing the second hand over so yeah he gets credit for the first correct since he was moving that second hand and he clearly has control of the 10 to be able to move the other hand to the same hold of course have our official scores for you after the end of this bouldering round there's a look at what we're talking about yes he he gets control with that one hand and he's moving to bring the other hand in and since it's not a finish on hold he only needs control with the one hand so definite 10-point zone there for John browser one minute left on Boulder three for John bras slur he's had a ability to throw this crowd going under six seconds and speed and do so by being the first man to top Boulder three really good unfortunately Rozzie he does still have a sport time oh i speak too soon looks like he's gonna try again thinking about it at least 30 seconds he has enough time to get to the 15 at least every point counts here because we add up all the totals from all the boulders so the extra five points would be helpful only 15 seconds left to do it [Applause] [Music] unfortunately not gonna make it to the 15 having that 10 definitely helpful for John bra glare bring Zack gala up and zach has a shot to basically win this discipline and make him a clear favorite heading into sport this is definitely a great position for Zack gala taking a moment to brush the hold I could see him doing very well on this Boulder as long as he can figure out the right body positions in order to come into the 10 I think he has a good shot it's gonna be difficult to see what is gonna do for that last move when he gets there we haven't really seen anybody figure out the right beta but he could possibly do it a crucial climb here getting started for Zack gala MacFarlane Zack solving the problem 1 on his first try not to take his second crack at problem 3 second attempt for Zach gala here on problem three and this is a really big one if he pops he'll win this discipline if he doesn't him if he even misses the 15 the door is open for Nathaniel Coleman to come in and steal this discipline fortunately fell off their that section of the boulder seems to be the trickiest and kind of takes everybody a couple tries to figure out the right method in which to get both hands or match on that number ten zone hold once you get the tenant very easy to get the fifteen and then the last hard move you have is figuring out how to get to that twenty five without swinging off eighteen-year-old Georgia native as half his 4 minutes remaining really good idea here to be you know reassessing that area where he failed on his last attempt back up on the walls at Gallup on Boulder problem number three if he's able to top here he'll take this discipline looks like he wants to get his foot down to that lower volume but it's having trouble kind of reaching it he is one of the shorter climbers but there is always another way to do it [Applause] [Music] now it's set up nicely to go to the 15 now he needs to just figure out a way to get to the 25 with control Oh big swing there for Zach Caliban he does love over a minute left so he may be able to figure out a way to send this folder Zach gala was able to set himself up nicely to jump to that final hold he just kind of had too much of a swing and it kind of propelled him off of the finish hold he might need to figure out a more static way but he has enough time to try less than a minute remaining here for Zach gala to try and solve problem 3 in bouldering he's made it to the 15-point zone 30 saves up I think he's gonna call it here [Applause] [Music] but really good score there is a gala gonna boost him up in the rankings but the door is still open for a Nathaniel Coleman to do a little better with that performance Zack palette is probably out of reach now for Nathaniel Coleman but the distance between the two in terms of the range in his discipline are going to be really important one and two opposite it would definitely been exciting [Music] Nathaniel Coleman one of the best bouldering climbers in the country quick first attempt he'll take a second stat out of here after a quick fall Nathaniel Coleman up for try number two on Boulder three he's having some issues here looks like he's having trouble reading how you should be doing this to quick fall so now attempt number three on Boulder three danny coleman off again for some reason he's seeing this Boulder as a jump when it's easier to just crank down on that left hand and reach with the right and kind of turn out and hold the swing [Applause] a local favorite here from you too Nathaniel Coleman his fourth attempt reaches the five point snoring zone in problem three he really needs a top to be in one of those podium positions for the final disappointment the sport fun as you can see he is already making his way through the boulder with these and you know he's a little taller than both Sean Bailey and Zack gala who have been at this point before but a little shorter than KY laner who was also here so he can get his foot up and hopefully in a better position to hold the 25 which he did not do this time but he has enough time to try it again we need two hands on that hole to show control and get the top but he had one hand and he could easily bring that second one in and he has plenty of time to do so you see him go for this 25 hold he was able to get his left foot up to boost him a little more but he didn't even try to bring his left hand up so if he does that on his next try I think he'll be able to control that hold and get that 25 top looking down from the top it really shows you even though there's at mass there there's a lot of surface area to grab on to nothing really sticks yeah there's not anything holding you in it's kind of still a sloping