We are delighted to announce that Nathan Phillips again this year will be a White Spider sponsored climber, continuing a successful partnership. Here is Nathan’s latest blog on his World Cup exploits in 2018 so far!
Hi! Nathan Phillips here again to let you all know what I’m getting up to as a White Spider sponsored athlete. This blog post is all about the 2018 IFSC Bouldering World Cup so far.
This season started back in April with the first round in Meiringen, Switzerland. I’d been feeling really good in the pre-season events like the Climbing Works International Festival in Sheffield and StudioBloc Masters in Germany, so I was keen to keep the ball rolling into the World Cups. Meiringen was a frustrating competition. After finishing my qualifying round I was sat in 10th place in my group (the last position that qualifies for semi-finals). So with a long and gruelling wait to see if anyone would knock me out, the last Climber finished and I was in! …or was I.
After publication of the results, an appeal had been made by another climber so that he was given an extra zone. This subsequently pushed me 1 place out of semis… unlucky I guess! But I can’t dwell on what ifs. All I can do is learn and prepare for the next competition.
Moscow next. It was so cool to have the opportunity to visit Russia, even if we had a lot of issues obtaining a visa… the comp was a lot more basic than usual which was actually really fun. It meant you could give a real fight on every boulder rather than doing backflips onto volumes and hoping it works (slight exaggeration there). I do enjoy coordination moves but in moderation.
Another comp over and just out of ranking position this time.
What happened in China!
Well, I went into the 2 Chinese competitions with a different mindset. Just focusing on appreciating what I get to do and really having fun. With this new mindset something just clicked and I had the best round of my life! I flashed every boulder in qualification of the Chongqing World Cup. Putting me in 1st place! The next competitor was a fair way behind on attempts. I was understandably ecstatic! Unfortunately semis didn’t go so well, I think I forgot to take the same mindset through on the next day. Still, lots of positives to take from this one!
Tai’an was a similar state of affairs. Maybe not on the same scale as the previous week, but I found myself back in semis. This time making sure I had the right head on. I climbed really well and I am truly happy with my performance. 2 tops and 4 zones didn’t put me that high up the scoreboard but saying that, I was actually only 1 move away from breaking into finals. It just shows how close these comps can be.
After a short break it came time to fly back to Asia for the Tokyo round. Yes! Back to my favourite city in the world (definitely one for the life tick list). After a great week training in the amazing gyms and exploring the sights of Tokyo it’s Comp time again. A super hard round where only 1 top was needed to make it through. Unfortunately I dropped a last move and couldn’t get it done this time. But we did get to cheer on our team mate Billy who sketched his way up a slab to get himself a spot in semis.
I decided to miss the Vail World Cup due to multiple reasons meaning I have a pretty big gap until the final round in Munich in August. In the meantime we have The British Championships and a trip to Rocklands in South Africa once again. I’ll let you know how I get on!
**SPOILER ALERT**… He went and won the British Championships…!
Find out more about White Spider-sponsored and TeamGB climber Nathan Phillips on Instagram (@nathanphillipsclimbing), Facebook and Twitter (@mutantfeather)
