Janja Garnbret and Alexander Megos big in Briançon

The 2018 Lead World Cup continues at a relentless pace and after the opening two stages in Villars and Chamonix in mid-July, the third stage unfolded at Briançon in France last Friday and Saturday.

The women's competition was dominated, once again, by Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret who after having clinched the only top on the semis beneath a threatening downpour also managed to top out in the finals and claim her 12th Lead World Cup victory (not to mention her World Championship title garnered in Paris and her bouldering wins). Even with these results victory in Briançon couldn’t be taken for granted: a few seconds earlier Jessica Pilz, winner in Chamonix the previous week, had managed to clip the chain and Garnbret, hearing the crowd roar and evidently under pressure, knew that the only hold that counted was the last. She lived up to expectations however and, failing to see the final foothold, made a huge dyno for the top hold. Pilz finished second after having struck the top hold so incredulously that she almost forgot to clip the anchor. Anak Verhoeven settled for third after having been stopped by the judges in the semis for the second time this season for exceeding the maximum time limit of 6 minutes. America’s Ashima Shiraishi placed fourth, followed by the other three super Slovenes who had qualified for the final: Mina Markovic, Vita Lukan and Mia Krampl.

In the men's competition Alexander Megos celebrated his first-ever Lead World Cup stage victory. The German had found his way back to competitions last season and after placing second in Kranj in 2017 and third in Chamonix last week, with a bit more luck a win was just a matter of time. Second after the semis behind Skofic, Megos won convincingly, climbing to within grasping distance of the top and, importantly, two holds higher than local favourite Romain Desgranges who placed second. Skofic, the last out, fell off the same hold as Jakob Schubert and due to countback the Austrian missed out on the podium for… the first time since July 2016. Stefano Ghisolfi stopped one hold lower to finish fifth, ahead of Thomas Joannes, Sascha Lehmann and Hiroto Shimizu.

Attention now shifts to Arco, Italy, where the fourth stage of the Lead World Cup and the traditional Rock Master will take place this Friday and Saturday. Things will be even tougher than usual in the men’s competition as Adam Ondra is flying directly from his 9b in Canada to take part in this historic competition, and also for the coveted Arco Rock Legends award. He’ll be joined on stage by Angela Eiter, Alexander Megos, Janja Garnbret, Romain Desgranges and Reza Alipour Shenazandifard, as well as star guest Reinhold Messner. It promises to be an evening, and a weekend, that shouldn’t be missed!

Results women
1 Janja Garnbret SLO Top
2 Jessica Pilz AUT Top
3 Anak Verhoeven BEL 46+
4 Ashima Shiraishi USA 39+
5 Mina Markovic SLO 39+
6 Vita Lukan SLO 33+
7 Mia Krampl SLO 33+
8 Nolwenn Arc FRA 33+
9 Hélène Janicot FRA
10 Katharina Posch AUT
11 Manon Hily FRA
12 Laura Rogora ITA
13 Hannah Schubert AUT
14 Nolwen Berthier FRA
15 Salomé Romain FRA
16 Mathilde Becerra FRA
17 Aya Onoe JPN
18 Christine Schranz AUT
19 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
20 Lucka Rakovec SLO
21 Julia Fiser AUT
22 Seuran Han KOR
23 Camille Pouget FRA
24 Natsumi Hirano JPN
25 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
26 Moe Yoshimura JPN
27 Yuki Hiroshige JPN
28 Tjasa Kalan SLO
29 Nina Arthaud FRA
29 Tjasa Slemensek SLO
31 Nikki Van Bergen NED
32 Claire Buhrfeind USA
33 Vanda Michalkova SVK
34 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
35 Katherine Choong SUI
36 Minseon Kim KOR
37 Stasa Gejo SRB
38 Sandra Lettner AUT
39 Asja Gollo ITA
40 Valentina Aguado ARG
41 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
42 Emily Phillips GBR
43 Kenza Slamti FRA
44 Andrea Ebner ITA
45 Chloe Caulier BEL
46 Rebecca Frangos CAN
47 Alannah Yip CAN
48 Heloïse Doumont BEL
49 Sara Caramella ITA
50 Sophia Kwon USA
51 Maya Madere USA
52 Alejandra Contreras CHI
53 Lilli Kiesgen GER
53 Lynn Van Der Meer NED
55 Silvia Cassol ITA
56 Jennifer Wood GBR
57 Celine Cuypers BEL
58 Joanna Neame GBR
59 Rhoslyn Frugtniet GBR
60 Lia Wieckowski CAN
61 Léna Grospiron FRA
62 Maggie Hammer USA
63 Thais Makino Shiraiwa BRA
64 Patrícia Antunes BRA
65 Luana Riscado BRA
66 Patrycja Chudziak POL