hold with a little bit of an edge in the back not really an edge but because it sticks out that way it'll pull you in a little bit [Music] really hard in order to control the swing on that kind of a hold plenty of time though for a Nathanael Coleman to have another go at this Boulder now that he's figured out the bottom it's taking a long time to rest as he kind of have it measured in his mind I've got one shot at this I better be ready for it definitely because he knows what to do at the beginning in the builder so he doesn't want to early and not be recovered enough so it's all about making sure you can rest long enough and then execute every move perfectly so you're set up to try that move you did under a minute remaining here for an abandoned coal band the local favorite here in Salt Lake City trying to top Boulder 3db the only man to do it definitely been in that position before where he is the only man to do something in a competition climbing smoothly the clock is counting down but he should have enough time to get to the top of this Boulder sure there isn't really any need to brush trying a little bit of a different method so close for Nathaniel Coleman close but not quite Nathaniel Coleman gets the high point we'll figure out the score see who is come away in a podium position heading to sport great performance from our eight male finalists and Boulder only one discipline left to go its sport we're waiting for standings we believe that zach gala one that discipline and if that's true you'd have a score of two heading into the final discipline low score wins you multiply your ranking and each discipline along the way to give you your final score Sam Farber Meagan Martin former US national climbing team member and based off what you've seen today who do you think has the upper hand heading into the final disappointment Zach Allen is definitely going to be in a very good position though sport maybe I don't know if he really has a weakest discipline types of results this weekend it's been his weakest discipline yeah let's go with that otherwise I just don't know how to say that but there are a couple of sports specialists I would say someone like Sean Bailey will do extremely well at sport whereas you know Zach gala will also do well but Sean has better potential to top the route which he would really need to do in order to keep it up because his bouldering round was so Nathaniel Coleman in particular he has done well in sport this weekend he was the number two finisher during qualifiers but he's probably got a gap between himself and Zach Galahad into that round he definitely or I guess we don't know yet because we're still waiting for the standings but there may be a gap although he has done well in sport this weekend it is not generally his strongest discipline someone like Kai Lightner is more of a sport specialist and we could see him excel here as well and he did do really well on the boulders in the bouldering round so he did kind of I mean we really need to see those standings because I mean I've got numbers over here but my math is not always correct Dharana was also a solid performer Sean Bailey did well to keep himself close and he's close to Nathaniel I believe which is good but some of the other men in the bouldering round did a lot better than both Nathaniel and Sean but John being the number one rated climber coming into today's final having one sport during qualifiers you know if you say that carries over and give him a one he might be in a position to win with just that not really any help bytes yeah there's a good chance and he did only do one try on the third boulder which was the most powerful Boulder of the round and he decided just to do one try because I think he's having a little neck issue which was smart but it will also conserve some energy for the sport climb where he needs to really excel and if he does have a neck issue that's not going away in the 20 minutes between when he wrapped up the boulders and when he moves on to sport all right the suspense is killing me let's get these these scores in this is the standings through two disciplines and Zach Gallaudet and Dean win bouldering he is your leader heading into sports Daniel calm in a sixth place finish at Boulder and that's gonna hurt him but he still has a chance to keep it going in sport if he can end up a little bit higher up see Sean Bailey fifth place in bouldering certainly now where we expected to see him heading into the final discipline and he's going to need a lot of help definitely a big surprise with Sean Bailey but we are heading into the discipline where he is you know one of the best in the entire world so there is that chance that he's able to you know make something up here it's gonna be very interesting only sport left to go and a reminder this competition is to set up the winner to be in a really good position to make the Olympic team for 2020 now the eight male competitors are back out there inspecting the sport route they are allowed to touch the start hold correct yes they can start they can touch the start hold with their hands they just cannot touch any of the other holds with any part of their body right now they're having a look this route that I hear was nicknamed the Black Pearl by the route centers not exactly sure why partially maybe because those shiny dual text holes could look like a black pearl see that final hole compass by that purple box that's the target now in the women's competition we didn't see anyone top the sport route and part of this exercise this weekend was to do the same format that's going to be required in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo how much do you think these athletes are figuring out is how much more physically is