Adam Ondra and Chaehyun Seo stars in Chamonix

It’s hard to say what the biggest news from Chamonix is, Adam Ondra taking gold in fairy tale style, 15-year-old Chaehyun Seo winning her first World Cup in only her second senior appearance, or the fact that on Saturday morning Janja Garnbret’s record-breaking run of victories ground to a surprising, abrupt halt.

In Friday’s qualifiers the Slovenian had topped out on both routes along with Chaehyun Seo, while Ai Mori trailed on their heels, confirming after Villars an interesting change occurring in the women’s event with the two 15-year-olds beginning to be threaten the Slovenian’s dominance. No one though would have predicted that Garnbret would fail to make the cut but in the Semis she looked vulnerable and, as things turned out, after a controversial judges decision she placed ninth and missed out on the finals for the first time since debuting on the senior stage in 2015. Which, as it happens, was in very same Place du Mont Blanc when, aged 16, she placed second in the European Championship. In the last 4 years Garnbret has left her mark like no other and there can be no doubting that she’ll more than make up for things in the next competition. Other surprise exclusions in the Semis included last year’s winner Stefano Ghisolfi who’s route reading mistake proved costly, as well as Tomoa Narasaki.

The finals began with Molly Thompson-Smith who, after having waited eternally in the Semis to be told she had qualified, climbed powerfully past big moves before falling off the 40° section. London’s best was followed by New York’s leading light, namely Ashima Shiraishi gunning for her first senior World Cup. She climbed statically past Thompson-Smith’s highpoint and gained another 8 holds before falling off the headwall. Ai Mori looked less composed but nevertheless battled her way to the same hold as Shiraishi. Lucka Rakovec fell disappointing low, before reigning World Champion Jessica Pilz reached the move that had stopped Shiraishi and Mori; she appeared to latch the hold for half a second, just enough for the judges to award a new highpoint. Despite feet cutting loose continuously, YueTong Zhang managed to battle her way upwards, well past the ideal point to clip the rope which she did, somehow, before falling off the 34+ stopper move. The impression she gave was, had she clipped earlier, she would have made significant more headway. Chaehyun Seo climbed with the carefreeness of youth, then missed the stopper hold and slipped into second place behind Pilz. But even before Natsuki Tanii, the last athlete, came out these scores suddenly changed: acting on their own accord, the judges deemed her latch insufficient and downgraded Pilz from 35 to 34+, putting her into provisional third. In front of the 12,000 strong crowd last out Tanii, a mere 15 years old and 8th in Villars last week, started upwards but failed to find the right rhythm and fell lowest of all. Meaning that, with five athletes having fallen off the same hold, victory went to Seo based on countback - all the way to Friday qualifiers.

At this point Chamonix had disappeared into the darkness yet the Place du Mont Blanc was ablaze with anticipation. Temperatures dropped considerably and conditions were prime for the exciting men’s final. First out was Alexander Megos who had looked awesome in the semis but had been penalised for having touched a bolt with his foot. He looked just as awesome in the Finals and after having done the splits to find an impossible rest, the German powered to hold 44 before skidding off the black volume. He vent his anger into the cold aid but, without knowing it, had made a perfect start to the last round. Martin Stranik, who Ondra has defined as “really strong”, fought his way feet first through the steepest section but then fell off hold 31. Sean McColl was finally back where he belongs, competing against the best of the best in a World Cup final, and with his hallmark high-risk style climbed feet first to the undercling before suddenly running out of power. Jakob Schubert is the athlete with the most World Cup wins -18 Lead and 3 Boulder - yet even he ran out of steam just below Megos’ highpoint. Scotland’s William Bosi was in a Chamonix final for the second year running and once again climbed steady. And brutally, not feet first but somehow straight up, before falling lower than Schubert. The tension was palpable as Bouldering Champion Kai Harada started his run up the wall but for some reason this ended before it even began. With two climbers still to come, Megos was now guaranteed a place on the podium. Next up was promising young Alberto Gines Lopez, competing in his first but certainly not last final. In obvious difficulties right from the outset, the Spaniard put in the fight of his life; his incredible endurance, and beaming smile, said it all. Last out was the man they had all been waiting for, Adam Ondra who’d skipped the first stage in Villars due to his slight wrist injury. This evidently didn’t give him any cause for concern as he delivered the fairy-tale ending, chalking up halfway through the inverted sequence before launching into the headwall. Way past Megos’ highpoint to just below the top. Here he turned to the crowd, asked for their support, dropped his knee and powered to touch an impossible sidepull. “Somehow I had an inner feeling that everything would work out perfectly and I felt great from start to finish” Ondra stated buoyantly immediately after his win. His first this season and his first in the biggest venue in the World Cup circuit.

