Janja Garnbret, Stefano Ghisolfi at Kranj win the Lead World Cup 2021!

For decades Kranj has served as the last competition of the Lead Climbing World Cup and, as per tradition, the Slovenian stage proved decisive in awarding the season title. After Innsbruck, Villars, Chamonix and Briançon, Stefano Ghisolfi, Sean Bailey and Sascha Lehmann were all in the running for their first overall title while Laura Rogora, after her disappointing performance in Tokyo, was hoping to make amends against the almost unbeatable Janja Garnbret. The action in Kranj, once again, went down to the wire.

Despite its compact size the historic indoor wall at Kranj managed to deliver, providing perfectly set routes and a competition full of twists and turns. Starting with the men's semifinal, where Stefano Ghisolfi was unable to to climb any higher than hold 29, therefore settling for an unusual and potentially devastating 12th place. Lehmann fared even worse, as the Swiss saw his title hopes slip from his grasp after his slip from hold 11 jettisoned him to 26th. Which meant that Ghisolfi, despite not qualifying for the final, had mathematically secured the season title. So after having failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020, in the space of just a few days Ghisolfi managed to make get his own back by repeating Bibliographie at Ceuse and then crown this dream he had been chasing for a number of years. This is a historic result for the 28-year-old who twice previously, in 2017 and 2018, had finished second, and Ghisolfi is now only the second Italian to win the Cup after Flavio Crespi in 2005. In the semifinal there was another huge upset, with Sean Bailey failing to qualify for the final, too: his 16th place nevertheless provided him with enough points to come second at the end of the season, ahead of Masahiro Higuchi who won convincingly in Kranj. This is the first win for the 28-year-old Japanese, whose only other podium happens to be Kranj 2018 when he won bronze. Much to the crowd's delight 19-year-old local climber Luka Potocar claimed his first podium in Kranj by coming in second, while 31-year-old German Sebastian Halenke fell off the same hold #31+ and finished third on countback.

Unlike the men's competition, the women's final went down to wire with last-out Rogora and Garnbret giving it all they had on the unrelenting power piece. The tension was palpable and the first to really make a breakthrough was Chaehyun Seo from South Korea who fell after the intense roof and just below the top. The two Slovenians Lucka Rakovec and Vita Lukan climbed with grace and power respectively but failed to surpass Seo, and their highpoints were comfortably beaten by Natalia Grossman who, ever smiling, capped her breakout year in style. With Seo firmly in the lead, only Rogora and Garnbret could now do damage. The Italian knew what was at stake yet started badly, fumbling inexplicably at the start before recovering and racing upwards in an attempt to make up for lost time. Too fast perhaps, because after the traverse at the top her foot slipped when she evidently still had a lot more in the tank. Her frustration and bitter disappointment were evident, but her season ended nevertheless with historic bronze medal. But there was no time to think as crowd-favourite Janja Garnbret immediately took to the stage. At a mere 22 years of age she is already a legend, after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics and, just like Jain Kim, with a staggering 30 World Cup victories to her name. In order to claim a record-breaking 3 victories, to win the Kranj comp and to take home the 2021 title, she had to beat Seo and she promptly climbed higher than all, displaying her hallmark confidence coupled with a willingness to take big risks. Misreading the beta proved unproblematic and after falling one hold shy of there top, her tears of joy clearly underlined the importance of this victory. In front of the home crowd, capping a season that has no equals.

KRANJ 2021
1 Janja Garnbret SLO 49+
2 Chaehyun Seo KOR 46
3 Natalia Grossman USA 41+
4 Laura Rogora ITA 39
5 Vita Lukan SLO 39
6 Lucka Rakovec SLO 34+
7 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS 31+
8 Natsuki Tanii JPN 26
9 Mia Krampl SLO
10 Lana Skusek SLO
11 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
12 Momoko Abe JPN
13 Hannah Meul GER
14 Jessica Pilz AUT
15 Ryu Nakagawa JPN
16 Nolwenn Arc FRA
17 Tomona Takao JPN
18 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
19 Michelle Hulliger SUI
20 Roxana Wienand GER
21 Mei Kotake JPN
22 Salomé Romain FRA
23 Sara Copar SLO
24 Julia Fiser AUT
25 Lucija Tarkus SLO
26 Camille Pouget FRA
27 Tjasa Slemensek SLO
28 Manon Hily FRA
29 Valeri Kremer ISR
30 Liza Novak SLO
31 Katja Debevec SLO
32 Julia Duffy USA
33 Valentina Aguado ARG
34 Martina Demmel GER
35 Celine Cuypers BEL
36 Giorgia Tesio ITA
37 Käthe Atkins GER
38 Eva Maria Hammelmüller AUT
39 Chloe Caulier BEL
40 Kylie Cullen USA
41 Quinn Mason USA
42 Luisa Flohé GER
43 Noa Shiran ISR
44 Ashley Fisher USA
45 Athanasia Liouni GRE

