Chalkless Janja Garnbret and faultless Sascha Lehmann win Lead World Cup opener in Villars

In all likelihood, the lasting image of Villars 2019 will probably not be home favourite Sascha Lehmann’s highly deserved, first-ever World Cup victory, but Janja Garnbret’s spectacular performance in the semifinal. And not because the 20-year-old managed to produce the only top in that round, but because of how she powered her way to the final hold: without chalking up on a single move! While most suffered in the sweltering heat - in stark contrast to 2018 when competitors disappeared into the fog - Garnbret proved once again why she is so special after her chalk bag inexplicably dropped as soon as she left the ground. Bewildered, she looked at the belayer for an instant but then, unperturbed she climbed with her usual high-risk, high-reward style to clinch the top hold. Her beaming and bemused smile said it all.

So after an 8-month break, the Lead World Cup officially recommenced last weekend on the huge climbing wall in the small town of Villars in Switzerland and was won as mentioned by Garnbret who took up from where she had left off after having won all stages of the 2019 Bouldering World Cup. Last out in the women’s final as a result of her chalkless top in the Semis, Garnbret climbed one hold higher than the other athletes who had all fallen off the crux 35th hold, meaning that she took the win and that the rest of the field was separated on countback to the Semifinal: 15-year-old South Korean Sei Chaehyun competing in her first senior World Cup took silver while 15-year-old Ai Mori from Japan took bronze.

In the men’s event the competition was fierce and resulted in a series of huge upsets in both the qualifiers and semis - read Jakob Schubert, Stefano Ghisolfi and Romain Desgranges to name just three - while Adam Ondra had opted not to compete due to injury. 2016 Bouldering World Champion and winner of the 2019 Boulder World Cup Tomoa Narasaki surprised almost everyone by placing provisional first after the Semis. First out though was his younger Meichi who, in his first world Cup senior World Cup final, cruised to last hold but failed to stick the top. Next out Alexander Megos found a no-hands rest and then showed everyone how to top out in style: statically. YuFei Pan then cruised to the top indicating that the route was simply too easy, while Kokoro Fuji failed to stick the final hold but was penalised for having inadvertently touched a bolt with his foot low down on the route. Despite the intense pressure Sascha Lehmann also stuck the last hold and with Domen Skofic and Tomoa Narasaki still to come, it looked like a staggering 5 athletes might all top out. But luckily for the route setters it wasn’t to be. Skofic fell going for the top like Naraski (and Fuji), and Tomoa Narasaki, after awe-inspiring domination, suddenly slipped after he mistakenly stepped on the rope. So Lehmann took gold for his first time ever, ahead of Pan an Megos due to countback.

The next stage of the Lead World Cup takes place this week already, from 11 to 13 July in Chamonix.

LEAD
Female
1 Janja Garnbret SLO 36+
2 Chaehyun Seo KOR 35+
3 Ai Mori JPN 35+
4 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 35+
5 Mia Krampl SLO 35+
6 Lucka Rakovec SLO 35+
7 Julia Chanourdie FRA 35+
8 Natsuki Tanii JPN 35
9 YueTong Zhang CHN
10 Natsumi Hirano JPN
11 Jessica Pilz AUT
12 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
13 Mei Kotake JPN
13 Vita Lukan SLO
13 Camille Pouget FRA
13 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
17 Viktoriia Meshkova RUS
18 Miho Nonaka JPN
19 Fanny Gibert FRA
20 Brooke Raboutou USA
21 Shauna Coxsey GBR
22 Sandra Lettner AUT
23 Katharina Posch AUT
24 Heloïse Doumont BEL
24 Petra Klingler SUI
26 Futaba Ito JPN
27 Jain Kim KOR
28 Christine Schranz AUT
29 Elena Krasovskaya RUS
30 Lynn Van Der Meer NED
31 Eliska Adamovska CZE
31 Alannah Yip CAN
33 Kyra Condie USA
34 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
35 Andrea Kümin SUI
36 Sol Sa KOR
37 Julia Fiser AUT
38 Magdalena Röck AUT
38 Laura Rogora ITA
40 Lauren Bair USA
41 Valentina Aguado ARG
42 Noa Shiran ISR
43 Lan Kim KOR
44 Chloe Caulier BEL
45 Nolwenn Arc FRA
45 Michelle Hulliger SUI
47 Ilaria Scolaris ITA
48 Afra Hönig GER
49 Tjasa Kalan SLO
49 Hannah Schubert AUT
51 Urska Repusic SLO
52 Rong Jiang CHN
53 Luiza Emeleva RUS
53 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
53 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
56 Silvia Cassol ITA
57 Katherine Choong SUI
58 Celine Cuypers BEL
59 Andrea Rojas ECU
60 Sienna Kopf USA
61 Lisa-Marie Kvandahl NOR
62 YiLing Song CHN
63 Alejandra Contreras CHI
64 Hung Ying Lee TPE
65 Anna Tsyganova RUS
65 Naama Yohai ISR
67 Yael Taub ISR
68 Anouck Jaubert FRA
69 Fitria Hartani INA
70 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
70 Anouk Piola SUI
72 Iuliia Panteleeva RUS
73 Bianca Magalhaes De Castro BRA
74 Romy Fuchs GER
74 Joanna Neame GBR
76 Maria Benach Zubero ESP
77 Hannah Hermann SUI
78 Zoé Egli SUI
79 Iqamah Nurul INA
80 Di Niu CHN
81 RACHELLE De Charmoy RSA
82 Roxy Perry AUS
83 Amanda Speed NZL
84 Sarah Tetzlaff NZL
85 Aries Susanti Rahayu INA
86 Jennifer Marie De La Torre MEX