required to be in a position to top this route yeah I think just adjusting to this new format when you have all these other disciplines that you have to do with Athena Coleman's right there using binoculars to look at those really high holds on this route you're allowed to do that you can have binoculars but that is the only device that you can use while you're looking at the roof let's get a inside track on this route we've got the intz the the chief route center for the sport discipline Brett Johnston joining us here Brett thanks so much for the time as you set this course up what are you trying to test for these athletes well we're just trying to get as much separation out of the route as possible ultimately we really want just one athlete to top the route and from the top of the route the next best athlete would be falling a little bit lower than that that's our ideal world and looking at this route I see a lot of different elements I was talking to one of the setters on your crew earlier and he was telling me that you know it kind of starts off a little punchy then you have some more since powerful moves then there's like a very creative drop-down move where you kind of flip upside down a bit you're facing the crowd a little bit and then the head wall is very technical after all of those powerful moves in a row yeah hopefully the blend of something that's really crowd-pleasing with all the down climbing and sideways stuff going on plus testing their ability to be just really good resistance climbers for sport climbing is it's going to happen Brett Johnston with is the chief route setter for sports this is the first time this formats been contested here at this level in the US what are you learning about how you need to test these elite climbers to make sure that they're ready for 2020 we're not trying to give anything away to them that's for sure when they do this on an Olympic scale or and even in the IFS sea or other formats the routes are very hard the athletes have been doing this for a lot longer so we're not trying to throw them any softballs we're also learning how the athletes respond to multiple days of competition in multiple disciplines within one day so it's a good learning experience for the athletes and for the researchers in the women's competition for the most part mostly athletes were in the same kind of height range there were there was a couple outliers in the men's competition there are some big outliers in your opinion who's better suited the tall guys the short guys the ones in the middle when we're doing our jobs right we're trying to make things as fair as possible for everybody so we don't try to focus on making one better for the other we're just trying to make sure that each athlete has a shot at doing it but generally I feel like if you're in the middle you're probably gonna end up being okay with being comfortable most of the time yeah if you're in that bell curve you are a little bit more comfortable than maybe you did short end of the time you could say that it was interesting to see in the boulders today I saw Kai and a lot of really bunched up positions on boulders but then the other part of the boulder his height was helpful in same as Collin there were parts where he was you know a little had to be reaching a bit more and then where the high feet were very helpful for him because that's a yeah there's certainly distinct advantages to both body types talking to Brett Johnston chief route setter for the sport discipline we had a lot of fun watching on the women's side the rows move when you're designing of course what our moves you like to see and we're over the course of the route do you like to put them well in my opinion moves up high on the route and the exciting moves that being up high is you know a good for this show we appreciate that I know the production is is definitely important and we're just trying to be creative you know we're not trying to do the same thing over and over we want the result that we want to get in terms of the separation but we also want to progress climbing and show these climbers of this new stuff out there and hopefully give them more and more to kind of build off of Brett we appreciate your time we appreciate your effort on designing this course and we're looking forward to watching I'm sure as much as you are alright well thank you very guys sport final is coming up next when we return to Salt Lake City [Music] welcome back to momentum indoor climbing in Salt Lake City home of the 2019 us a climbing combined Invitational men's final climb ahead of them it's the sport discipline Sam farmer Meagan Martin here with you and Megan is a former member of USA's national climbing team looking at this field looking at one climb left after a long day and a long weekend what would you be feeling in this moment well I would definitely be feeling the fatigue that I've bet a lot of these competitors are feeling that was definitely a very hard round of Boulder problems for the men so going into a route that is gonna be very difficult because they need the separation you know you just hope that they can recover enough to do well on the route our leader heading into this final climb and the guy who gets to go last is that gala who has had a phenomenal final Zach came into the speed round as the number two seed ended up finishing second ended up winning the bouldering discipline so his score is two you multiply the rankings together and we'll do it again after sport but Zach's in a great position to the point that half the field is unable to catch him for first place yeah it's an amazing showing from Zach gala really good position and you know he has the potential to do very well on this sport climbing route he's had a lot of