After a Saturday night of Speed in France attention turned to Lead once again on Sunday as the 26 semi-final men and women first whittled down to eight finalists before the medals were decided in front of another bumper 15,000 strong crowd on the streets of Chamonix.

And it was Japan’s Mori Ai who pleased that crowd taking another IFSC Lead World Cup gold medal.

The 20-year-old climber topped the final route and secured gold with a better semi-final performance than rival Jessica Pilz of Austria who also topped the route, meaning she had to settle for silver.

Speaking about her win, there was a big help that pushed Mori to her Chamonix win: “I thought that Jessica maybe got a top so I was a very nervous, but I looked out and saw the big crowd, and that big crowd pushed my performance. When I got the top I was very happy. I’ll go back to Japan now and then it’s straight to the Olympics, and I’ll do my best there.”

Pilz did indeed top the route although the Austrian climber would have maybe preferred not to: “I’m super happy to be on the podium but it’s a bit annoying that we couldn’t have a really good fight in finals. I feel the route was a bit easy. I like to have a good fight. I would rather not top and have a good fight.

With the Olympic just around the corner, Pilz now heads back home with her new silverware: “I’ll go back to Innsbruck now for training ahead of the Olympics. I feel my Lead shape is good so I’m happy about that, but Boulder, sometimes it works out well and sometimes not. I still have a lot of weaknesses in Boulder and I will try to be in my best shape. I have two more weeks to train heard and then we will see if it works.”

There was a second Japanese climber on the podium with Kotake Mei joining Mori claiming bronze on hold 44+ to complete the medal honours.

Home favourite, France’s Zélia Avezou produced a personal best finish also reaching hold 44+ but finishing fourth as Kotake had a better semi-final result.

Austria’s Flora Oblasser also secured a personal best with the 16-year-old finishing fifth overall in her first senior final on hold 42+.

The third Austrian climber in the final lineup, Mattea Pötzi finished sixth, also on hold 42+. It was the first time Austria has had three finalists since Kranj 2018.

On hold 41+ USA’s Anastasia Sanders and Slovenia’s Mia Krampl completed the final standings finished seventh and eighth respectively.

The full women’s results can be found here

USA’s Colin Duffy won the second IFSC Lead World Cup gold of his career reaching hold 42+ for the win.

With that gold Duffy joins compatriots Jesse Grupper and Sean Bailey on two Lead World Cup wins – the most for the nation.

Talking about his win Duffy said: “It feels amazing to get my second Lead World Cup gold. It’s been an incredible journey these past few years doing the World Cup circuit and finding another special moment on the wall. In qualification I didn’t feel the greatest on the wall, but I put that out of my mind and have a good climb in the final. And the crowd here is incredible.

It’s a perfect way to cap off my last competition before the Olympics. I’ve been training hard all year and to see I’m in the form I want to be is phenomenal and I’m going to stay here in France and train before Paris and I want to show my best there.”

In front of his home crowd, France’s Sam Avezou took a silver medal for the second successive year in Chamonix reaching hold 41+ to do so.

Reflecting on the medal Avezou said: “I’m feeling super good. Always in Chamonix I feel this way. The French crowd is exceptional, and I have my family and friends here so it’s always fun to climb here. I’m in a very good lead shape as well as Boulder so I wanted to get confident and do the best I could. I thought I could get a medal and I came so close to the gold, like one move away, but it’s still super good.”

The podium was completed with Great Britain’s Toby Roberts taking bronze after an appeal gave him a hold 39 climb, displacing Spain’s Alberto Ginés López who finally finished fourth on 38+.

Afterwards Roberts said: “I feel really good after the final. It was a bit of a strange route as it wasn’t that hard until the head wall and then it really kicked in, but I’m happy with my shape and I really enjoy competing here in Chamonix. I was a bit hesitant on the head wall and I think if I didn’t I would have had a good chance of topping the route. When you hesitate it never ends well.”

Also on hold 38+ was Japan’s Omata Shion who finished fifth. Omata’s final appearance continued the run of 16 World Cup’s with a men’s Japanese climber in the final.

Czechia’s Adam Ondra made hold 37+ for sixth place, Switzerland’s Sascha Lehmann was seventh on hold 36+ and Spain’s Guillermo Peinado Franganillo posted a personal best performance by making his first final and finishing eighth overall – his previous best was 22^nd place.

The full men’s results can be found here

The climbing continues with the Speed qualification and Speed finals live from the IFSC World Cup Chamonix 2024 and can be watched live on the IFSC YouTube channel or selected broadcasters depending on where you are viewing from.

News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin and Weibo.