1 Masahiro Higuchi JPN 37
2 Luka Potocar SLO 31+
3 Sebastian Halenke GER 31+
4 Domen Skofic SLO 31+
5 Fedir Samoilov UKR 30+
6 Satone Yoshida JPN 16+
7 Milan Preskar SLO 15+
8 Ao Yurikusa JPN 15+
9 Martin Bergant SLO
10 Martin Stranik CZE
11 Sam Avezou FRA
12 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
13 Mathias Posch AUT
14 Yannick Flohé GER
15 Sean Bailey USA
16 Nao Monchois FRA
17 Jorg Verhoeven NED
18 Christoph Hanke GER
19 William Ridal GBR
20 Marcello Bombardi ITA
21 Giovanni Placci ITA
22 James Pope GBR
23 Zento Murashita JPN
24 Taito Nakagami JPN
25 Alberto Gotta ITA
26 Sascha Lehmann SUI
27 Georg Parma AUT
28 Anze Peharc SLO
29 Paul Jenft FRA
30 Leo Avezou FRA
31 Andrej Polak SLO
32 Minyoung Lee KOR
33 Filip Schenk ITA
34 William Bosi GBR
35 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
36 Dylan Chuat SUI
37 Campbell Harrison AUS
38 Max Kleesattel GER
39 Mark Brand NED
40 Isaac Leff USA
41 Stefan Scherz AUT
42 Leto Cavé NED
43 David Barrans GBR
44 Kim Marschner GER
45 Gergő Vályi HUN
46 Timotej Romšak SLO
47 Yuval Shemla ISR
48 Ziga Zajc SLO
49 Charlie Osborne USA
50 Fabian Förander SWE
51 Louis Gundolf AUT
52 Cody Stevenson USA
53 Filip Kurtović CRO
54 Giorgio Tomatis ITA
55 Nimród Sebestyén Tusnády HUN
56 Filippos Lavrentakis-Rigakis GRE
57 Igor Veselic SRB
58 Ben Abel AUS
59 Vaidotas Monstavicius LTU
60 Theofanis-Ermis Theocharopoulos GRE
61 Joshua Bruyns RSA
dns Hritik Marne IND

LEAD WORLD CUP 2021 FINAL RANKING
1 Janja Garnbret SLO 300
2 Natalia Grossman USA 296
3 Laura Rogora ITA 278
4 Vita Lukan SLO 269
5 Lucka Rakovec SLO 185
6 Aleksandra Totkova BUL 168
7 Eliska Adamovska CZE 162
8 Momoko Abe JPN 146
9 Natsuki Tanii JPN 128
9 Lana Skusek SLO 128
11 Julia Chanourdie FRA 115
12 Mia Krampl SLO 108
13 Salomé Romain FRA 106
14 Ashima Shiraishi USA 98
15 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS 90
16 Ryu Nakagawa JPN 87
17 Chaehyun Seo KOR 80
17 Brooke Raboutou USA 80
19 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR 77
20 Eva Maria Hammelmüller AUT 69.6
21 Julia Fiser AUT 66
22 Akiyo Noguchi JPN 65
23 Nolwenn Arc FRA 57.65
24 Camille Pouget FRA 57
25 Viktoriia Meshkova RUS 55
26 Miho Nonaka JPN 51
27 Tjasa Slemensek SLO 49.65
28 Futaba Ito JPN 47
29 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI 46.75
29 Hannah Meul GER 46.75
31 Oriane Bertone FRA 40.95
32 Nina Arthaud FRA 40.9
33 Lucija Tarkus SLO 39
34 Michelle Hulliger SUI 38.65
35 Martina Demmel GER 37.8
36 Camilla Moroni ITA 34.8
37 Giorgia Tesio ITA 32.7
38 Kyra Condie USA 28
38 Fanny Gibert FRA 28
40 Heloïse Doumont BEL 27
41 Jessica Pilz AUT 24
42 Sabina Van Essen NED 23.5
42 Manon Hily FRA 23.5
44 Andrea Kümin SUI 20.9
45 Käthe Atkins GER 19.3
46 Tomona Takao JPN 18.95
47 Roxana Wienand GER 13.55
48 Lynn Van Der Meer NED 12.9
49 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA 12.85
50 Cloe Coscoy USA 12
51 Miu Kakizaki JPN 11
52 Mei Kotake JPN 10
53 Franziska Sterrer AUT 9.5
54 Sara Copar SLO 8
55 Mattea Pötzi AUT 7
56 Julia Duffy USA 5.9
57 Maya Madere USA 5.37
58 Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR 3.95
59 Celine Cuypers BEL 3.75
60 Valeri Kremer ISR 2.7
61 Luisa Flohé GER 1.82
62 Michaela Smetanova CZE 1.62
63 Valentina Aguado ARG 1.37
64 Ignacia Mellado Quinteros CHI 1.3
65 Chloe Caulier BEL 1.15
66 Selma Elhadj Mimoune FRA 1.05
67 Liza Novak SLO 1
67 Ekaterina Kipriianova RUS 1
69 Katja Debevec SLO 0.95
70 Ariane Franken AUT 0.8
70 Lucie Watillon BEL 0.8
70 Anna Zaikina RUS 0.8
73 Lucia Dörffel GER 0.77
74 Ayala Kerem ISR 0.72
75 Sunniva Øvre-Eide NOR 0.65
76 Petra Klingler SUI 0.6
77 Kylie Cullen USA 0.5
77 Maya Dreamer ISR 0.5

