Jakob Schubert unschlagbar! Boulder & Lead World Champion & qualified for Paris 2024 with Colin Duffy, Tomoa Narasaki

At his first World Cup appearance aged a mere 17 he placed 4th, startling the opposition and stating his intentions in no uncertain terms. An eternity seems to have passed since that competition at Kranj in 2007, but in the ensuing 16 years Jakob Schubert has transformed into a devastating climbing machine like few others, winning the overall Lead World Cup in 2011, 2014 and 2018, and winning the Lead World Championship in 2012, 2018 and 2021. And now from Bern in Switzerland he takes both the Lead World Champion 2023 title and, as of late last night, the Boulder & Lead World Champion title. As such the 32-year-old has qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and he's on course to defend the bronze medal he somewhat miraculously won at Tokyo 2020. He'll be joined by another two Tokyo 2020 veterans, Colin Duffy and Tomoa Narasaki, who placed second and third respectively in yesterday's packed PostFinanace Arena.

Schubert laid the groundwork for his victory in the first round, Boulder, where he earned 99.6 points thanks to phenomenal battle that netted him 4 tops in 8 attempts. Only Naraski managed to do better, sending all 4 problems in 7 attempts to lead the provisional ranking by just 0.1 points. 16-year-old Sorato Anraku failed completely on bloc #1 but then remarkably flashed the remaining 3 problems to place provisional third, while Colin Duffy, Adam Ondra and Toby Roberts sent 3 problems as well and were separated by the number of attempts needed. Dohyun Lee and Paul Jenft sent two problems and knew they were left with an impossible mountain to climb.

The final act of this 12-day tour du force started a few minutes later with the spotlight shining on the immense Lead route. All or nothing. The athletes knew it, the spectators knew it, and everyone, put simply, let loose. During the next hour the excitement was overwhelming, so much so that it was all over in a blink of an eye. Schubert climbed highest to earn 86 points and claim gold, Colin Duffy put in a convincing performance to earn 76 points that bumped him up to silver, while bronze went to Narasaki who, despite falling low down, evidently had done enough in Boulder to secure his Olympic pass. But it was a close call: Anraku and Roberts fell off the same hold a few moves below Duffy, just above Ondra and Lee. This all meant that Narasaki had to wait until the final climber had fallen before his Paris 2024 ticket was confirmed... who happened to be his teammate, the 16-year-old rising star Sorato.

In short: last night the stars aligned for Tomoa Narasaki and Colin Duffy. And, once again, for Jakob Schubert whose predomint trait - physical form aside - is that he makes no mistakes. In Bern he was unschlagbar. Unbeatable.