progression in the last years and it's been really exciting to watch him grow as an athlete as a competitor and you know really just shine this entire weekend Zak gala 18 years old from Suwanee Georgia he'll be the last one to attempt our sport wall see the route setters together as they await our first competitor here in sport it's Josh Levin Josh a disappointing final he had a fall in his first attempt on the speed climb that put him in last place out of that discipline didn't fare well in bouldering either so he is gonna go out there and try and really put on the show everyone still has a mathematical shot at the podium so you know there's certainly a lot to climb for him of course as you mentioned a couple of times you know there are points available for people who don't finish on the podium that could go towards you making Team USA exactly and you know it is unfortunate for Josh Levin because he had a stellar performance in the qualification round but unfortunately these kind of things happen and it is important to just keep your head on keep-keep stay in the game because it's all about accruing points over this entire season it's obviously great if you can come out with a win at this in competition but if you can't you want the highest placement possible you definitely don't want to be giving up [Applause] Josh Levin 24 years old from Sunnyvale our first competitor to take his steps onto this sport climb it's a really cool route requires you to kind of start committing early on this climb grabbing some smaller holes about to make a bigger move to a pretty good pinch hold nice place to clip from now he has to grab these two kind of slope he holds that have the dual texture on them with the slippery part being on one side and the good part being on the other side looking to be in a good rhythm right now the past josh has been a very good sport climber so hopefully he's recovered enough from the round to really climb to his potential on this route larger feel the 23-man qualifying field he was one of just two finalists to be top eight in all three disciplines so looking towards other events where there's going to be that large field he's shown an ability to rise to the top of the class exactly and you know it's interesting looking at this route you've got a lot of these dual track schools which means not only is it difficult to grab them but then when you're going to stand on them with your feet later on it makes it a little more difficult as you see he's using his heel right there there's only a portion of that hold that's actually textured the other part is slippery so if he's not exact in his placement he could possibly have a little mistake happen nice little jump move he has done previously to those volumes to sport every hold is worth point fraction of the point for getting part of a hold of reaching for it as you fall off the wall but in short the higher you climb up what is essentially a five-story building the better off you are really nice jump move there from Josh Levin to go to holding on you can't eat a little bit of a second to rest you know on these kind of sport routes you don't always have time to arrest they don't want the setters are trying to look for separation so they don't want athletes to be resting on the wall for too long and you only have a six minute clock so you have to be careful you don't want to run out of time either Josh Levin first athlete up on the sport discipline for the men 24 years old he was a holdest finalist struggled in Boulder had a fall in speed so he's dug himself a big hole to try and make podium but still possible as he's got roughly three minutes left to complete his bar and he's looking really good on this route last year for nationals he made it to the final is where it gets really interesting they have a really cool drop-down move here [Applause] nice crowd-pleaser move oh good effort from Josh Levin [Music] he was able to reach and make movement towards the next hold here's this nice jump move earlier on in the route nailed it took a few moments to rest here here's his drop down and he he continues his momentum forward which will give him what we call positive movement which is 0.3 awarded to the last control hold you had so when you're falling the goal is to always felt up or to the right or out or whichever direction you're going but you never want to fall down because then you don't get any positive throw your head back as you're making contact with someone yes he's not making positive you got to sell it you yes you have to sell it that's what we when I used to coach me used to tell the kids remember you're falling up so we'll wait to get Josh Levin score as we watch Colin Duffy Carl Collins you've really been a lot of fun to watch find this weekend he really set himself apart in Boulder qualifications yesterday and even though he's not in the position to win this competition 15 he's definitely proven that he is the future of USA climbing Colin Duffy has been amazing to watch this weekend and you're right he is proving he is the future of the sport and for him it's just amazing experience this weekend and such a high level to compete in all these disciplines and you know really hang with the big dogs fifteen-year-old Colin Duffy is up on the sport climb the youngest the shortest the lightest favorite last time is we're going to get to say it's just thrilling to watch as he does things that people six to twelve inches taller than him have been unable to do and crazy moves like that he does them with ease and colin is a two-time youth world champion in sport climbing the last two years he is able to he was able to win the sport climbing competition so definitely an experienced sport climber you know every now and then the height can come into play more so in boulders than sport and I think that's why he's been able to be more consistent with sport so I could see him you know easily being the person to get the high point on this side and possibly topics was interesting talking to him yesterday after he had such a great performance and bouldering and talking about a you know you seem to figure this game out at 5 feet tall what happens as you grow figure it out he's definitely gotten used to adapting over the years so I think that's his MO another big job for Colin mails it super confident in his climbing extremely on point today good chance to take a rest but doesn't mean much of a rest he definitely does have a lot of endurance which is another strength when it comes to the sport climbing fifteen-year-old Colin Duffy working on his sport climb trying to thrill this crowd the 15 year old from Broomfield Colorado really nice place to flip that clip from because now he could drop down into this difficult drop down section and he already has the clip-clip looking super casual making the crowd go wild as he gets a nice little knee bar there to help him bump up onto the next hill only using three fingers not something you'll see a lot of the adult primers do to climb only with three fingers is extremely difficult colin Duffy absolutely cruising this route this is where the more technical section of the route begins looks like a pro up there a little bit of rope drag here might be stuck a little bit next to his foot there just needs to clip this so he can relax for a second go [Applause] [Music] only about nine or ten moves away for the finish Overland Duffy its but it looks that like when he fell he should get usable surface of that next hold unbelievable effort from Colin Duffy the new high point here in sport [Music] really good rhythm and movement from Colin Duffy this nice jump that was definitely bigger for him than we saw for other competitors but didn't give him any trouble worked his way through the technical section couldn't quite get this next hold but he's definitely her I guess not definitely but to me it looks like he should be using a surface which would be that extra point five to his score gets a big hug from his fellow finishers so far today Josh Levin and all eight female competitors fell on the couch you know it's not gonna take a tunnel that's true but Josh what an effort from Colin Duffy how soon do you think he'll really start to be hitting his peak does he have a chance of 2020 in Tokyo to to be a part of that team 2024 in Paris watch out next up we'll have John brosser who had maybe the moment of this final still setting a new national record in speed first American to go under six seconds on the speed course yeah a really exciting day for us waiting beginning to speed to you know get another national record I'm sure he's happy with that John bras lair the speedster taking his turn on this sport climb finished the speed climb at five point nine nine seconds frustrating time of it in Boulder he finished last in our final field of eight but still in terms of individual moments you'll always remember from this event John's got it yeah definitely getting that speed record was amazing and I mean you can see it on his face when he came down he was so excited to have that record now sports my me being the weaker of his disciplines we don't have I don't expect him to do amazing here but you know hopefully he's able to do a little bit better to make up for some of those other results today [Music] Bennett into his climb here so far he's looking pretty smooth having to take a couple tries at the clips though here you'll see some ass get split so quick that you almost don't even notice that they did it this is roughly the equivalent of climbing a five-story structure it's definitely high but especially in a competition that's really not what you're thinking let's save there by John Brazos it feels kind of popped off one of those holes that is partially slippery one of those dual textbooks like I said it could be an issue when you're putting your feet on them [Applause] so John browser comes off the wall we still have five climbers left to go in sports when we return to Salt Lake City the nation's best climbers are here at the 2019 us a climbing combined Invitational and that young man Shaun Bailey might just be the best overall however today has been a frustrating one for him we've seen arguably the number one climber coming into the competition struggle on boulders today and might be dealing with an injury yeah Shaun was off to a really good start with an impressive speed result one that you know I don't even think he thought was possible but unfortunately he didn't really have a good day on the boulders and it really brought us Franky down Sean Bailey the number-one-ranked climber coming into today's final getting started here on sport unfortunately for him based off his results in speed and bold early or appropriate to say based off what Zack gala was able to do in those two disciplines Sean Bailey is not going to have a chance to win here today and he's going to have to find another route to make the national team for the World Cup season it is really unfortunate because you know he was set up so nicely to make it happen but sometimes right now hopefully the whole neck thing isn't too serious and you know he'll be ready for open bull during Nationals and been in a couple Sean Bailey you've been talking about him all weekend long the Seattle native you say it seems to be in the plan of this climbing career I would definitely say he's in the climbing career he's been really successful over the last few years and this is the discipline that he really excels at minor little slip slip there but not too big