World Cup 2017, Meiringen, Switzerland.
Image by Yanne Golev
We are excited to share the first blog from our White Spider sponsored athlete Nathan Phillips.
Nathan has recently returned from his first Bouldering World Cup of the season as the highest placed GB male in the event.
Here’s what he had to say about the build up and competing at such a high level…
“After a hard winter of training with very little outdoor climbing, I headed over to Dublin, Ireland for the G-Force. This competition was one I had competed in before and one I knew I could go to without putting too much pressure on myself. It was a good kick off to the year when I took the win and the €500 prize money.
Next up was The CWIF – a notorious competition held every year in Sheffield.
This event is usually used for GB Team World Cup selection and is a good way to see if the winters training has worked. So many big names missed out on the semis this year due to small mistakes in qualifying, but I managed to push my way through for a spot. Semis were so hard! And unfortunately, I couldn’t get a place in the final.
The season kicks off! Meiringen, Switzerland was the first round of the 2017 World Cup season. Excited and unsure as to how I would perform this early in the year, I went out onto the mats… the first boulder had 3 big volcano shaped holds and it took me quite a few attempts to figure out how to climb it. Never the less, I topped. “Great! Let’s keep this going”. Next up was an overhanging volume traverse followed by a mantle. Not completely my style and I didn’t manage the bonus “It doesn’t matter, no one else has done it” (I didn’t know, but that’s what I told myself).
I knew the next boulder was a slab, and that’s my thing! I went out and quickly dispatched with only a slight sketchy moment before latching the last hold. Onto number 4, those flat hold scoops that look really cool but are usually really hard to hold. Not my ideal boulder. After one attempt (failing to see a crucial crimp. I sent the problem 2nd try with relative ease. (Pretty happy with that one!) With only one more to go I had no idea whether I had a chance of making it through or not. Either way I was going to try my hardest on the final Bloc, A Jump! I went through attempt after attempt, almost sticking it every time. Any other day I feel like this would have gone, but I guess the stresses of competition can do frustrating things.
World Cup 2017 – Nathan Phillips. Image by thecircuitclimbing.com
With qualification done, looking at the results I needed to do the jump to make semis. This being the case, I’m I little annoyed I couldn’t put it down then and there but I’m also really psyched for the rest of the season. I’m climbing well, felling strong and excited to see if I can achieve my goals for the year.
I’d like to thank White Spider for their continuing support. Without them I couldn’t make it to the next leg of the comps.” Nathan Phillips.
What an amazing effort form our boy! I’m sure you’ll all join us in wishing him all the best of luck for the next leg of Boulder World Cup events in China. His next competition is on Saturday 22nd April in Chongqing, China.
