Garnbret and Roberts win the first Lead World Cup of 2024 in Wujiang

Janja Garnbret and Toby Roberts won the first Lead World Cup of 2024 in Wujiang, China.

Garnbret dominated the competition, topping every route. Roberts topped both qualification routes and got the furthest on the semi-route, falling going for the top hold. He matched Taisei Homma’s high point on the final route to win the gold.

Zhilu Luo won her first Lead World Cup silver medal in her first Lead World Cup final. Her previous highest rank was 19th at the Briançon 2022 World Cup. 

Taisei Homma won the silver medal, reaching the same high point as Roberts, but finished second on countback to the semi-final. Wujiang was Homma’s seventh Lead World Cup medal and fifth silver.

Chaehyun Seo and Sorato Anraku won the bronze medals. Seo last won a Lead World Cup medal in Jakarta in 2022. For Anraku, this was his fourth medal; he has only finished off the podium in the Lead twice.

Women World Cup: How it Happened

Janja Garnbret and Laura Rogora topped both qualification routes to reach the semi-final. Zhilu Luo suprised by topping both lead routes to reach her first Lead semi-final. Other first semi-finalists included Erin McNiece, Adriene Akiko Clark and Natsumi Oda in her first World Cup.

Camilla Moroni, Ayala Kerem and Martina Demmel all just missed out on semis in joint 27th place by one hold on the second route qualification route.

McNiece set an early high point on the semi-final route, reaching the headwall and scoring 37 after the long, steep overhang on the Wujiang wall. Mia Krampl would squeeze into the final in 8th on 34+ after many previous Lead finalists fell lower down, including Manon Hily, Jain Kim, Hélène Janicot, Ryu Nakagawa, Miho Nonaka, and Molly Thompson-Smith.

Garnbret dominated the semi-final, being the only athlete to top the route. Rogora was second, scoring 42+, only 3 holds from the top. Luo backed up her strong qualification performance to finish third with a score of 40+.

Oda reached the same point as Luo, finishing 4th on countback and reaching her first-ever Lead World Cup final. Oda won the Youth A (under 16) World Championship in Lead last year in Seoul, but it was a surprise to see her reach the final in her first World Cup. Chaehyun Seo and Natsuki Tanii reached the headwall to reach the final.

Luo, Oda and McNiece all reached their first Lead World Cup final. McNiece became the fourth Great British woman to reach a Lead World Cup final after Felicity Butler, Molly Thompson-Smith and Shauna Coxsey.

The route was consistent and powerful in the final, with the first crux coming around hold 34. Climbers had to slap and compress between large, slopey dual-tex macros, which stopped Rogora, Oda and Krampl.

McNiece would fall on a cross-over and move higher up to hold 39. Tanii would get tangled up at the same point with high heels, falling one hold further on hold 40.

The rest of the podium made it to the headwall, just. Chaehyun Seo fell going for hold 45, missing out hold 44, a small intermediate, on the lip of the headwall. Luo would latch the intermediate before falling, going for hold 45, earning her the silver medal.

Garnbret easily reached the headwall, resting on holds others had fallen on, including hold 45, before navigating the top press, moving to the top of the route and winning the gold medal.

Wujiang was Garnbert’s 27th Lead World Cup gold, moving her to within 3 gold medals of Jain Kim’s record.

The gold medal in Wujiang was Garnbret’s 63rd World Cup medal (21 Boulder and 42 Lead medals), pushing her past Kim’s 62 World Cup medals (6 Boulder and 56 Lead medals) to become the female competition climber with the most World Cup medals.

Garnbret has missed only the podium at a Lead World Cup only 4 times.

Wujiang Women Lead Results

Lead World Cup Series Ranking after Wujiang

Men World Cup: How it Happened

In qualification, four Men topped both routes: Sorato Anraku, Toby Roberts, Colin Duffy, and Taisei Homma. Dohyun Lee was the only other athlete to top one of the routes. We saw 10 Japanese men make it through to the semi-finals, and many strong boulders, including Hannes Van Duysen and Max Milne, reach their first Lead semi-final.

In the semi-final, Max Milne set an early high point of 32+. He found a useful knee bar with his foot on a dual tex macro and a hand jam to rest on a tricky traverse to get to the lip of the headwall. Shuta Tanaka would also find a hand jam but fell on the same move as Milne. Both would make it through to the finals in the top four.

Many athletes fell low while jumping for hold 16, including Stefano Ghilosfi and 2024 Olympians Campbell Harrison and Colin Duffy.

Only Roberts and Anraku made it onto the headwall. Roberts fell higher while going for the top hold.

First-time Lead semi-finalist Van Duysen managed to make it through to the finals after an appeal against the scores of Zento Murashita and Shion Omata, which reduced them to 31 from 31+ for not moving enough towards the next hold. Murashita and Omata both finished tied in 8th place. Tomoa Narasaki narrowly missed out on the final in 10th on 30+.

Regular World Cup Lead finalists Sascha Lehmann and Taisei Homma would round out the finalists, both falling on 31+ alongside Hannes Van Duysen.

The final route had a crux around the middle of the route, with five athletes falling around hold 24, crossing through to an undercut with a high foot off a small crimp.

Milne and Omata would fall before the crux on the traverse across the steep overhang. Lehmann and Van Duysen would fall trying to work how to navigate the crux and Murashita would fall crossing through.

Only Roberts, Homma and Anraku would make it though towards the headwall. Anraku’s heel would slip as he moved onto the headwall, scoring 32+. Homma would climb up onto the headwall in control to a coordination move before running out of steam, scoring 36+.

Roberts would misread the crux section low down and backtrack before making his way through. By the time he reached the headwall, the effort had taken its toll, and Roberts had to grind out each move in his characteristic style to hold 36, living up to his Terminator nickname. He attempted to go for hold 37, matching Homma’s score of 36+. Roberts would win the gold medal on countback to the semi-final.

Wujiang was Robert’s second Lead World gold medal and third Lead World Cup medal after winning last year in Chamonix and a bronze medal in Edinburgh in 2022. He will compete next in Salt Lake City at the Boulder World Cup.

Wujiang Men Lead Results

Lead World Cup Series Ranking after Wujiang