Jain Kim & Toby Roberts rule Chamonix

When asked a few days ago by by IFSC commentator Matt Groom why she had come out of retirement, Jain Kim explained that she wanted make her young daughter proud. Well, not even a fortnight after making that statement, the 34-year-old stood on top platform of the podium, at one of the biggest stages of the entire World Cup circuit: Chamonix. In doing so, in beating the tightknit field by a staggering 5 holds, Kim claimed her 30th World Cup gold medal in Lead and secured her place in history. This is the highest number of World Cup wins in a single discipline across both genders and all disciplines.

Kim's victory in front of the packed square couldn't be taken for granted. She qualified provisional fourth behind Chaehyun Seo, Jessica Pilz and Nonoha Kume, and just ahead of Miho Nonaka, Hélène Janicot, Mia Krampl and Vita Lukan. As the sun set behind Mont Blanc, Lukan got the finals underway but fell far too early on the awkward dyno. Fellow Slovenian Krampl climbed 4 holds higher but then slipped getting established on the huge volume to finish 6th, while Hélène Janicot really got the crowd going with her powerful climbing before dropping off hold 38+ - a score which in the end would secure her the bronze medal. Miho Nonaka cruised through the powerful moves on the lower section of the route dropped off one hold lower than the Frenchwoman, resulting in her settling in for 5th. Next out was Kim and her ascent was beautiful, regal, a textbook example of control and composure. Almost too much because she very nearly timed out of the 6-minute limit and when she fell - 12 seconds before the end and just below the top - the feeling was that with more time, she could well have reached the final hold. Young Nonoha Kume climbed to precisely the same hold as Janicot before dropping off and claimed silver as a result of countback. Jessica Pilz struggled considerably getting established on the huge volume and, when she eventually did, she fell just like Nonaka. At this point there was only one athlete left, Kim's 19-year-old teammate Seo Chaehyun who unfortunately committed a trivial mistake that cost her dearly: low down on the route she missed a clip and clipped the next quickdraw immediately above her. She realised her mistake immediately, unclipped and then clipped in the right order, but the judges had no choice other to call her down and place her a disappointing 8th overall. While it wasn't her night, she will have been heartened by the fact that the cool Chamonix night nevertheless belonged to South Korea.

The night was still young though and out next were the men and, in particular, Luka Potocar who showed what the route would be like before falling off hold 39. Crowd favourite Sam Avezou made huge foray up into the headwall, delighting the audience and probably worrying the route setters with his performance, but needlessly so because they'd set perfectly and Avezou was obviously inspired: his run to three moves from the top, where in total control his hand suddenly slipped off the sloper, eventually netted him silver. Alexander Megos fell off the tiny crimps on the headwall to place 4th, then Doyun Lee fell far lower than expected, finishing 8th, while Stefan Scherz climbed only a tiny bit higher. It now boiled down to the last three, Colin Duffy, Sorato Anraku and Toby Roberts. Duffy somehow never really found his flow and, shaking his head in disbelief after a myriad of small mistakes, he fell far lower than expected to finish 6th. 16-year-old Anraku then battled hard to within 2 holds of Avezou's highpoint to claim his first Lead medal, and then all eyes were on the last man out, Toby Roberts. The 18-year-old British revelation had topped both Qualification routes and, like Anraku, had fallen off hold 50+ in the Semis. After having tasted victory at the Brixen Boulder World Cup a few weeks ago, Roberts was obviously keen on doing the double. He paused only once, briefly, then cheered on by the crowd he made the jump and powered upwards. Two holds before top and with 30 seconds on the clock he turned to that magical crowd, asked them for an even louder cheer, then secured the only top of the evening. His joy on the jug was unbridled, and quite rightly so.