Chamonix also hosted the fourth and penultimate stage of the Speed World Cup, won on Friday night by YiLing Song and Alfian Muhammad who beat, respectively, Elizaveta Ivanova (penalised for a false start) and QiXin Zhong. Bronze went to Aleksandra Kalucka and Vladislav Deulin.

LEAD
Women
1 Chaehyun Seo KOR 34+
2 YueTong Zhang CHN 34+
3 Jessica Pilz AUT 34+
4 Ai Mori JPN 34+
5 Ashima Shiraishi USA 34+
6 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR 26+
7 Lucka Rakovec SLO 25
8 Natsuki Tanii JPN 17+
9 Janja Garnbret SLO
10 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
11 Mia Krampl SLO
12 Vita Lukan SLO
13 Camille Pouget FRA
14 Julia Chanourdie FRA
15 Christine Schranz AUT
16 Petra Klingler SUI
16 Miho Nonaka JPN
18 Margo Hayes USA
19 Katharina Posch AUT
20 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
21 Luce Douady FRA
22 Viktoriia Meshkova RUS
23 Shauna Coxsey GBR
24 Valentina Aguado ARG
25 Futaba Ito JPN
26 Heloïse Doumont BEL
27 Tjasa Kalan SLO
28 Brooke Raboutou USA
28 Laura Rogora ITA
30 Nolwenn Arc FRA
30 Nina Arthaud FRA
32 Chloe Caulier BEL
32 Kyra Condie USA
32 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
35 Mei Kotake JPN
35 Alannah Yip CAN
37 Julia Fiser AUT
37 Lan Kim KOR
37 Joanna Neame GBR
37 Iva Vejmolova CZE
41 Sol Sa KOR
42 Sandra Lettner AUT
43 Andrea Kümin SUI
44 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
45 Lucie Watillon BEL
46 Ilaria Scolaris ITA
47 Elena Krasovskaya RUS
48 Michelle Hulliger SUI
49 Andrea Rojas ECU
50 Vanda Michalkova SVK
51 Silvia Cassol ITA
52 Nikki Van Bergen NED
53 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
53 Oceania Mackenzie AUS
55 Katherine Choong SUI
56 Lynn Van Der Meer NED
57 Magdalena Röck AUT
58 Kajsa Rosen SWE
59 Afra Hönig GER
60 Urska Repusic SLO
61 Alejandra Contreras CHI
62 Allison Vest CAN
63 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS
64 Nolwen Berthier FRA
64 Rong Jiang CHN
64 Emily Phillips GBR
67 Léa Delacquis FRA
68 Nanako Kura JPN
69 Roxana Wienand GER
70 Rebecca Frangos CAN
70 Romy Fuchs GER
70 Fitria Hartani INA
73 Sophie Buitendyk CAN
74 Eliska Adamovska CZE
75 Rhoslyn Frugtniet GBR
76 Bréanne Robert FRA
77 Michaela Smetanova CZE
78 Hung Ying Lee TPE
79 Maria Benach Zubero ESP
80 Anouck Jaubert FRA
81 Léna Grospiron FRA
82 Hannah Schubert AUT
83 Rut Monsech Gasca ESP
84 Bianca Magalhaes De Castro BRA
85 Lisa-Marie Kvandahl NOR
86 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
87 Tamara Ulzhabayeva KAZ
88 Sienna Kopf USA
89 Eliska Novotna CZE
90 Indiana Chapman CAN
90 Natalia Kalucka POL
92 Iqamah Nurul INA
93 Sabina Večeřová CZE
94 Lucia Dörffel GER
95 Nitsa Tvauri GEO
96 Aries Susanti Rahayu INA
97 Assel Marlenova KAZ
98 Amanda Speed NZL
99 Roxy Perry AUS
100 RACHELLE De Charmoy RSA
101 Muykuay Silva CHI
102 Sarah Tetzlaff NZL
103 Jennifer Marie De La Torre MEX

