Lead World Cup: Kim and Min win in South Korea

The seventh stage of the Lead World Cup 2012 which took place in Korea last weekend was won by two home-athletes: Jain Kim and Hyunbin Min. While Kim's victory comes as no surprise (in 2010 she won the World Cup and this season she's already won two stages), Min surpassed himself, beating everyone and stepping onto the World Cup podium for the first time ever in his competition career. In truth his victory doesn't come from nowhere and is nothing more than great confirmation of his incredible talent which has often qualified him for the final, but never brought him among the best of the best. Until last weekend, when he beat Japan's Sachi Amma by just one hold and Canada's Sean McColl by three holds to clinch his first gold medal. In front of the home crowd... is there a better way to see a dream come true?

These three athletes were followed by a truly international list of top climbers: france's Manuel Romain (4th), Spain's Ramón Julian Puigblanque (5th), Austria's Jakob Schubert (6th), Norway's Magnus Midtboe, Italy's Stefano Ghisolfi (8th) and Germany's Thomas Tauporn 9th. Amma's silver has enabled him to limit damages after his preceding stage "absence" and he is now back in the lead with 455 points, while Puigblanque trails with 439 points, 35 points ahead of McColl.

In the women's final the two currently battling for overall victory - Jain Kim and Slovenia's Mina Markovic - both reached the same hold and were split therefore, according to the rules, on the basis of the Semi-final result. Which means that after performing fantastically in both China and Korea, Markovic missed out on that little bit of luck which at times makes all the difference. Having said that, she still maintains the lead with 530 points while Jain Kim trails with 517 points. Young Russian Dinara Fakhritdinova placed third in Korea, followed by Japane’s Momoka Oda and Akiyo Noguchi (4th and 5th), Belgium's Mathilde Brumagne (6th) and Austria’s Magdalena Röck and Johanna Ernst (7th and 8th). It is Ernst who is currently provisional third in the 2012 ranking but her 455 points highlight a gap which will be almost impossible to fill in the last two stages at Inzai in Japan and Kranj in Slovenia.

Mokpo also held a stage of the Speed World Cup and this was won by Danylo Boldyrev and Yuliya Levochkina, while Italy’s Leonardo Gontero placed seventh. The penultimate stage of the Lead World Cyup 2012 will take place at Inzai in Japan on 27 – 28 October.

Lead Men
1 Hyunbin Min 1989 KOR 33
2 Sachi Amma 1989 JPN 32+
3 Sean McColl 1987 CAN 29+
4 Manuel Romain 1988 FRA 26+
5 Ramón Julian Puigblanque 1981 ESP 25+
6 Jakob Schubert 1990 AUT 23+
7 Magnus Midtboe 1988 NOR 23+
8 Stefano Ghisolfi 1993 ITA 20+

Lead Women
1 Jain Kim 1988 KOR 36+
2 Mina Markovic 1987 SLO 36+
3 Dinara Fakhritdinova 1992 RUS 35+
4 Momoka ODA 1994 JPN 33+
5 Akiyo Noguchi 1989 JPN 31+
6 Mathilde Brumagne 1989 BEL 21
7 Magdalena Röck 1994 AUT 19+
8 Johanna Ernst 1992 AUT 19