1 Jain Kim KOR 43+
2 Nonoha Kume JPN 38+
3 Hélène Janicot FRA 38+
4 Jessica Pilz AUT 37+
5 Miho Nonaka JPN 37+
6 Mia Krampl SLO 33
7 Vita Lukan SLO 29+
8 Chaehyun Seo KOR 22
9 Natsuki Tanii JPN
10 Manon Hily FRA
11 Ryu Nakagawa JPN
12 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
13 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
14 Lynn Van Der Meer NED
15 Camille Pouget FRA
16 Futaba Ito JPN
17 Lana Skusek SLO
18 Eliska Adamovska CZE
19 Sara Copar SLO
20 Laura Rogora ITA
21 Salomé Romain FRA
22 Yuetong Zhang CHN
23 Oceania Mackenzie AUS
24 Lucija Tarkus SLO
25 Nika Potapova UKR
26 Anastasia Sanders USA
27 Mattea Pötzi AUT
27 Giorgia Tesio ITA
29 Rebecca Frangos CAN
30 Nolwenn Arc FRA
30 Martina Demmel GER
32 Hana Koike JPN
33 Julia Chanourdie FRA
34 Noa Shiran ISR
35 Eva Maria Hammelmüller AUT
35 Ignacia Mellado Quinteros CHI
37 Stasa Gejo SRB
38 Aleksandra Totkova BUL
39 Michaela Smetanova CZE
40 Miu Kakizaki JPN
41 Käthe Atkins GER
42 Zhilu Luo CHN
43 Hannah Meul GER
44 Alannah Yip CAN
45 Ilaria Scolaris ITA
46 Ayala Kerem ISR
47 Sol Sa KOR
48 Valeri Kremer ISR
49 Erin Mcneice GBR
50 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
51 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
52 Liv Egli SUI
53 Chloe Caulier BEL
54 Valentina Aguado ARG
55 Zoe Peetermans GBR
56 Meije Lerondel FRA
57 Roxana Wienand GER
58 Lucie Watillon BEL
59 Adriene Akiko Clark USA
60 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
61 Tereza Siruckova CZE
62 Franziska Sterrer AUT
63 Anja Köhler BRA
64 Zoe Garcia Molina ARG
65 Zoé Egli SUI
65 Ina Plassoux Djiga FRA
67 Viola Battistella ITA
68 Léa Marigo FRA
69 Quinn Mason USA
70 Valentina Arnoldi ITA
71 Chloe Earle CAN
72 Mira Capicchioni USA
73 Lianet Castillo VEN
74 Svana Bjarnason ISL
75 Muykuay Silva CHI
76 Bianca De Magalhaes De Castro BRA
77 Elizabeth Sepulveda PUR
78 Prateeksha Arun IND
79 Emily Scott AUS
80 María Fernanda González Rámirez MEX
81 Tegwen Oates RSA
82 María Fernanda Hidalgo Amezquita MEX
83 Alyssa Meyer RSA

1 Toby Roberts GBR top
2 Sam Avezou FRA 50
3 Sorato Anraku JPN 48
4 Alexander Megos GER 46+
5 Stefan Scherz AUT 41
6 Colin Duffy USA 39+
7 Luka Potocar SLO 39+
8 Dohyun Lee KOR 39
9 Shion Omata JPN
10 Sebastian Halenke GER
11 Satone Yoshida JPN
12 Taisei Homma JPN
13 Ao Yurikusa JPN
14 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN
15 Mejdi Schalck FRA
16 Yunchan Song KOR
17 Paul Jenft FRA
18 Jesse Grupper USA
19 Sean Bailey USA
20 Marcello Bombardi ITA
21 Jonas Utelli SUI
22 Filip Schenk ITA
23 Neo Suzuki JPN
24 Arsène Duval FRA
24 Philipp Martin GER
26 Masahiro Higuchi JPN
27 Nao Monchois FRA
28 Nino Grünenfelder SUI
29 Simon Lorenzi BEL
30 Raviandi Ramadhan INA
31 Jules Marchaland FRA
32 Hamish Mcarthur GBR
33 Yuval Shemla ISR
34 James Pope GBR
35 Dillon Countryman USA
36 Ravianto Ramadhan INA
37 Jeremy Bonder FRA
38 Sean Mccoll CAN
39 Cheung-Chi Shoji Chan HKG
40 Hannes Van Duysen BEL
41 Campbell Harrison AUS
42 Nicolas Collin BEL
42 Nimrod Marcus ISR
44 Haruki Uemura JPN
45 Hannes Puman SWE
46 Mathias Posch AUT
47 Jordi Poles FRA
48 Christoph Hanke GER
49 Louis Gundolf AUT
49 Martin Stranik CZE
51 Nikolay Rusev BUL
52 Giorgio Tomatis ITA
53 Mickael Mawem FRA
54 Oscar Baudrand CAN
55 Hugo Hoyer USA
56 Victor Baudrand CAN
57 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
58 Slav Kirov BUL
59 Reza Kolasangian IRI
60 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
61 Simon Potucek CZE
62 Zan Lovenjak Sudar SLO
63 Auswin Aueareechit THA
64 Joseph Xiberras GBR
65 Fredrik Serlachius SWE
66 Johannes Hofherr AUT
67 Milan Preskar SLO
68 Minsung Han KOR
69 Darius Rapa ROU
70 Chi-Fung Au HKG
71 Rodrigo Iasi Hanada BRA
72 Bautista Gregorini ARG
73 Dylan Soin AUS
74 Luca Malosti ITA
75 Anze Peharc SLO
76 Mel Janse Van Rensburg RSA
77 Santiago De Alba Flores MEX
78 Gianstefano Di Nino VEN
79 Stepan Potucek CZE
80 André Neres POR
80 Yufei Pan CHN
82 Jair Octavio Moreno Montoya MEX
83 Benjamin Ayala CHI
84 Mateus Rodrigues Bellotto BRA
85 Jinbin Huang CHN
86 Nathan Martin LUX
87 Chingkheinganba Maibam IND
88 Benjamin Vargas CHI
89 Luis Castellanos VEN
90 Lautaro Nicolás Soria Sanchez ARG
91 Gustavo Cunha POR
91 Hritik Marne IND
DNS Alireza Pilehforoushan IRI