LEAD
Men
1 Adam Ondra CZE 47+
2 Alexander Megos GER 44
3 Jakob Schubert AUT 43+
4 William Bosi GBR 39+
5 Alberto Ginés López ESP 33+
6 Martin Stranik CZE 31+
7 Sean Mccoll CAN 25+
8 Kai Harada JPN 22
9 Alistair Duval FRA
10 Yannick Flohé GER
11 Kokoro Fujii JPN
12 Nathaniel Coleman USA
13 Sascha Lehmann SUI
14 Jan Hojer GER
15 Marcello Bombardi ITA
16 Yuki Hada JPN
17 Rei Sugimoto JPN
18 Martin Bergant SLO
19 Romain Desgranges FRA
20 Domen Skofic SLO
21 Taisei Homma JPN
22 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
23 Philipp Martin GER
24 Sean Bailey USA
25 Jongwon Chon KOR
26 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
27 Nimrod Marcus ISR
28 Tomoa Narasaki JPN
29 Sebastian Halenke GER
30 Jernej Kruder SLO
30 Mickael Mawem FRA
32 Hannes Puman SWE
33 Dohyun Lee KOR
34 Sam Avezou FRA
35 Zach Galla USA
36 Tim Reuser NED
37 Lucas Uchida CAN
38 Hanwool Kim KOR
39 Tom O'halloran AUS
40 James Pope GBR
41 Tomas Plevko SVK
42 David Barrans GBR
42 Francesco Vettorata ITA
44 Anze Peharc SLO
45 Dimitri Vogt SUI
46 Hugo Parmentier FRA
47 Meichi Narasaki JPN
48 Mark Brand NED
49 Manuel Cornu FRA
50 Jakub Konecny CZE
50 Matthias Schiestl AUT
52 Benjamin Ayala CHI
52 Aleksandr Shikov RUS
54 Jabee Kim KOR
55 Nicolas Collin BEL
55 Nikolai Iarilovets RUS
55 Hamish Mcarthur GBR
55 Luka Potocar SLO
59 Campbell Harrison AUS
59 Simon Lorenzi BEL
59 Rudolph Ruana USA
59 Martin Tekles GER
63 Mathias Posch AUT
64 Thomas Joannes FRA
65 Guy Mcnamee CAN
66 Max Rudigier AUT
67 Julien Clémence SUI
67 Jesse Grupper USA
67 Nao Monchois FRA
67 Milan Preskar SLO
67 Danny Valencia ECU
72 Rishat Khaibullin KAZ
73 Philipp Geisenhoff SUI
73 Stepan Volf CZE
75 Sven Lempereur BEL
76 Christopher Cosser RSA
77 Adrien Lemaire FRA
78 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
79 Ronny Escobar CHI
80 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
80 Nino Grünenfelder SUI
82 Sean Faulkner CAN
83 Benjamin Vargas CHI
84 YuFei Pan CHN
85 Or Miniely ISR
86 Cesar Grosso BRA
87 Fatchur Roji INA
88 Aleksei Shchervianin RUS
89 Hritik Marne IND
90 Kristoffer Lindbäck SWE
91 Ludovico Fossali ITA
92 Felipe Ho Foganholo BRA
93 Mykhayil Tkachuk UKR
94 Dylan Chuat SUI
95 Bassa Mawem FRA
96 Ben Abel AUS
97 Leto Cavé NED
98 Evgenii Zazulin RUS
99 Kindar Mcnamee CAN
100 Vojtech Trojan CZE
101 Simón Padin ARG
102 Jose Maria Aljaro CHI
103 Carlos Granja ECU
104 Kostiantyn Pavlenko UKR
105 Emilio Rios CHI
106 Pema Thendup Bhutia IND
107 Alfian Muhammad INA
108 Ganesh Bhujel IND
109 Aspar Jaelolo INA
110 Seungbeom Lee KOR
111 Soso Gabuldani GEO

Speed
Women
1 YiLing Song CHN 99.00
2 Elizaveta Ivanova RUS false start
3 Aleksandra Kalucka POL 7.661
4 Aries Susanti Rahayu INA fall
5 Anna Brozek POL
6 Andrea Rojas ECU
7 Patrycja Chudziak POL
8 Mariia Krasavina RUS
9 Iqamah Nurul INA
10 Elena Remizova RUS
11 MingWei Ni CHN
12 Alexandra Elmer AUT
13 Capucine Viglione FRA
14 Kseniia Petrova RUS
15 Di Niu CHN
16 Anouck Jaubert FRA
17 Assel Marlenova KAZ
18 Ekaterina Barashchuk RUS
19 Natalia Kalucka POL
20 Elena Krasovskaya RUS
21 Elisabetta Dalla Brida ITA
22 Kyra Condie USA
23 Rong Jiang CHN
24 Hung Ying Lee TPE
25 Futaba Ito JPN
26 Alannah Yip CAN
27 Sienna Kopf USA
28 Oceania Mackenzie AUS
29 Miho Nonaka JPN
30 Janja Garnbret SLO
31 Romane Fontelaye FRA
32 Julia Chanourdie FRA
33 Petra Klingler SUI
34 Elena Timofeeva RUS
35 Sol Sa KOR
36 Farnaz Esmaeilzadeh IRI
37 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
38 Shauna Coxsey GBR
39 Jessica Pilz AUT
40 Alejandra Contreras CHI
41 Brooke Raboutou USA
42 Chloe Caulier BEL
43 Victoire Andrier FRA
44 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS
45 Sandra Lettner AUT
46 Hana Krizova CZE
47 Nanako Kura JPN
48 Valentina Aguado ARG
49 Aurelia Sarisson FRA
50 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
51 Laura Rogora ITA
52 Emily Phillips GBR
53 Fitria Hartani INA
54 Urska Repusic SLO
55 Chaehyun Seo KOR
56 Lucie Watillon BEL
57 Margo Hayes USA
58 Muykuay Silva CHI
59 Sarah Tetzlaff NZL
60 Lan Kim KOR
61 Heloïse Doumont BEL
62 Mia Krampl SLO
63 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
64 Ai Mori JPN
65 YueTong Zhang CHN
66 Ashima Shiraishi USA
67 Rebecca Frangos CAN
68 Nitsa Tvauri GEO
69 Afra Hönig GER
70 Jennifer Marie De La Torre MEX
71 Maria Benach Zubero ESP
72 Rut Monsech Gasca ESP
73 Margarita Agambayeva KAZ
74 Vita Lukan SLO
75 Vanda Michalkova SVK
76 Bianca Magalhaes De Castro BRA
77 RACHELLE De Charmoy RSA
78 Amanda Speed NZL
79 Grace Crowley AUS
80 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
81 Azam Karami IRI
81 Kobra Lakzaiifar IRI
81 Tamara Ulzhabayeva KAZ

