This year I skipped the World Cup in Chongqing for family reasons. So my asian tour started with Shanghai, a surprisingly clean and silent city. Unfortunately half of the team already was or got ill (fever, headache, flu), similar to the german team. Nevertheless we took a very comfy and fast train (320 km/h) to Nanjing where the comp took place.

Injuries are changing

After treating the athletes of team Austria I was able to help climbers from other countries, as Valeri Kremer (Israel), Sean McColl (Canada), Ievgeniia Kazbekova (Ukraine), Petra Klingler (Swiss), Alannah Yip (Canada) and Rustam Gelmanov (Russia). Seeing it from a medical point of view, Valeri and her fingerpain-problem might become a rare case. In the past two years more and more injuries on big joints occured, instead of finger problems. Finger injuries are becoming a symptom of the outdoor climber, less of a competition climber. The style of the boulders, meaning climbing on big volumes, running and jumping, less crimping etc. is changing the inury behaviour. At this comp I treated minor muscular aching, sore backs, knee problems, finger as well as shoulder problems. We’ll see what the next comp in Tokyo will bring!

Stuck at the airport in Shanghai I used the time to interview swiss climber and Boulder World Champion Petra Klingler. She’s talking about her life after the World Championships 2016. Watch the video below: