Lead World Cup 2016: Janja Garnbret and Domen Škofic win in Chamonix

Chamonix, France, hosted the first stage of the Lead World Cup and the third stage of the Speed World Cup on Monday and Tuesday, the latter of which had to be postponed due to bad weather from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately the show was disrupted by rain showers, but this didn’t prove too much of a problem as the wall overhangs steeply and even the crowds gathered in force in the town square despite the storm.

It isn’t easy to start the season off on the right foot, but Domen Škofić and Janja Garnbret excelled to pull off a historic double for Slovenia. This is Škofić second victory and Garnbret’s first in a senior stage of the Lead World Cup, after having won two silvers and one bronze in the only three competitions she competed in last season. Silver went to the outstanding Stefano Ghisolfi from Italy and Belgium’s Anak Verhoeven (she topped out in the final like Garnbret, and slipped to second place on countback), while Austria’s Jakob Schubert and South Korea’s Jain Kim won bronze.

In the men’s event, all athletes climbed towards the end of the route, and were then separated by the last 10 holds where the angle changed after the long, 45° overhang. Škofić failed to reach the top but nevertheless climbed a couple of holds higher than Ghisolfi, who after having led the provisional ranking after the Semis failed to make the long reach to a volume. Schubert and France’s Gautier Supper both fell off the same hold and were split on the basis of their previous results. Italy’s Francesco Vettorata qualified for the final and finished 8th, confirming he’s one of the best in the world and ready for a great season.

in the women’s finals two athletes topped out: Garnbret, on enviable form, and Anak Verhoeven whose top confirmed last year’s excellent result. The podium was completed by Jain Kim who was stopped a few meters lower down. Mina Markovic, winner of the Lead World Cup 2015, almost provided a real upset when she failed to find the right rhythm in the qualifying rounds. but after battling hard she finished 6th overall, behind Magdalena Röck and Yuka Kobayashi and ahead of Anne-Sophie Koller and Charlotte Durif.

In the Speed competition Poland’s Marcin Dzienski beats the Libor Hroza from the Czech Republic, while Reza Alipourshenazandifar won a historic medal for Iran by beating Russia’s Stanislav Kokorin. In the women's comp Anouk Jaubert capitalized on Aleksandra Rudzinska’s fall to win the fourth gold medal of her career in front of the home crowd, while Anna Tsyganova took bronze by beating Poland's Klaudia Buczek.

After just two days of rest the World Cup circuit moves to Villars in Switzerland where the second stage of the Lead World Cup will take place on Friday 15 July and Saturday 16 July.

MEN
1 Domen Skofic SLO 51
2 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 48+
3 Jakob Schubert AUT 48
4 Gautier Supper FRA 48
5 Romain Desgranges FRA 47
6 Sebastian Halenke GER 46+
7 Sean Mccoll CAN 46+
8 Francesco Vettorata ITA 43+
9 Keiichiro Korenaga JPN
10 Naoki Shimatani JPN
11 Hanwool Kim KOR
12 Sean Bailey USA
13 Masahiro Higuchi JPN
14 Thomas Joannes FRA
15 Jihwan Park KOR
16 Sascha Lehmann SUI
17 Yuki Hada JPN
18 Kokoro Fujii JPN
19 Loïc Timmermans BEL
20 Urban Primozic SLO
21 Kai Harada JPN
22 Martin Bergant SLO
23 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP
24 Tomas Ravanal CHI
25 Bernhard Röck AUT
26 Meichi Narasaki JPN
27 Marcello Bombardi ITA
28 Mario Lechner AUT
29 David Firnenburg GER
30 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
31 Minoru Nakano JPN
31 Max Rudigier AUT
33 Charli Blein FRA
33 Simon Lorenzi BEL
35 Mikhail Chernikov RUS
36 Piotr Schab POL
37 Maël Bonzom FRA
37 Arsène Duval FRA
39 Christoph Hanke GER
40 Nao Monchois FRA
41 Elan Jonasmcrae CAN
41 Matthias Schiestl AUT
43 Stefano Carnati ITA
44 Stephane Hanssens BEL
45 Adrien Tribout FRA
46 Francesco Bosco ITA
47 Nathan Michel FRA
48 Benisaac Tresco USA
49 Martin Tekles GER
50 Ruben Firnenburg GER
51 Anatole Bosio FRA
52 Tanguy Topin FRA
53 Obed Hardmeier SUI
53 Campbell Harrison AUS
55 Nicolas Collin BEL
56 André Neres POR
57 Dimitri Vogt SUI
58 Thomas Ballet FRA
59 Alberto Gotta ITA
60 Manuel Cornu FRA
61 Nathan Clair FRA
62 Yannick Flohé GER
63 Kevin Huser SUI
64 Rolf Fredrik Serlachius SWE
65 Sébastien Berthe BEL
66 Seungwoon Cho KOR
67 Martin Jech CZE
68 Johannes Held AUT
69 Leo Avezou FRA
70 Leo Ketil Bøe NOR
71 Iñaki Arantzamendi Irueta ESP
72 Rolf -Martin Bjørngaard NOR
73 Àlex Hernández Castilla ESP
74 Nathan Smith CAN
75 Tomas Binter CZE
76 Matthew Wellington CAN
77 Martin Kuhnel USA
78 Jakub Dvorak CZE
79 Rahul Sapra CAN
80 Oliver Marx RSA

WOMEN
1 Janja Garnbret SLO Top
2 Anak Verhoeven BEL Top
3 Jain Kim KOR 48+
4 Magdalena Röck AUT 43+
5 Yuka Kobayashi JPN 33+
6 Mina Markovic SLO 33+
7 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI 27+
8 Charlotte Durif FRA 21+
9 Hannah Schubert AUT
10 Mathilde Becerra FRA
11 Julia Chanourdie FRA
12 Christine Schranz AUT
13 Solène Amoros FRA
14 Hélène Janicot FRA
15 Jessica Pilz AUT
16 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS
17 Katharina Posch AUT
18 Asja Gollo ITA
19 Delaney Miller USA
20 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
21 Barbara Bacher AUT
22 Rebeka Kamin SLO
23 Julia Fiser AUT
24 Salomé Romain FRA
25 Risa Ota JPN
26 Mei Kotake JPN
27 Gabriela Vrablikova CZE
28 Elena Krasovskaia RUS
29 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
30 Lenka Slezakova CZE
31 Silvia Cassol ITA
32 Nolwenn Arc FRA
33 Rebecca Frangos CAN
34 Nolwen Berthier FRA
35 Minseon Kim KOR
36 Karina Miroslaw POL
37 Lisa De Martini ITA
38 Jenny Lavarda ITA
38 Ilaria Scolaris ITA
40 Hannarai Song KOR
41 Natalie Berry GBR
42 Seuran Han KOR
43 Celine Cuypers BEL
44 Katherine Choong SUI
45 Annie Chouinard CAN
46 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
47 Muriel Ruíz De Larramendi Arangoa ESP