Speed
Men
1 Alfian Muhammad INA 5.764
2 QiXin Zhong CHN 6.382
3 Vladislav Deulin RUS 6.057
4 Danyil Boldyrev UKR fall
5 Marcin Dzienski POL
6 Sergey Rukin RUS
7 Bassa Mawem FRA
8 John Brosler USA
9 Aspar Jaelolo INA
10 Seungbeom Lee KOR
11 Kostiantyn Pavlenko UKR
12 Stanislav Kokorin RUS
13 Long Cao CHN
14 Aleksandr Shikov RUS
15 Aleksandr Shilov RUS
16 Dmitrii Timofeev RUS
17 Carlos Granja ECU
18 Jan Kriz CZE
19 Pierre Rebreyend FRA
20 Erik Noya Cardona ESP
21 Mickael Mawem FRA
22 JinBao Long CHN
23 Reza Alipourshenazandifar IRI
24 Artem Khabibullin RUS
25 Tomoa Narasaki JPN
26 Gian Luca Zodda ITA
27 Nikolai Iarilovets RUS
28 Fatchur Roji INA
29 Lev Rudatskiy RUS
30 ZhiXing Chen CHN
31 Almaz Nagaev RUS
32 Ludovico Fossali ITA
33 Kokoro Fujii JPN
34 Alimzhan Myrzabekov KAZ
35 Sam Avezou FRA
36 Lukas Knapp AUT
37 Manuel Cornu FRA
38 Matthias Erber AUT
39 Alisher Murat KAZ
40 Jan Hojer GER
41 Danny Valencia ECU
42 Rishat Khaibullin KAZ
43 Kai Harada JPN
44 Zach Galla USA
45 Meichi Narasaki JPN
46 William Bosi GBR
47 Nathaniel Coleman USA
48 Jernej Kruder SLO
49 Jongwon Chon KOR
50 Pema Thendup Bhutia IND
51 Hanwool Kim KOR
52 Rei Sugimoto JPN
53 Yannick Flohé GER
54 Dohyun Lee KOR
55 Alberto Ginés López ESP
56 Sascha Lehmann SUI
57 Felipe Ho Foganholo BRA
58 Ganesh Bhujel IND
59 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
60 Jakob Schubert AUT
61 Rudolph Ruana USA
62 Cesar Grosso BRA
63 Adam Ondra CZE
64 Marcello Bombardi ITA
65 Nimrod Marcus ISR
66 Jabee Kim KOR
67 Giga Jankhoteli GEO
68 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
69 Ronny Escobar CHI
70 Luka Potocar SLO
71 Ben Abel AUS
72 Emilio Rios CHI
73 Francesco Vettorata ITA
74 Philipp Martin GER
75 Tim Reuser NED
76 Campbell Harrison AUS
77 Simón Padin ARG
78 Christopher Cosser RSA
79 Benjamin Vargas CHI
80 Sean Mccoll CAN
81 Benjamin Ayala CHI
82 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
83 Alexander Megos GER
84 Tobias Plangger AUT
85 Hannes Puman SWE
86 Jose Maria Aljaro CHI
87 Hritik Marne IND
88 Romain Desgranges FRA
89 David Barrans GBR
90 Anze Peharc SLO
91 YuFei Pan CHN
92 Jakub Konecny CZE
93 Nicolas Collin BEL
94 Soso Gabuldani GEO
95 Amir Maimuratov KAZ
95 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
95 Martin Stranik CZE