The first Lead final of the season will see some new names on the final start lists
The women’s Lead final in Wujiang, China will have a real mix of youth and experience, new and old when the last eight in with a shot of a medal line-up tomorrow.
Going into the final in the top spot is South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun who once again topped a Wujiang Lead route. Seo has made the final 22 times now out of her 24 appearances.
Joining Seo in the final, and the experienced climber bracket, will be Hélène Janicot. The French climber will be participating in her 30th Lead final making it through in the eighth spot with a 41+ climb.
In fact, it was either a top of a score of 41+ that got you into the women’s final. USA’s Annie Sanders and Great Britain’s Erin McNeice are fresh off the World Cup podium in China taking home Boulder medals from Keqiao last week and making the final with a semi-final top. Could both make it a two medal China trip?
The other climber to top was Italy’s Laura Rogora, although she did things a little differently. While the other three made the last move to clip in and secure the top, Rogora used all her experience to reach up and clip without making the final move. Both different approaches, but both valid tops.
The climbers who joined Janicot in the final with a 41+ climb are China’s Zhang Yuetong, Australia’s Oce Mackenzie and Germany’s Anna Maria Apel.
For Apel, she will be making her first Lead final appearance with Mackenzie in her second.
Having to climb earlier and wait for others to take their shot, Apel said: “I was still a bit skeptical when people were telling me it was enough, and I wanted to wait a little and have some more people have their results because it can be that the route is easier for others and there are more tops.”
Thankfully for the young German, she did make it and said: “I’m very happy, I really enjoyed the route and had a lot of fun. I could smile during climbing and it was a completely enjoyable round for me.”
In contrast to Seo and Janicot, Apel is fresh off the youth circuit, but is excelling in her senior outings: “It’s my second Lead World Cup ever, my first semi-final and now my first final. I think I’ll approach things the same way I did today, I will just do the best I can and see what happens.”
With Apel guaranteeing a personal best finish and Mackenzie aiming her hers in the final, there were others outside of the top eight that marked theirs by making the semi-final.
Czechia’s Tereza Siruckova finished in 14th, South Korea’s Kim Chaeyeong was 16th, Indonesia’s Sukma Lintang Cahyani was 18th and USA’s Maya Madere was 21st.
Full women’s Lead results can be found here
The men’s competition saw nine climbers top both routes for a share of first position, a list that includes some big names.
Olympic champions Toby Roberts of Great Britain and Spain’s Alberto Ginés López both qualified in first alongside Japan’s Anraku Sorato, Anraku was one of three Japanese climbers with two tops with Suzuki Neo and Yoshida Satone the others.
Back on the Lead World Cup wall, Roberts said: “Qualification went really well, I managed to get two tops. I got quite pumped, it definitely feels like I haven’t been on a rope for a while, but I know my Lead shape is good, and this feels like a good activation for the semi-final tomorrow. I’m really excited to see what I can do.”
When Italy’s Filip Schenk came out as the first men’s semi-finalist, he didn’t think he would set the benchmark for the whole round, but that is exactly what he did.
With a score of 49+, Schenk had a long wait of 23 climbers to go after him, and they kept falling short.
Schenk said: “I was the first out and for sure I didn’t expect to make final as after I finished I thought maybe the route was very easy and there would be a lot of tops. But then I saw some pretty strong climbers falling and slowly I started believing in it.”
Injuries are part of sport and part of climbing, and sometimes those enforced breaks help athletes, Schenk is one of those applicable climbers: “The semi-final was crazy for me. I’m coming out of a very bad period with an injury so I think I was really relaxed mentally. Because of that I could show my best climbing in a really good flow, and I really enjoyed it. It was amazing.”
Schenk’s 49+ could not be beaten, but was equalled by Japan’s Anraku Sorato and Spain’s Alberto Ginés López. It meant that Schenk was pushed down to third spot on countback, but still comfortably in the final.
Once again Japan has multiple climbers in a final, and especially a Wujiang Lead final with Yoshida Satone and Suzuki Neo joining Anraku in the hunt for a medal.
Just like the women, the home crowd continue to have interest with Pan Yufei through in sixth spot, matching Satone and Suzuki’s 47+ score.
Back to Europe for the last two places with Slovenia’s Luka Potocar in seventh with a 46 hold climb and Germany’s Yannick Flohe the eighth placed climber on hold 45.
Making the semi-final also meant a personal best finish for South Korea’s Shin Joonha who was 23rd overall.
Full men’s Lead results can be found here
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