Japan has a very welcoming and friendly culture! I love it 🙂 The hecticness in Tokyo happens in a silent and friendly way, that’s just mindblowing. And the food, sushiiii hmmm, so good. When I’m writing this I’m already on my way home, right now in 12 000 m altitude.

Team Austria did well. After trying to climb sick in China Jakob Schubert climbed really well in finals in Japan, ending up on a good 5th place. In bouldering very little differences can decide whether you’re going to make it into finals or not. Anna Stöhr did very well and showed great effort but her ranking does not reflect her performance at all. Unfortunately Katharina Posch, Berit Schwaiger and Alfons Dornauer didn’t make it into semis. Franziska Sterrer and Georg Parma did a very good job as well and could climb in semis. It was a well organized competition with only friendly and welcoming people around us. And the lightshow before the finals was just amazing!!!

Medical Issues

During the qualification swiss climber Petra Klingler found a tricky beta for the last boulder problem. She pulled hard on a crimp with here left arm. While the forearm was rotated she heard a popping sound and felt pain as well as tingling sensation. It would not be Petra if she would let go at that moment… good or not… After a brief check I knew that the neurological status is ok. By triggering the flexor muscles the tingling sensation could be solved. Later on with more time to examine her it turned out that she had a partial rupture of a side ligament on the elbow. Petra was qualified and very psyched to start in semifinal. Taking the higher risk of damaging the ligamentous structure even more, I prepared her as good as possible. That means applying a tape to support her elbow. Well the story continues. After making it in to finals, it was quite a task for me. Because of course there was no doubt that she wants to climb in finals. It was a tough call. I would never decide in such a situation. But I have to guide in a way. That means, we had another talk, check and an even stronger tape than in the round before. And it worked! I have to say that luckily I know Petra already better than most athletes (if not from Austria) because she has seen me in the Therapierbar (my clinic) a few times already. That made our work together and the whole process much easier. When you look at the pic of her in finals, you don´t see the strong supportive part of the tape because I covered it with some kinesiological tape. This was the tape bandage which supported her joint but allowed her to almost bend and extend normal.