of a deal for Sean Bailey he was able to top one of the roots in qualifiers and then had one hand on the Finnish Hold'em qualifiers doing so much better than everyone else now after all the other disciplines today I don't know what his energy level is left but I expect him to climb really well on this route he makes it look easy I mean for him it is just easy the wall is 50 feet tall and just don't try this at home taking a moment to rest here now halfway up the route now for Sean Bailey [Music] [Applause] his nickname is Stevie Bailey 22 year old Sean Bailey from Seattle Washington considered the number one climber in the country coming into this competition he was number one heading into the final for Chile his performance so far today has not given him a chance to win but he could certainly podium based off how he does in this sport discipline and a podium in terms of continuing to you know to qualify this year so it's not [Applause] we don't make that happen because he is one of the best him we would love to see him out there the internationally representing the USA one spot up for brats today in this 2019 us a climbing combined Invitational but it's not it's not the only one on Team USA for the World Cup season that's going to be great pretty overall and then we go down to specialists from certain disciplines but you know Shawn's looking for it over because he has his sights on the Olympics getting control of this hole which is the new high point on this route this is where it gets extremely technical after you've already been made very tired from all of the other parts of the climbing on this [Music] Shawn Katoon is route 2 minutes left at paint purple box at the top of the route that's the final hole [Applause] nice coordination moved from Sean Bailey there after all of the climbing on this route that is a really hard move to Maine he does still needs in flip set draw oh good every from Sean Bailey if he wanted to top that route he would have needed to clip that draw below him does your foot cannot go past the last straw but he went for the point by trying to get positive movement to that next hole to possibly usable surface I need to see the replay for that one Sean Bailey deciding to not go for the clip and matching that pinch hold that was very hard and trying to move to this pocket up that looks like usable surface to me so he'll get that extra 0.5 and that's just one hold from the finish whole new high point and I'd be surprised if someone could top that really good performance in the sport climbing competition today from Sean Bailey forty six point five nine easily the top score so far in the competition quite honestly as we look towards the competitors that are going to have a chance to win that marks certainly going to come into play because if someone's able to top it could put some distance between yourself and the leader coming in Zach ala something that's not exact opposite himself exactly so there's just a lot of variables going on and we really will not know until the last climber climbs coming up next is Drew rawana drew coming into this sport discipline was in fourth place but quite frankly not only would he need to top to win but he would need Zach gala to finish dead last drew ruana begins his sport climb he does have a mathematical opportunity to win the overall event but he would have to reach the top or be the first place finisher at least and we meet Zach gala our leader coming into the third final discipline to finish dead last Megan so that's a lot of possibility there drew on it definitely has talent to top this rude he's a very good sport climber now having to rely on zach galifianakis route he got at least move up to try and get on the podium I think it's gonna be hard for him to win this whole event but the podium would be great especially since you know I tried to project that what's your projection again I said Sean Bailey drew on in fact gala so I'm Coleman who is currently in second place and tighteners currently in third so they they're gonna have you're gonna have to deal with that later is what I'm trying to say when I play no favorites I'm impressed by them all Drew ruana in the midst of his final climb of the weekend his sport climb really nice move just a little hop for him there didn't need to jump too much looking really smooth all this time taking a moment to shake out now Drew's done you know very well in sport climbing competitions over the years but also he's been done really well outside by climbing a lot of very difficult sport climbs so this is where he's very comfortable drew coming into this final did really well in Boulder really well in sport struggled in speed is 2020 Tokyo hopes and how big of a barrier is that speed struggle for him I don't think this speed struggle is that big for him because I know he's been working on it and he said he's improved a lot over the last like I would say the last five months struggling right here though with this clip but I was close when he got it I think because Tokyo is still far enough away I think you know he could improve I know for speed not to really be an issue for him a couple of close slips here that hang on this is a nice position for him too [Applause] I thought that that kneebar would feel better and I thought he'd be able to get a little rest but unfortunately that's it for Drew Ana's day only three climbers left to go to rawana nineteen years old from Redmond Washington here's a look at some of his best moments on the climb it looks like he kind of instead of trying to get more secure in that knee bar he kind of tried to move his hand up in it threw him off balance a bit fortunately he happened to slip there it's not the lowest point on the wall I think that currently puts him