Team USA - Sport Climbing

[clemsonbeav 695]

Ok - my favorite sport.  Finally with a full program, 3 medals per gender.  Similar qualification routes.

 

Boulder

We get 1 each, and a possibility of 1 more.  (I predict Colin Duffy for the men, and Brooke Raboutou and Annie Sanders for the women, unless Brooke just does Lead...might Melina Costanza sneak in there if available after her surprise at WCh?).

 

Quota allotment that's relevant to us:
1st at PanAm Games in Lima in July 2027

1st at World Climbing Champs in Brno in August 2027

4 per gender available after the OQS in 2028 (3 tournaments in 2028, quotas based on final rank in that series)

 

(12 athletes per gender total, and there is 1 universality slot in there)

 

Lead

Same as Boulder, same predictions

 

Speed

14 per gender total, we get 1 freebie and up to 1 more.  Sam Watson will definitely be there, as will Emma Hunt.  Zach Hammer should also get in there.

 

Same qualification as the others, except 6 per gender available after OQS.

 

 

I wonder, for the sake of counting, if, say, Colin or Annie qualifies in both, does that count as two quotas/athletes, or just one?

Edited March 10 by clemsonbeav

[bmo 274]

Interesting that you like sport climbing so much. Did you just recently get into it after Tokyo 2020? Or have you always liked it even before it was in the Olympics?

[clemsonbeav 695]

33 minutes ago, bmo said:

Interesting that you like sport climbing so much. Did you just recently get into it after Tokyo 2020? Or have you always liked it even before it was in the Olympics?

Tokyo was my first introduction.  I was hooked.  It was the idea of the problem-solving of bouldering (basically a sport for nerds...like curling lol), coupled with the insane speed of Speed.  (I also find Bouldering very aesthetically pleasing with all the shapes and colors.)  Didn't really watch it off-season until right before Paris (as I didn't know one could do that...then I discovered international sports federations, and the rest was downhill after that).

 

Olympics have introduced me to a lot of sports...had to learn about cricket and squash since they're gonna be in LA28.  (I think I was always told that cricket was like baseball...and then I tried to understand it...very different!  Ended up taking a picture of the scoreboard in a match and having ChatGPT explain it to me.)

Edited March 10 by clemsonbeav

[bmo 274]

3 hours ago, clemsonbeav said:

Tokyo was my first introduction.  I was hooked.  It was the idea of the problem-solving of bouldering (basically a sport for nerds...like curling lol), coupled with the insane speed of Speed.  (I also find Bouldering very aesthetically pleasing with all the shapes and colors.)  Didn't really watch it off-season until right before Paris (as I didn't know one could do that...then I discovered international sports federations, and the rest was downhill after that).

 

Olympics have introduced me to a lot of sports...had to learn about cricket and squash since they're gonna be in LA28.  (I think I was always told that cricket was like baseball...and then I tried to understand it...very different!  Ended up taking a picture of the scoreboard in a match and having ChatGPT explain it to me.)

Awesome story! I was introduced to all the Olympic sports in the mid 2010s (Sochi 2014 for winter & Rio 2016 for summer were the first two Olympics I really paid attention to. Started to follow the qualification process and started watching/looking at results of pro circuits/world champs for some of my favorite sports in the leadup to Paris and Milano Cortina. 

 

I'm just starting to learn a bit about the new Olympic sports. I think I got cricket T20 down. I watched the full T20 world cup final match from 2024. I can see how some people say its like baseball, but it is very different.

 

Need to learn Squash and Coastal Rowing in the next two years as those are the only two sports I'm totally unfamiliar with.

[clemsonbeav 695]

Earlier this month, we had National Team Trials, which were preceded by the National Championships.  Some of our top dogs didn't compete in the Championships, and some didn't even do Team Trials because they were preselected.  After all is said and done, here are the teams:

 

Women’s Lead National Team:
Annie Sanders
Brooke Raboutou
Ella Fisher
Analise Van Hoang
Adriene Akiko Clark

 

Men’s/Open Lead National Team:
Colin Duffy
Jesse Grupper
Sergey Lakhno
Ross Fulkerson
Dillon Countryman

 

Women’s Speed National Team:
Emma Hunt
Sophia Curcio
Isis Rothfork
Piper Kelly
Lily Staudt

 

Men’s/Open Speed National Team:
Samuel Watson
Zachary Hammer
Michael Hom
Noah Bratschi
Ben Jennings

 

Women’s Boulder National Team: - we're stacked
Annie Sanders
Melina Costanza
Nekaia Sanders
Brooke Raboutou
Adriene Akiko Clark

 

Men’s/Open Boulder National Team: - would love to see more development here
Colin Duffy
Auggie Chi
Hugo Hoyer
Vail Everett
Ben Hanna

[bmo 274]

9 hours ago, clemsonbeav said:

Earlier this month, we had National Team Trials, which were preceded by the National Championships.  Some of our top dogs didn't compete in the Championships, and some didn't even do Team Trials because they were preselected.  After all is said and done, here are the teams:

 

Women’s Lead National Team:
Annie Sanders
Brooke Raboutou
Ella Fisher
Analise Van Hoang
Adriene Akiko Clark

 

Men’s/Open Lead National Team:
Colin Duffy
Jesse Grupper
Sergey Lakhno
Ross Fulkerson
Dillon Countryman

 

Women’s Speed National Team:
Emma Hunt
Sophia Curcio
Isis Rothfork
Piper Kelly
Lily Staudt

 

Men’s/Open Speed National Team:
Samuel Watson
Zachary Hammer
Michael Hom
Noah Bratschi
Ben Jennings

 

Women’s Boulder National Team: - we're stacked
Annie Sanders
Melina Costanza
Nekaia Sanders
Brooke Raboutou
Adriene Akiko Clark

 

Men’s/Open Boulder National Team: - would love to see more development here
Colin Duffy
Auggie Chi
Hugo Hoyer
Vail Everett
Ben Hanna

Some names are familiar for me like Colin Duffy, Sam Watson and Brooke Raboutou. But, do you think the LA28 team will be made up of a mix of these athletes? Anybody on this roster that I should pay attention to as a casual sport climbing observer?

[clemsonbeav 695]

Yes, those three should be on the roster.  Also, for Speed, add Zach Hammer for the men and Emma Hunt for the women.  And for Women's Lead/Boulder, Annie Sanders.

 

Any of those six (the three you mentioned, plus the three I just did) are medal contenders.

[clemsonbeav 695]

Sam Watson no longer is the WR holder in Speed.  Zhao Yicheng from China beat that time at the Asian Beach Games today.