The end of the summer was certainly eventful for sport climbing, with historic results, from Adam Ondra’s double gold in Boulder and Lead to Danyl Boldyrev’s new Speed world record, in the World Championships in Munich and Gijón. The excitement continues in October with the second half of the Lead and Speed World Cup series starting up with three competitions in Asia. Although the results from the last Lead and Speed World Championships in Gijón are not taken into account in the calculation of the World Cup rankings and thus do not affect them, they certainly did change the game.
In the men’s Lead field, Adam Ondra, who had some bad luck and generally a hard time climbing the rankings in the early Lead World Cups (until his victory in Imst in early August), has definitely established himself as a force to be reckoned with in competition climbing as well as on real rock. Ramón Julian Puigblanque, who is currently ranked 8th in the World Cups, wowed everyone with his performance in Gijón, which was one “+” away from a gold medal. Time will tell if he is back in podium position or if his Gijón result was due to the energy and excitement of competing in front of his home crowd.
November 4, 2023 – Val Verzasca, Switzerland – The Verzasca Dam, an engineering marvel nestled in the picturesque Val Verzasca of Switzerland that stands 220 meters tall, became the stage for the climbing elite. Red Bull Dual Ascent, now in its
second edition, attracted 24 of the world's best…
Meanwhile, in women’s Lead, Jain Kim has continued her near-perfect run of gold medals (with one silver in Imst) by posting a flawless performance in Gijón, topping all four competition routes. She seems unbeatable this season, and with the return to her home country of Korea on October 11, where she has become a local hero, it will be tough for the rest of the field to beat her, but with strong athletes like Magdalena Röck, third in Gijón, on her heels, she’ll have to fight for it!
In Speed, it seems that world records are falling like dominos, ever since Libor Hroza’s setting a new record twice during the Speed World Cup in Arco at the end of August, to be beaten by Danyl Boldyrev in Gijón. Boldyrev’s current world record stands at 5.60 seconds.
Libor Hroza
On the women’s side, Alina Gaidamakina, 6th in the World Cup standings, proved that she’s in podium-worthy shape with her gold medal in Gijón. And after a fall relegated her to 15th place, Anouck Jaubert, currently 2nd in the World Cup rankings, will be looking to make her way back on top!
Alina Gaidamakina
Upcoming IFSC Asian Events:
IFSC World Cup (L, S) 2014 Mokpo (KOR), October 11-12, 2014 IFSC World Cup (L, S) 2014 Wujiang (CHN), October 18-19, 2014 IFSC World Cup (L) 2014 Inzai (JPN), October 25-26, 2014
More information on the events, as well as live streaming of the semi-finals and finals are available via IFSC website
Adam Ondra dominated the bouldering scene again and won a gold medal in the second World Cup competition in Salt Lake City. He took second place in the qualification and proceeded to the finals from the same position. This time, he was surprised by the victory and admits that a little luck was…
Adam Ondra completed today's finals in Meiringen, Switzerland, and won a gold medal in the first competition of this year's World Cup. He kept first place in bouldering continuously from the qualification until the very exciting finals. He was satisfied with his excellent form and appreciated a…