Results men
1 Alexander Megos GER 45+
2 Romain Desgranges FRA 43
3 Domen Skofic SLO 42+
4 Jakob Schubert AUT 42+
5 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 41+
6 Thomas Joannes FRA 34+
7 Sascha Lehmann SUI 32
8 Hiroto Shimizu JPN 28+
9 Taisei Homma JPN
10 Sean Bailey USA
11 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP
12 Yuki Hada JPN
13 Sean Mccoll CAN
14 Hannes Puman SWE
15 Max Rudigier AUT
16 Minoru Nakano JPN
17 Hyunbin Min KOR
18 Nao Monchois FRA
19 Taito Nakagami JPN
20 Francesco Vettorata ITA
21 Masahiro Higuchi JPN
22 Jakub Konecny CZE
23 Marcello Bombardi ITA
24 Sam Avezou FRA
25 James Pope GBR
26 Romaric Geffroy FRA
27 William Bosi GBR
28 Luka Potocar SLO
29 Georg Parma AUT
29 Shuta Tanaka JPN
31 Filip Schenk ITA
32 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
33 Simon Lorenzi BEL
33 Vladislav Shevchenko RUS
35 Christoph Hanke GER
36 Martin Tekles GER
37 Arsène Duval FRA
37 Fedir Samoilov UKR
37 Dimitri Vogt SUI
40 Loïc Timmermans BEL
41 Kai Lightner USA
42 Nicolas Collin BEL
43 Yuval Shemla ISR
44 Philipp Martin GER
45 Hidemasa Nishida JPN
46 Sebastian Halenke GER
47 Rustam Gelmanov RUS
48 Eric Lopez Mateos ESP
49 Matthias Schiestl AUT
50 Rudolph Ruana USA
51 Elan Jonasmcrae CAN
52 Martin Bergant SLO
53 Timothy Kang USA
54 Stephane Hanssens BEL
55 Jonatan Flor Vazquez ESP
55 Arthur Guinet FRA
57 Tomas Binter CZE
58 Jeremy Bonder FRA
58 Evgenii Zazulin RUS
60 Mathias Posch AUT
61 David Barrans GBR
62 Bittor Esparta Frade ESP
63 Josh Levin USA
63 Aleksei Shchervianin RUS
65 Cesar Grosso BRA
66 Stefano Carnati ITA
67 Vojtech Trojan CZE
68 Jason Holowach CAN
69 Obed Hardmeier SUI
70 David Firnenburg GER
71 John Brosler USA
72 Alistair Duval FRA
73 Jean Ouriques BRA
74 Adrien Lemaire FRA
75 Sébastien Berthe BEL
76 Sergio Verdasco Urizal ESP
77 Felipe Ho Foganholo BRA
78 Evgenii Kalashnikov RUS
79 Pedro Ferreira Nicoloso BRA
80 Mykhayil Tkachuk UKR
81 Kristoffer Lindbäck SWE
82 Mel Janse Van Rensburg RSA
83 Leonardo Gontero ITA
84 Emilio Rios CHI