Three, yes three, gold medals were won on the final day of the IFSC World Cup Wujiang as Erin McNeice and Seo Chaehyun shared top spot in the women’s Lead and Anraku Sorato once again topped the men’s chart.

Both Great Britain’s McNeice and South Korea’s Seo couldn’t be separated through qualification and semi-finals topping all the routes to the final. No tops in the final for either, but reaching hold 41 was enough for a gold, but who would take it?

In this instance it comes down to climbing time on the final route, but unbelievably they both timed at 4:26 meaning they could not be separated and therefore both took a joint gold medal.

After, Seo said: “It’s my first win in four years and I can’t believe I won with Erin. It’s the first time to win together with someone else on time as well.”

In a joint interview McNeice said: “I purposely tried to climb it quickly, but obviously not quick enough. It was a lot of fun though and I really enjoyed the fight.”

McNeice’s medal was her first in the Lead discipline, her first World Cup gold, the best Lead result by a British woman and made her the first British climber to podium in both Boulder and Lead.

For Seo, it was her fifth World Cup gold with her last coming in 2019, again in China in Xiamen. Her last Lead gold was at the 2021 Lead World Championships.

With two golds, it meant that the podium skipped a silver and moved to bronze, and that was won by USA’s Annie Sanders, who despite also topping every route on her way to the final could only reach hold 39+. It was enough however for yet another World Cup medal after standing on the Boulder podium in Keqiao last week.

Previously there were multiple climbers winning gold in 2011 in Chamonix, France when four climbers shared the top spot. Competing in that event that day was France’s Hélène Janicot, and she was once again in the start list and finished in seventh overall on hold 33+.

On the same score was home favourite Zhang Yuetong who finished in sixth, one place and one hold behind Australia’s Oce Mackenzie who was in her second Lead final.

Fourth place was Italy’s Laura Rogora who once again seemed to hesitate on a jump move low down on the route and finally ended up on the same hold as Mackenzie, 34+.

The eighth and final climber was Germany’s Anna Maria Apel who was competing in her first World Cup final. She made hold 21 but will take a lot of positives from her first appearance in her young career and a personal best result.

Full women’s Lead results can be found here

If you thought there was enough excitement in the women’s final, then the men didn’t get the memo. Although Anraku was once again the standout performer with a top to secure another Lead gold, behind there was a re-climb which effected the medal destinations.

Anraku is no stranger to the World Cup podium ever since his first senior season, one where he won the Lead and the Boulder Series titles. With two golds from two events, one in Boulder last week, and now one in Lead, you wouldn’t bet against him taking both again this year.

Talking about his season ambitions Anraku said: “I went back to Japan after Keqiao and only trained once in Lead, so I wasn’t expecting to win this event. I’m not aiming for the overall World Cup Series, but I’m aiming to win every event. Then I guess the overall will take care of itself. But I go one event at a time.”

Anraku was the last to climb and maybe was a little confused waiting his turn when he would have seen teammate Suzuki Neo coming back into isolation.

An appeal regarding the belaying on Suzuki’s first climb was upheld which meant the Japanese climber had to climb again and try to replicate the score which had initially taken him into a medal winning position.

On his second climb, Suzuki’s high point of 40+ was enough for silver, and was even more impressive considering it was his first ever World Cup final.

Suzuki’s 40+ took him ahead of Spain’s Alberto Ginés López who won bronze with a 39+ climb and return to the World Cup podium that he last visited in 2023.

In fourth spot was another Japanese climber, the third to feature in the final, Yoshida Satone. He climbed to hold 33.

Fifth went to China’s Pan Yufei on hold 32+ just ahead of sixth placed Luka Potocar of Slovenia on hold 32.

Italy’s Filip Schenk finished in seventh on hold 28+ and Germany’s Yannick Flohe was eighth on the same hold.

Full men’s Lead results can be found here

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