1 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 319
2 Sean Bailey USA 277
3 Masahiro Higuchi JPN 263
4 Luka Potocar SLO 212
5 Sascha Lehmann SUI 204
6 Martin Stranik CZE 192.87
7 Alberto Ginés López ESP 169
8 Sebastian Halenke GER 160
9 Domen Skofic SLO 135
10 Alexander Megos GER 127
11 Dmitrii Fakirianov RUS 114
12 Victor Baudrand CAN 107
13 Paul Jenft FRA 103
13 Marcello Bombardi ITA 103
15 Fedir Samoilov UKR 100.82
16 Jakob Schubert AUT 100
17 Satone Yoshida JPN 90
18 Yannick Flohé GER 86
19 Martin Bergant SLO 79.95
20 Hannes Puman SWE 75
20 Colin Duffy USA 75
22 Ao Yurikusa JPN 74
23 Mathias Posch AUT 72.8
24 Kokoro Fujii JPN 68
25 Milan Preskar SLO 61
26 Christoph Hanke GER 53.85
27 Sam Avezou FRA 51
28 Sohta Amagasa JPN 50
29 Nicolas Collin BEL 48.82
30 Zento Murashita JPN 48
31 Adam Ondra CZE 40
32 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 37
33 Nao Monchois FRA 34
34 Peter Kuric SVK 32
35 Mejdi Schalck FRA 27.44
36 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP 26.4
37 Shuta Tanaka JPN 24
38 Anthony Gullsten FIN 20
39 Nino Grünenfelder SUI 19
40 Jorg Verhoeven NED 18
41 Ross Fulkerson USA 17
42 Hamish Mcarthur GBR 16
43 Stefan Scherz AUT 15.22
44 William Ridal GBR 14
45 Ellis Ernsberger USA 11.99
46 Alberto Gotta ITA 11
47 Nimrod Marcus ISR 10.87
48 Dylan Chuat SUI 10.06
49 Giovanni Placci ITA 10
50 Oscar Baudrand CAN 9.75
51 Nathaniel Coleman USA 9
51 James Pope GBR 9
53 Joshua Fourteau FRA 8
54 Ties Vancraeynest BEL 7.95
55 Diego Fourbet FRA 7.5
56 Campbell Harrison AUS 7.32
57 Taito Nakagami JPN 7
57 Kai Harada JPN 7
59 Mark Brand NED 4.55
60 Leo Avezou FRA 4
60 Georg Parma AUT 4
62 Philipp Martin GER 3.04
63 Anze Peharc SLO 3
64 Alistair Duval FRA 2
65 Rishat Khaibullin KAZ 1.55
66 Martin Tekles GER 1.34
67 Adrien Lemaire FRA 1.24
68 Timothy Kang USA 1.1
69 Nicolai Uznik AUT 1
69 Ziga Zajc SLO 1
71 Andrej Polak SLO 0.95
72 Minyoung Lee KOR 0.9
73 Vladislav Shevchenko RUS 0.87
74 Filip Schenk ITA 0.85
75 Jan Hojer GER 0.82
76 William Bosi GBR 0.8
76 Aleksey Rubtsov RUS 0.8
78 Sean Faulkner CAN 0.72
78 Louis Gundolf AUT 0.72
80 Gergő Vályi HUN 0.7
80 Michael Piccolruaz ITA 0.7
82 Giorgio Tomatis ITA 0.67
83 Max Kleesattel GER 0.6
84 Arsène Duval FRA 0.54
84 Hugo Parmentier FRA 0.54
86 Isaac Leff USA 0.5