Seo Chaehyun and Jakob Schubert crowned Lead World Champions 2021

Paris 2012. Innsbruck 2018. And now Moscow 2021. Yesterday in Russia's capital Jakob Schubert forever etched his name among the greatest of this sport by winning the Lead World Champion title for the third time in his illustrious career - on a par with legends François Legrand and Adam Ondra. In the past, only Angela Eiter has managed to do one better, winning a record-breaking four Lead World Championships.

In a competition full of twists and turns, Yoshiyuki Ogata immediately set the bar high, and was followed a few moments later by Tomoa Narasaki who easily dispatched with the dyno at the start before launching upwards with immense power and precision only to fall two holds higher than his teammate, just one move short of the top. Unfortunately Italy's Stefano Ghisolfi never really got in sync with the route and fell 10 holds lower, while Germany's Sebastian Halenke, flamboyant as ever, delighted the spectators by finding a no-hands rest before traversing across the final micro crimps. With time running out he fell just like Ogata, while Martin Stranik from the Czech Republic drew on all his inordinate power and experience to reach the same hold as Narasaki. At this point the top seemed elusive but Slovenia pulled the ace out of its sleeve in the form of Luka Potocar who, climbing with a level of confidence unheard of for someone just 19 years old, powered to the top, placing his foot high to ensure the dyno to the last hold was successful. Back in isolation Jakob Schubert surely heard the crowed erupt with joy and the Austrian knew he couldn't afford the slightest mistake. A few hours earlier, in the semifinals, he had fallen and had furiously reprimanded himself that he'd forgotten how to fight, but in the final he once again transformed into the devastating climbing machine he's famous for, climbing to the top with the very same determination that had earned him the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Only this comps revelation was now left, Britain's Hamish McArthur and the only athlete to have reached the top in the semifinal. The 19-year-old powered upwards without any hesitation whatsoever, just before the final crimpy traverse he even managed to rest and recuperate, but all of sudden that last move to the top proved fatal. Bronze for him and a result, despite his disappointment, that he can be extremely proud of. Doubly so as this was his first senior final!

The women's comp proved equally exciting. Dinara Fakhritdinova delighted the home crowd with a strong performance, but this was easily beaten by American prodigy Brooke Raboutou, while France's Salomé Romain was unable to reproduce her astounding semifinal form and fell much lower than all the rest. Japan's Natsuki Tanii also found herself struggling against this ruthless mix of small crimps and burley moves, and the first to indicate that the route was feasible was Jessica Pilz, 2018 World Champion and capable of climbing one hold higher than Raboutou. The next athlete out, recently crowned Boulder World Champion Natalia Grossman, once again demonstrated her innate class by powering gracefully up to hold #37. Just to give an idea of how good she really is: word has it that on a simulation route in Innsbruck a few weeks back she fell off the same hold as Schubert... How about that for food for thought! Here in Moscow though the athlete who fell off the very same hold as Grossman was Italy's Laura Rogora, after a battle that can only be described as absoutely epic. The two were perfectly equal even on countback to the semifinal, and were therefore split on time: with 4:22 Grossman won silver , while Rogora's 5:01 earned her bronze. And what about gold? This went to an immense Chaehyun Seo, winner of the Lead World Cup 2019 and now Lead World Champion with an utterly convincing top. The only top in the women's comp that gifted the excellent Russian games with a fairy-tale finish. Maybe it's true that the 17-year-old had to battle through the physical lower section, but as she herself admitted, the top slab was a piece of cake. Impressive stuff.

1 Chaehyun Seo KOR top
2 Natalia Grossman USA 37 (4:22)
3 Laura Rogora ITA 37 (5:01)
4 Jessica Pilz AUT 36+
5 Brooke Raboutou USA 35+
6 Natsuki Tanii JPN 32+
7 Dinara Fakhritdinova CFR 32+ 
8 Salomé Romain FRA 25+
9 Eliska Adamovska CZE
10 Momoko Abe JPN
11 Molly Thompson-Smith GBR
12 Aleksandra Totkova BUL
13 Ryu Nakagawa JPN
14 Lucka Rakovec SLO
15 Viktoriia Meshkova CFR
16 Vita Lukan SLO
17 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
18 Elena Krasovskaia CFR
19 Mia Krampl SLO
20 Ignacia Mellado Quinteros CHI
21 Tjasa Slemensek SLO
22 Hannah Meul GER
23 Andrea Kümin SUI
24 Lana Skusek SLO
25 Julia Fiser AUT
26 Camilla Moroni ITA
27 Michelle Hulliger SUI
28 Kylie Cullen USA
29 Michaela Smetanova CZE
30 Chloe Caulier BEL
31 Roxana Wienand GER
32 Nolwenn Arc FRA
33 Nika Potapova UKR
34 Olesya Prosekova CFR
35 Elnaz Rekabi IRI
36 Lynn Van Der Meer NED
37 Cloe Coscoy USA
38 Hsiu-Ju Lin TPE
39 Eva Maria Hammelmüller AUT
39 Martina Demmel GER
41 Käthe Atkins GER
42 Ayala Kerem ISR
43 Yael Taub ISR
44 Hana Koike JPN
44 Marketa Janosova CZE
46 Valeri Kremer ISR
47 Noa Shiran ISR
48 Valentina Aguado ARG
49 Quinn Mason USA
50 Bianca Magalhaes De Castro BRA
50 Mahya Darabian IRI
52 Ingrid Kindlihagen NOR
53 Maya Dreamer ISR
54 Daria Mezentseva CFR
55 Alejandra Contreras CHI
56 Puntarika Tunyavanich THA
57 Margaryta Zakharova UKR
58 Margarita Agambayeva KAZ
59 Hung Ying Lee TPE
60 Andrea Rojas ECU
61 Tamara Ulzhabayeva KAZ
62 Rahil Ramezani IRI
63 Patrícia Antunes BRA
64 Yevheniia Cherniavska UKR
65 Gülay Balik TUR
66 Duru Güneş Yalcin TUR
67 Carmen Contreras CHI
68 Maryia Vernikouskaya BLR
69 Tetiana Kolkotina UKR
70 Camila Flores BRA
dns Tina Johnsen Hafsaas NOR
dns Thais Makino Shiraiwa BRA
dns Futaba Ito JPN
dns Sunniva Øvre-Eide NOR

