Erin McNeice determined to soak up Olympic experience after qualifying for final

By Paul Eddison at Le Bourget

The 20-year-old from Rodmersham was second up in the lead part of her women’s boulder and lead semi-final, knowing that a top eight finish was required to qualify for Saturday’s final.

Sitting tenth after the bouldering, McNeice was looking to perform in the lead – a climb up a 15-metre-high wall, secured to a rope while scoring points for each hold the climber reaches.

McNeice set the early pace, scoring 64.1.That was the seventh best score in the discipline and enough to push her into seventh place overall once boulder and lead scores had been combined.

And while she wanted more, McNeice was still pleased with her performance.

She said: “It was good. I’m a little bit frustrated with where I fell off.

"Coming out quite early is good because the crowd is really excited. Even though it’s an earlier start, I’ve really enjoyed it.

“It’s really surreal to be a part of the Olympics. The fact it has got so much attention and there is a massive crowd, it’s really nice. I feel the support, whether they are out here or back home, it’s really nice to feel like people are supporting you.”

McNeice sets very high standards for herself and knows that it will take an improved performance to challenge for a medal with Slovenian legend Janja Garnbret looking as untouchable as ever after scoring a combined 195.7 points, nearly 40 clear of her closest rivals, Austria’s Jessica Pilz.

Whether she can challenge for the podium or not, McNeice believes she is learning a lot from this event.

She added: “There are definitely takeaways. I’ve maybe started expecting too much of myself, so I’ve maybe got to be a bit easier on myself, that is something I’ve probably learned in this comp.”

And with a huge crowd cheering her on at Le Bourget to the north of Paris, she explained just how much support both in person and back in the UK is driving her on.

She added: “I’ve tried to be in touch with people as much as possible. I want to soak it all in rather than shutting it all out. I think it’s been noticeably more than other comps which makes it more surreal because it’s so important.”

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