First senior medal for Jack MacDougall in Chambéry

The bouldering competition season 2023 kicked off in Chambéry, France, where a number of GB Climbing’s up-and-coming athletes made a huge impression at the IFSC European Cup.

Competition cobwebs were well and truly swept away as GB Climbing took the European Cup by storm, with a huge qualification round where six athletes did more than enough to take part in the semi-finals.

Eugenie Lee, Zoë Peetermans, Erin McNeice, Sam Butterworth, Jack MacDougall, and Joe Xiberras all made a second appearance in semis, which was exhilarating to watch. Erin was incredibly close to reaching finals but unfortunately had one too many attempts, leaving her in the heartbreaking one spot out of finals. Nonetheless, a brilliant start to her season.

Meanwhile, Jack MacDougall and Joe Xiberras went all out and had their places confirmed to participate in their first international senior finals. An unfortunate shoulder tweak mid-round meant that Joe had to make a tough decision to withdraw from finals halfway through. It took a lot of maturity to think of the long-term picture in the heat of the moment and we’re impressed and excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Joe!

Jack was left to represent GB Climbing alone and he set to with determination. Topping the first bloc following a grim battle securing the match, Jack remained composed and continued to sweep up the zone holds and ended the round with a top on a technical vertical problem to win Bronze – Jack’s first senior medal and GB Climbing’s first medal of the season.

Rachel Carr, GB Climbing Coach, said: “GB Climbing had a great start to the year with the majority of the athletes progressing through to the semi-finals round, and with two athletes making their first-ever senior finals. It’s very promising for what’s to come for the rest of the year and it’s clear that the athletes have been putting the work in to now see it pay off. As always it was a pleasure to support these athletes at the competition, and myself are Liam are looking forward to doing it again in a couple of weeks’ time in Hachioji.”

📍 Next stop for GB Climbing: Boulder World Cup, Hachioji, Japan, 22-23 Apri

☝️ WATCH: The livestream replay of the European Cup Boulder Final