Mansfield climber Sam in the mix as European Youth Cup Lead season gets underway

The first of the consecutive weekends of competition was in Dornbirn, Austria, with two climbs set for the qualifiers with Sam placing eighth in both of them.

That meant he was sixth overall and comfortably into the finals with the top 10 climbers progressing.

The finals took place on the Sunday and consisted of one climb in which Sam felt he performed well and he finished with a third place and on the podium.

Following on from the competition Sam had a few days training in Innsbruck, prior to travelling over to Slovakia.

The second competition of the season then took place in Zilina, the format remained the same of two climbs in qualifiers and one in the finals.

Sam placed fourth at the end of qualifiers, again safely securing his spot in the finals.

The finals on the Sunday then saw Sam again place fourth.

“I was really unhappy with my climbing in both the qualifiers and the finals in Slovakia and because of the circumstances I missed out on a podium spot, which was really disappointing,” he said.

“I now have a little under two weeks at home before I head over to China to compete in the Youth World Championships in both lead and boulder.”

The podium position in Dornbirn followed on from a successful first international boulder season,which saw him make finals in both events, narrowly missing out on podium places.

The 17-year-old, who studies at Mansfield's Joseph Whitaker School, won the Junior British Lead Championship in 2022.

Sam then did his first international lead competitions in 2023, came ninth and fifth in the European Cups, and then an amazing second in the most important event in the European calendar, the European Championships, which was held in Helsinki, Finland.