Veterans Battle Youth Standouts at USA Climbing’s National Championships 

The noticeable recurring elements at USA Climbing’s National Championships last weekend at Vertical View and Asana Climbing Gym in Boise, Idaho, were the many surprise endings. Indeed, with a starting roster of more than 200 competitors spread across three disciplines—lead, speed, and boulder—the five-day event featured some shocking results, swerves, upsets, and come-from-behind performances, often when the drama was heightened and the stakes were highest. 

Watch the Replays HERE

Hoyer and Costanza Bring the Crowd to Their Feet in Lead

The competition began with the lead discipline, and the earliest standout was Vertical World alumnus Melina Costanza. 23-year-old Costanza secured identical scores (44+) on both qualifying routes to shoot to the top of the women’s leaderboard. However, closely behind Costanza were a quartet of competitors—Olivia Ma, Mira Capicchioni, Quinn Mason, and Analise Van Hoang, collectively separated by just two points on the scorecards. 

The women’s semi-finals featured some memorable sequences, including a dyno at hold 29 (which bottlenecked several competitors) and a cruxy cross-move on a boomerang-shaped hold. The round was highlighted by a series of successive, impressive performances: First, Kylie Cullen, then Adriene Akiko Clark, Zoe Yi, and Olivia Ma, each surpassing the established high-point to claim a new leader position. By the end of the round, Costanza (the leader from qualification) was situated in fifth place, thus presenting an opportunity for a dramatic comeback by Costanza in the final round. 

Costanza made a big statement early in the finals, cruising past high points set by Cullen and Akiko Clark (the eventual silver medalist) and reaching the top of the “pumpy, resistance route.” Successive competitors—Van Hoang (the eventual bronze medalist), Mason, and Yi—could not match the flawless standard set by Costanza. Olivia Ma, climbing last, wasn’t able to top the route either and fell while lunging for a cruxy yellow pocket at 34+. This affirmed the gold medal for Costanza and gave the event something of a redemption arc: Costanza narrowly missed out on winning the lead National Championship in 2021 when her right hand popped off the top hold. 

The early standouts in the men’s division of the lead discipline were “Bob” Dillon Countryman, Ross Fulkerson, and Declan Osgood, each of whom claimed one top in the qualification round. That trio stayed tightly bunched together on the scorecards in the ensuing semi-final round too. However, the semi-finals’ superstar was Vertical World’s Sergey Lakhno, who breezed through the route’s lower slopers and pinches along an arête to claim a high point (37+) as the round concluded. Yet, on the whole, the semi-finals were deceptive; a smooth volume caused a number of foot slips and bottlenecked several competitors (the aforementioned Fulkerson, Nathan Monte, and Hugo Hoyer among them) with matching scores of 33. As a result, those bottlenecked competitors didn’t get a chance to shine on the route’s upper section and soon surged back in the finals. 

The men’s final round kicked off with an emphatic score of 25+ from Rock City’s Cruz Padilla. The aforementioned Monte and Luke Muehring made solid progress towards Padilla’s high point until a left-hand dry-fire for Muehring and a right-heel pop for Monte put sudden ends to their respective attempts. Hoyer climbed next and, aided by a sneaky rest high up the route, advanced to the headwall and set a new high point of 30+. Of the handful of competitors that followed, Fulkerson put the most pressure on Hoyer’s lead, but fell two moves shy of Hoyer’s high point. Finally, Lakhno took to the wall and wowed the crowd by monoing the bolt-hole of a white sloper. He then romped onto the headwall until ultimately falling while lunging for a high-right hand—the same move that had bested Fulkerson moments earlier. As a result, Hoyer was awarded the gold medal; Lakhno took the silver, and Fulkerson earned the bronze. 

Hom and Rothfork Clinch Speed Titles

The speed discipline epitomized by notably fast times in the qualification rounds. In the men’s division, 2022 Runner-Up Merritt Ernsberger of Team Texas and Zach Hammer of the Planet Rock squad clocked times of 5.42 seconds and 5.48 seconds, respectively, to lead the qualifying pack of 26 competitors. Both Ernsberger and Hammer stayed on form in the initial bracket of the final round too, with Ernsberger besting Anton Smolyanyy in an exciting opening race, and Hammer beating Kaden Kang later in the final round. 

But a shocking slip midway up the wall from Hammer in a successive race against Thomas Lin shook up the bracket considerably. Ernsberger stayed consistent and beat Joey Kim with a blazing time of 5.45 seconds, but soon had a shocking slip of his own and was beaten by Michael Hom moments later. 

This set up a tense climactic sprint between Hom and Lin, both of whom had beaten the inarguable favorites of the round, Ernsberger and Hammer. Hom had the cleaner Big Final run, beating Lin with a quick time of 5.77 seconds to win the gold medal. In the Small Final, Logan Miner clocked a solid time of 5.89 seconds and beat Ernsberger, whose run was ruined by a costly left-foot slip.

The fastest times in the women’s qualification round were set by Liberty Runnels and Isis Rothfork, each of whom broke the “9-second barrier” to claim the top spots on the roster. And both Runnels and Rothfork maintained that standard in the opening portion of the final round, clocking times of 8.85 seconds and 8.08 seconds, respectively, to advance deeper into the finals’ bracket. 

