About the World Championship, 8c OS… but, not only…

An interview with Tomáš Mrázek and his girlfriend, Helena Lipenska

wspinanie.pl: First question, the competition in Munich…
Helena: It was terrible. We spent 25 hours in the zone… and Tomáš had spent there 15 hours the previous day during the selection match.
Tomáš: The wall was very nice. The problem was the organization. The Germans don’t have much experience in this, because they haven’t been hosting any event as serious as the World Cup recently. Afterwards we were so tired that we had to spend two days “recovering with alcohol”…;-)

And what do you think of the routes prepared by Jacky Godoffe?
T: The semifinals were really tough. The crux had 15 boulder moves. The final, on the contrary, was focused more on checking the strength of the competitors. It was obvious that the Germans didn’t want any superfinal, that’s why the semifinal was much more difficult - at least 8b+. However, I must admit all the routes were great.

The victory of Salavat in bouldering must have been quite a surprise?
H: Salavat is like a yogi ;-). Besides, for the last four years he has kept repeating that in the following season he will finish with competitions… He lives in Moscow, works as a trainer and is still in a very good form. Recently he’s also become a father, which means a lot of new obligations; but this doesn’t seem to prevent him from being the best…

Salavat won the bouldering, you kept the title of the World Champion, also the best women climbers come from the East, and we shouldn’t forget about speed competitors…  How would you explain such a situation?
T: Well, it’s hard to explain. The French have perfect conditions for training but they lack motivated people. When I was starting climbing, everybody kept telling me that I could make myself “someone” in this sport only by training in France with the French. But I knew what I wanted, and I promised myself that I would be the best. And, ironically, when I started winning, none of them have changed their mind, but I became to be considered an alien;-). Eight years ago, when I was starting climbing, the time was not very easy for me. I didn’t have any support from my family, nor money for training. The situation changed when I became the World Champion.

Did you have any climbing idols at the beginning of your career?
T: To be honest, I didn’t have any aspirations to imitate others. In that time there were many talented climbers from the Czech Republic and I was motivated by their successes. However, those who climbed in the rocks had no chances in competitions. I knew, of course, who Francois Legrand was, but I had no idea about how he climbed or what his training looked like; besides, this was not so important. What counted for me was my training – every day after school I spent 3 hours climbing in the club. Afterwards I usually visited my friend who had a climbing wall at home, and we continued for another two or three hours. Then I would go home and do some exercises there.