LEAD
Male
1 Sascha Lehmann SUI Top
2 YuFei Pan CHN Top
3 Alexander Megos GER Top
4 Domen Skofic SLO 39+
5 Meichi Narasaki JPN 39+
6 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 34
7 Yuki Hada JPN 22
8 Kokoro Fujii JPN 8
9 Martin Stranik CZE
10 Hanwool Kim KOR
11 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
12 Luka Potocar SLO
13 Rei Sugimoto JPN
14 Jakob Schubert AUT
15 Martin Bergant SLO
16 Marcello Bombardi ITA
17 Nicolas Collin BEL
18 Yannick Flohé GER
19 Kai Harada JPN
20 William Bosi GBR
21 Sean Mccoll CAN
22 Jesse Grupper USA
23 Milan Preskar SLO
24 Dohyun Lee KOR
25 Thomas Joannes FRA
26 Alberto Ginés López ESP
27 Taisei Homma JPN
28 Sebastian Halenke GER
28 Jan Hojer GER
30 Rudolph Ruana USA
31 Romain Desgranges FRA
31 Hannes Puman SWE
33 Dmitrii Fakiryanov RUS
34 Jongwon Chon KOR
35 Jabee Kim KOR
35 Nimrod Marcus ISR
37 Nathaniel Coleman USA
37 Francesco Vettorata ITA
39 Yuval Shemla ISR
40 Dimitri Vogt SUI
41 Anze Peharc SLO
42 Simon Lorenzi BEL
43 Jernej Kruder SLO
44 Nikolai Iarilovets RUS
45 Cesar Grosso BRA
45 Jakub Konecny CZE
45 Tim Reuser NED
48 Stepan Volf CZE
49 Leo Avezou FRA
49 Manuel Cornu FRA
49 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
52 Adrien Lemaire FRA
53 Aleksei Shchervianin RUS
54 Sean Bailey USA
54 Philipp Geisenhoff SUI
54 Max Kleesattel GER
57 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
57 Matthias Schiestl AUT
59 Marco Müller SUI
60 Max Rudigier AUT
61 Vojtech Trojan CZE
62 Campbell Harrison AUS
63 Christopher Cosser RSA
63 Mathias Posch AUT
65 Mark Brand NED
65 Evgenii Zazulin RUS
67 Fatchur Roji INA
68 Ronny Escobar CHI
68 Nils Favre SUI
68 Kevin Huser SUI
68 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
68 Martin Tekles GER
73 Ram Levin ISR
74 Nino Grünenfelder SUI
75 Mykhayil Tkachuk UKR
76 Leto Cavé NED
77 Dylan Chuat SUI
78 Kevin Heiniger SUI
79 Carlos Granja ECU
79 Àlex Hernández Castilla ESP
79 QiXin Zhong CHN
82 Zach Galla USA
83 Danny Valencia ECU
84 Chi-fung Au HKG
85 Benjamin Blaser SUI
86 Sven Lempereur BEL
87 Sébastien Berthe BEL
88 Or Miniely ISR
89 Julien Clémence SUI
90 Alfian Muhammad INA
90 Kostiantyn Pavlenko UKR
92 Simón Padin ARG
93 Seungbeom Lee KOR
94 Marcin Dzienski POL
94 Aspar Jaelolo INA
96 Jan Kriz CZE
97 Jose Maria Aljaro CHI

