Austria’s Mattea Pötzi expects “more athletes attending all events and the overall titles to be considered even more important.”
The second leg of this year’s doubleheader opening the season in China will see the best Lead climbers in the world travel to Wujiang, in the Jiangsu province, for the opening IFSC World Cup competition in the discipline.
Among the athletes lined up to compete at the Fenhu Cultural and Sports Center is Austria’s Mattea Pötzi, coming from a very successful 2024 campaign: she won her first career Lead World Cup medal – a bronze in Chamonix, France – and made it into the final round four times out of six participations.
Additionally, the 24-year-old from Innsbruck finished the 2024 season with her best career placement in the women’s Lead World Cup Ranking – seventh with 2,315 points, while her teammate Jessica Pilz took the title with 3,220.
“I’m expecting the World Cup Series to be way more competitive than last year, with more athletes attending all events and the overall titles to be considered even more important,” she commented.
Pötzi will be one of the six Austrian climbers competing in Lead at Wujiang 2025: “The Austrian team is very deep and talented, we are going to be in China with five women, but there are many more that inevitably had to be left out. We all prepared very well last Winter, and we are looking forward to the World Cup in Innsbruck where we could present a 10-athlete lineup in each event and show our strength.
“I had a great off-season, I rock climbed at home, in Tyrol, and I also went to Spain twice. I distanced myself a little bit from the gym, and starting in December I went back to training and preparing for the first World Cup of the season in China. I’m happy with my form, let’s see if I can bring it to the wall when it counts!” she concluded.
The top three athletes in the men’s Lead World Cup Ranking 2024 – Toby Roberts of Great Britain, Omata Shion of Japan, and Anraku Sorato of Japan – are all registered to compete in Wujiang.
Roberts, who is coming from a 15th place in Boulder at last week’s World Cup in Keqiao, China, will try to double the gold medal he won at Wujiang 2024. Also expected to compete are Homma Taisei and Anraku Sorato of Japan – respectively silver and bronze medalist at last year’s event.
The schedule of the Lead competition in Wujiang is as follows:
Friday, 25 April (UTC+8:00):
9:00 – Lead qualifications
Saturday, 26 April:
15:00 – Lead semi-finals
Sunday, 27 April:
19:00 – Lead finals
News and updates about all IFSC events will be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