Defending Speed National Champion Callie Close, of Stone Summit, made a strong statement in her own right by clocking a time of 8.71 seconds in a victorious race against Kaitlyn Guay. This set the stage for one of the most anticipated match-ups of the entire event, a showdown between Runnels and Close. The race lived up to the hype, with Runnels eventually winning via a quicker dyno at the top (and a concluding time of 8.36 seconds compared to Close’s 8.47 seconds). However, the glory was short-lived, as Runnels slipped in the following race against experienced veteran Katie Bone. Meanwhile, Rothfork—who made her World Cup debut this season—crunched through the finals’ bracket with exciting victories over Isabel Piotrowski and Kailer Kordewick. The thrills culminated with a Big Final race between Bone and Rothfork, two mainstays on the elite American competition scene. Rothfork responded to the moment by delivering the cleanest race of the entire event, and in a time of 7.78 seconds, won the gold medal. Bone earned the silver medal, and Kordewick outraced Runnels in a Small Final to earn the bronze medal. 

Costanza Doubles up on Gold; Shahar Holds Off Hoyer in Stiff Boulder Thriller

The boulder discipline featured an abundance of tops during the qualification period. For example, in the women’s division, Melina Costanza—just one day removed from her victory in the lead discipline—topped three of the four qualification blocs. But Costanza found herself pressured early on the scorecards by Helen Gillett, Nekaia Sanders, and Courtney Arnold, all of whom also secured three tops in the women’s qualification round. 

The semi-final round had some hype moments too, including Analise Van Hoang finding a clutch drop-knee midway up the dihedral of the first boulder en route to a top, and Sienna Kopf breaking the beta on the slabby second boulder. However, as the round progressed, Costanza once again pulled away from the field and finished with one top more than the nearest competitors on the scorecards. 

The finals commenced with Costanza leading the field, and she stamped her dominance by being the only competitor to top the round’s inaugural boulder, a pinch-haul up yellow fin-shaped volumes. Youth standout Jojo Chi kept things interesting by being the only other competitor (aside from Costanza) to send the second boulder, and a friendly sibling rivalry between sisters Nekaia and Sovarae Sanders added an intriguing plot point. Furthermore, Kylie Cullen’s flash of the third boulder, a slab on back pyramids, enlivened the crowd amid what was otherwise a fairly overcooked set of blocs. Yet, once Costanza sent the third boulder, and shortly thereafter topped the fourth boulder, the gold medal was confirmed. In winning, Constanza achieved the “double gold,” claiming victory in both the boulder and lead disciplines—an accomplishment done by Annie Sanders (who was not on the roster at this year’s Nationals) in 2022. Below Costanza on the scorecards this year, Cullen concluded the event with the silver medal, and Chi earned the bronze. 

The results in the men’s division were more varied throughout the rounds, with the qualification portion epitomized by a tightly-packed leaderboard: Ross Fulkerson and Simon Hibbeler held narrow leads over Brenden Beauchamp and Adam Shahar. However, highlights in the semi-final round came from other competitors, including a buzzer-beater top of the first boulder by Ben Hanna, and a bold zone-hold skip on the second boulder by Oliver Kuang. This resulted in a final round that was particularly unpredictable, with standouts like Hanna, Beauchamp, and Shahar pitted against elite mainstays such as defending bouldering champion Dillon Countryman, lead champion Hugo Hoyer, and Charles Barron. 

Despite the intrigue, the men’s finals were marred by the first and second boulders being overcooked. (Fortunately, the livestream broadcast during this period was enhanced by solid rapport between commentators Al Smith and Alex Johnson, and some expert guest commentary by Maya Madere.) The excitement returned on an acrobatic third boulder, which showcased several full-body dynos along an arête. Both Hoyer and Barron came heartbreakingly close to topping the boulder, as each were able to touch the top hold but were unable to secure a match. Only Shahar and Countryman successfully wound their way around the boulder’s red volumes to earn tops. In fact, Shahar perilously waved to the crowd before matching on the top hold—an electrifying display of confidence. 

The fourth boulder was markedly minimalistic, comprised of just three large volumes in a cave and a unique characteristic of the zone hold also serving as the top hold. (As per the rules, competitors were awarded points for the zone if they secured the hold with one hand, and they were awarded a top if they then matched on the same hold.) Hoyer surged to the lead by topping the boulder—and it seemed like he was primed to win “double gold” like Costanza. But, moments later, Shahar topped the boulder too. And when the rest of the field was unable to send the boulder, the victory went to Shahar, who had spent most of the past summer training and “de-stressing” on real rock in South Africa; Hoyer earned the silver medal and Countryman earned the bronze.

Results

Lead 

Women

1. Melina Costanza
2. Adriene Akiko Clark
3. Analise Van Hoang
4. Olivia Ma
5. Quinn Mason
6. Kylie Cullen
7. Zoe Yi
8. Mira Capicchioni

Men

1. Hugo Hoyer
2. Sergey Lakhno
3. Ross Fulkerson
4. Cruz Padilla
5. Dillon Countryman
6. Nathan Monte
7. Declan Osgood
8. Luke Muehring

Speed

Women

1. Isis Rothfork
2. Katie Bone
3. Kailer Kordewick

Men

1. Michael Hom
2. Thomas Lin
3. Logan Miner

Boulder

Women

1. Melina Costanza
2. Kylie Cullen
3. Jojo Chi
4. Nekaia Sanders
5. Sovarae Sanders
6. Adriene Akiko Clark

Men

1. Adam Shahar
2. Hugo Hoyer
3. Dillon Countryman
4. Charles Barron
5. Ben Hanna
6. Brenden Beauchamp

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