in the third place position but definitely not ideal for him looks like he's got a little scrape there from that knee bar on that hole really kind enough to point it out for him of course well I mean they've known each other forever so not really surprised by that one but definitely you don't leave the door open for them standings change a bit [Applause] all right next up is chi Lightner chi is another very good sport climber he's one open sport nationals before done well internationally kind of had a mess up in qualifications he climbed ball in one of the routes to make that make up for that here chi Lightner beginning his final climb our tallest heaviest climber in this final 19 years old from Fayetteville North Carolina had a sixth place finish in speed which did not get him off to a great start but finished second in bouldering so he does have a chance to take the overall title here in Salt Lake City definitely in a good place for that overall title which you know he is a very good overall athlete he is one of those athletes that could really be a contender to possibly being on that Olympic team showing his flexibility here nice when he can clip two draws in a row from one hole when you got the biggest ring span in the field six foot eight wingspan for Kai Lightner nice rhythm here he's also gonna need some help if he has a chance to win this he'd not only have to win this discipline but need our current leader Zack gala to finish sixth or worse so the odds coming a little bit better but there's still pretty long but definitely set up nicely for a podium finish which I think would be really good for him especially leading into the rest I know he's looking to compete internationally in some of those World Cup competitions he's been doing it for the last couple of years decided to go with a more static move there where people were jumping before he got to be kind of high for how tall he is he is really good when he needs to and that goes back to his flexibility as long as his knee isn't in his chest he can usually figure it out it's autos I mean normally you think bigger taller longer athletes you think of big strong moves but climbing it just gives him a longer reach to make those you know adjustments make those static movements exactly and I think over the years he's had to learn how to adapt because even though he's bigger sometimes the big moves still are kind of small for him so he has to learn how to make sure he can fit into that box looking a little tired here get back highlight our hanging on here in his sport climb in a tough position he comes off the wall great effort from highlight near the 19 year old from Fayetteville North Carolina only two climbers left to go in the 2019 u.s. a climbing combined invitational [Music] [Applause] [Applause] six climbers on or around the couch sheer at momentum indoor climbing in Salt Lake City two left to go in our men's final in the final discipline the sport climb coming up next it's the hometown favorite from nearby Murray Utah Nathaniel Coleman will be next on the wall or he's just 15 minutes away from where we sit here in Salt Lake City so expect a big cheer because he went so high if Nathaniel tops it there is a good likelihood that the distance needed could be crammed between him and Zach Allen came in trailing by 4 points he had 6 Zach had 2 you're multiplying scores together so first place almost needed here yeah definitely gonna be a close one there's just so much that could happen between like really in these next 12 minutes up max his six minutes will start when he goes over to that start position he's just looking at the route again to make sure he knows exactly what he needs to do [Applause] the local favorite Nathaniel Coleman begins his sport climb definitely in contention for the overall win at the 2019 us a climbing combined invitational off to a good start here the beginning of this route is pretty committing so you have to be kind of on it from the start with a few rests here and there but not really amazing rest so you have to really make sure you're focusing on your breathing don't hang around for too long being decisive some movements can see the hold he's grabbing has some friction on one side but then the other side is shiny and slippery dual text hold it's another one they used a lot of them on this route which makes it pretty difficult not to just grab them with them to stand on them as well [Music] Nathaniel won the speed climb somewhat surprisingly got a little bit of help from some falling climbers performed well but because he didn't top any of the three boulders he ended up in six unfortunately Nathaniel struggled a bit too much on the first Boulder if he would have released on the 15 it would have wouldn't have been a better position but he definitely can make up for it here as long as he just keeps it together and has enough energy after such a grueling day [Applause] you're watching the Fanueil Coleman on his final climb of the weekend the 22 year old from nearby Murray Utah just 15 minutes away from where we sit momentum indoor climbing in Salt Lake City home of the 2019 u.s. a climbing combined invitational so currently Colin Duffy has the second highest point which is only about six holes from where Nathaniel is now so if he can get up in there he's in a very good position she's taking a little moment to rest shake chop a bit a little shaking his leg there but otherwise he's looking pretty good just trying to get a little bit of that energy back it's got a lot of time on the clock I don't really expect any of the men to run the clock out but you always got to be conscious of that can be a little finicky places not be barred trying to figure out how to move the feet him yep perfect able to get the other knee bar trying to move off of the hold by doing a bump [Applause] [Applause] Duffy score on this route he's gonna be just underneath him I believe so really good performance by Nathaniel Coleman Cookson currently in that number three spot a way to get the official scores place it to say Zack gala is in complete control of his own destiny here we see Nathaniel Coleman's final moments on the wall out of sequence there I think a little bit maybe just a little too stretched out and the swing kind of gets him and he's not able to pull it on to that little crimp very good climbing and given a score of thirty three point five eight that's got him as you called it third place so far so we'll have one climber left to go and it's our leader who's just been phenomenal in this final Zach gala and he's got himself in a really good spot to win this event make it on to Team USA for the world cup competitions [Applause] Zach Cal getting ready to turn around and look at the wall probably gonna run through the sequence really quick to prepare not very long [Applause] Zach Gala is on the wall here in the sport climb I don't know if he knows it I don't think this crowd knows it but mathematically this is a victory lap Zach gala is going to be your 2019 us a climbing combined Invitational winner and beyond Team USA for the World Cup season I'm guessing he does not know that I'm sure when he finishes climbing he'll be very excited to hear that basically Nathaniel Coleman who is his closest competitor can't finish any better than third here multiplying out with his earlier scores that would give an 18 because zach has a first and a second place finished already today even if he fell right here and had the worst score his worst possible overall score would be 16 still enough to win amazing weekend for Zach gala excited to watch him climb this route he's a very good sport climber and I feel more relaxed now knowing that we already know that he won variant control on these moves really good route reading here one of the punch your moves right now nicely done very fast clip here's the first jump I don't know it's just really better watch that it's a victory lap for Zach Gallaher in the sport discipline the climbers chasing him and not done enough to keep things close and now no matter what happens from here on out 18 year-old Zach gala is going to be your champion Salt Lake City and be in the best possible position of any American male climber to beat the Olympic team and there he goes 2019 USA climbin combined Invitational champion Zach gala [Applause] Zach looking up at the wall there's the Fanueil Hall men who likely is gonna finish second we'll wait for the official results but based off what we've seen with Daniel Coleman by our calculation should be a second and Sean Bailey with and wind sports will finish in third place in on the podium so I almost got the podium rain his opponents will have official or as official as we can get results when we return to Salt Lake City adjust Obama the 2019 us a climbing combined invitationals brought to you by the North Face inspiring and enabling exploration since 1966 what a weekend of competition it has been here at momentum into our climbing in Salt Lake City here are your final standings Zach gala is your champion and he'll be moving on to Team USA for the World Cup season and be one step closer to being potentially an Olympian in Tokyo in 2020 Nathaniel Coleman and Sean Bailey round out your podium Colin Duffy just 15 years old finishes in fourth place but right now down on the competition floor with our Meagan Martin it's your champion Zach gala thanks Sam Zach you performed so well over this entire weekend and you started off really nicely in the final with the speed how did that make you feel going into bouldering and sport it definitely made me more comfortable because I placed a lot higher than I thought I would in the speed and then I got a little too confident like knowing my PR was gonna be it was is more than the fan Ewell's so I was felt the pressure because I hadn't slipped and any of my speed rounds through the competition so I was like oh I got to just connect this one run and I wasn't able to do it so that kind of put the pressure on for the rest of the competition because it left the door open for anyone else to come out to me exactly and then when it came for the boulders you were on from the start with the top in the first one and then the high points for the second and third Boulder and then still going to sport did you feel like you were in such a good place or were you a little tired going into the route I felt good since I was able to get the rest from being in first position to go out last on the route but uh route climbing just not like my specialty at all so I definitely like felt that just like I don't know I was like already a little pump before I got on the route and I just kind of had to keep it all together for just I knew I just had to beat a few people in order to do well enough well we're very impressed by you and thank you so much for coming to talk to me and congratulations thank you so much all right Thank You Maegan what a weekend it has bent for Zach Ella and all of our competitors all weekend long for Meagan Martin our entire outstanding ESPN crew I'm Sam Farber saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege having you with us here in Salt Lake City for the 2019 USA climbing combined invitational zach gala is your men's champion this weekend here in Salt Lake City [Music]

Channel: USA Climbing

Views: 672,859

Rating: 4.7924204 out of 5

Keywords: USA Climbing, Sport Climbing, Bouldering, Speed Climbing

Id: 5LnpkaraEVI

Length: 183min 55sec (11035 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 27 2019