1 Jakob Schubert AUT top
2 Luka Potocar SLO top
3 Hamish McArthur GBR 46+
4 Martin Stranik CZE 46
5 Tomoa Narasaki JPN 46
6 Sebastian Halenke GER 44+
7 Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 44+
8 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 34+
9 Yannick Flohé GER
10 Sascha Lehmann SUI
11 William Bosi GBR
12 Satone Yoshida JPN
13 Kokoro Fujii JPN
14 Nicolas Collin BEL
15 Jorg Verhoeven NED
16 Mathias Posch AUT
17 Hyunbin Min KOR
18 Vladislav Shevchenko CFR
19 Fedir Samoilov UKR
20 Marcello Bombardi ITA
21 Tomoaki Takata JPN
22 Philipp Martin GER
23 Filip Schenk ITA
24 Martin Bergant SLO
25 Domen Skofic SLO
26 William Ridal GBR
27 Milan Preskar SLO
28 Paul Jenft FRA
29 Ties Vancraeynest BEL
30 Yuval Shemla ISR
31 Evgenii Zazulin CFR
32 Jongwon Chon KOR
32 Jan Hojer GER
34 Nino Grünenfelder SUI
35 James Pope GBR
36 Ross Fulkerson USA
37 Minyoung Lee KOR
38 Maximillian Milne GBR
38 Mickael Mawem FRA
40 Christoph Hanke GER
41 Simon Potucek CZE
42 Ellis Ernsberger USA
42 Alex Khazanov ISR
44 Mikel Asier Linacisoro Molina ESP
45 Davide Marco Colombo ITA
45 Reza Kolasangian IRI
47 Ram Levin ISR
47 Michael Piccolruaz ITA
49 Dylan Chuat SUI
50 Julien Clémence SUI
51 Anze Peharc SLO
52 Sergei Tiupyshev CFR
53 Kindar Mcnamee CAN
54 Felipe Ho Foganholo BRA
55 Campbell Harrison AUS
56 Fredrik Serlachius SWE
57 Guy Mcnamee CAN
58 Benjamin Hanna USA
59 Tomas Plevko SVK
60 Carlos Granja ECU
61 Stepan Potucek CZE
62 Galo Hernandez ECU
63 Kipras Baltrunas LTU
64 Isaac Leff USA
65 Sergii Topishko UKR
66 Edvards Gruzitis LAT
67 Mark Brand NED
67 Vadim Malshchukov CFR
69 Dmitrii Popov CFR
70 Samuel Carlos Da Silva BRA
71 Alex Mendes Júnior BRA
72 Chia Hsiang Lin TPE
73 Leonid Osadchyi UKR
74 Radin Foroughian IRI
75 Nichol Tomas THA
76 Geva Levin ISR
77 Vin Sukapanpotharam THA
78 Ben Abel AUS
78 Joaquin Urrutia CHI
80 Wonwoo Han KOR
81 Teeraphon Boondech THA
82 Hritik Marne IND
83 Aaron Peñaranda ECU
84 Alexey Panfilov KAZ
85 Pedro Egg BRA
86 Winai Ruangrit THA
86 Muhammet Ali̇ Keski̇n TUR
88 Jonas Leffeck BRA
89 Kostiantyn Pavlenko UKR
90 Dzmitry Nikanorau BLR
91 Nickolaie Rivadeneira ECU
92 Matin Bayat IRI
93 Gaurav Kumar IND
93 Joshua Bruyns RSA
95 Ti̇mur Taş TUR
96 Yaroslav Tkach UKR
97 Ferhat Bekmez TUR
dns Peter Kuric SVK
dns Nimrod Marcus ISR