SPEED
Female
1 Anouck Jaubert FRA 7.66
2 YiLing Song CHN 8.42
3 Elizaveta Ivanova RUS 7.59
4 Di Niu CHN 10.66
5 Natalia Kalucka POL
6 Anna Tsyganova RUS
7 Patrycja Chudziak POL
8 Kseniia Petrova RUS
9 Anna Brozek POL
10 Miho Nonaka JPN
11 Capucine Viglione FRA
12 Andrea Rojas ECU
13 MingWei Ni CHN
14 Mariia Krasavina RUS
15 Aleksandra Kalucka POL
16 Iqamah Nurul INA
17 Alexandra Elmer AUT
18 Aurelia Sarisson FRA
19 Aries Susanti Rahayu INA
20 Elena Krasovskaya RUS
21 Ekaterina Barashchuk RUS
22 Anna Calanca ITA
23 Futaba Ito JPN
24 Sienna Kopf USA
25 Sol Sa KOR
26 Hung Ying Lee TPE
27 Janja Garnbret SLO
28 Alannah Yip CAN
29 Romane Fontelaye FRA
30 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
31 Viktoriia Meshkova RUS
32 Shauna Coxsey GBR
33 Elena Remizova RUS
34 Elena Timofeeva RUS
35 Sandra Lettner AUT
36 Brooke Raboutou USA
37 Jessica Pilz AUT
38 Valentina Aguado ARG
39 Alejandra Contreras CHI
40 Lauren Bair USA
41 Sofya Yokoyama SUI
42 Fanny Gibert FRA
43 YueTong Zhang CHN
44 Chloe Caulier BEL
45 Hana Krizova CZE
46 Jain Kim KOR
47 Lucka Rakovec SLO
48 Kyra Condie USA
49 Laura Rogora ITA
50 Chaehyun Seo KOR
51 Julia Chanourdie FRA
52 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
53 Andrea Kümin SUI
54 Heloïse Doumont BEL
55 Sarah Tetzlaff NZL
56 Celine Cuypers BEL
57 Fitria Hartani INA
58 Afra Hönig GER
59 Mia Krampl SLO
60 Urska Repusic SLO
61 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
62 Maria Benach Zubero ESP
63 Natsumi Hirano JPN
64 Lan Kim KOR
65 Jennifer Marie De La Torre MEX
66 Bianca Magalhaes De Castro BRA
67 Vita Lukan SLO
68 Grace Crowley AUS
69 Amanda Speed NZL
70 Natsuki Tanii JPN
71 RACHELLE De Charmoy RSA
72 Rong Jiang CHN
72 Piper Kelly USA

Speed
Male
1 Aleksandr Shikov RUS 5.54
2 Dmitrii Timofeev RUS fall
3 Jan Kriz CZE 7.77
4 Bassa Mawem FRA fall
5 Vladislav Deulin RUS
6 Danyil Boldyrev UKR
7 QiXin Zhong CHN
8 Reza Alipourshenazandifar IRI
9 Ludovico Fossali ITA
10 Lev Rudatskiy RUS
11 JinBao Long CHN
12 Long Cao CHN
13 Aleksandr Shilov RUS
14 Rishat Khaibullin KAZ
15 Seungbeom Lee KOR
16 Sergey Rukin RUS
17 Marcin Dzienski POL
18 Stanislav Kokorin RUS
19 Kostiantyn Pavlenko UKR
20 Alfian Muhammad INA
21 ZhiXing Chen CHN
22 Manuel Cornu FRA
23 Pierre Rebreyend FRA
24 Carlos Granja ECU
25 Erik Noya Cardona ESP
26 Kokoro Fujii JPN
27 Gian Luca Zodda ITA
28 Tomoa Narasaki JPN
29 Nikolai Iarilovets RUS
30 Artem Khabibullin RUS
31 Jan Hojer GER
32 Lukas Knapp AUT
33 Kai Harada JPN
34 YuFei Pan CHN
35 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
36 William Bosi GBR
37 Nathaniel Coleman USA
38 Chi-fung Au HKG
39 Cesar Grosso BRA
40 Meichi Narasaki JPN
41 Jakob Schubert AUT
42 Jongwon Chon KOR
43 Zach Galla USA
44 Danny Valencia ECU
45 Rudolph Ruana USA
46 Rei Sugimoto JPN
47 Sean Mccoll CAN
48 Mickael Mawem FRA
49 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
50 Dohyun Lee KOR
51 Jernej Kruder SLO
52 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
53 Simon Lorenzi BEL
54 Nimrod Marcus ISR
55 Tobias Plangger AUT
56 Ram Levin ISR
57 Christopher Cosser RSA
58 Hanwool Kim KOR
59 Francesco Vettorata ITA
60 Alberto Ginés López ESP
61 Anze Peharc SLO
62 Alexander Megos GER
63 Yannick Flohé GER
64 Leo Avezou FRA
65 Matthias Erber AUT
66 Jabee Kim KOR
67 John Brosler USA
68 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
69 Marcello Bombardi ITA
70 Luka Potocar SLO
71 Tim Reuser NED
72 Ronny Escobar CHI
73 Sean Bailey USA
74 Amir Maimuratov KAZ
75 Campbell Harrison AUS
76 Simón Padin ARG
77 Domen Skofic SLO
78 Jakub Konecny CZE
79 Jose Maria Aljaro CHI
80 Nicolas Collin BEL
81 Dmitrii Fakiryanov RUS
81 Aspar Jaelolo INA
81 Fatchur Roji INA
81 Martin Stranik CZE