RAMON JULIAN PUIGBLANQUE AND KIM JAIN WIN THE LEAD WORLD CUP, ADAM ONDRA AND JAIN GET THE OVERALL

It's true that both Ramon Julian Puigblanque and Kim Jain had an advantage on their rivals, but whereas the Korean athlete was sure to be first on the podium, the never so strong Ramonet could still have been concerned by his most direct adversary, the Austrian Jacob Schubert. Nothing of the sort; he wanted the World Cup, and he got it, for the first time, together with the title of European Champion he conquered in Imst in September.

As anticipated, the women's competition yelded small surprise, due to the large distance between Kim Jain and her follower, the Austrian Angela Eiter. In Kranj, the Slovenian Mina Markovic was the only one to top the semi-final together with Jain, but fell a few holds before the Korean in the final round, allowing for her victory. Third on the podium in Kranj was the Japanese Akiyo Noguchi.

Kim, 22 years old, is the 2010 Lead WC winner with 500 points, after more than one title as Asian Champion; second is Mina Markovic at 301 points, and third in the WC ranking is Eiter (291 points).

In the men's field, a mistake by Ramonet and a good performance by either Schubert or Usobiaga could have changed the outcome of the World Cup, but Puigblanque did it all perfect. Top in the semis, and top in the finals, allowing him to end up at 435 points. Schubert couldn't do much, and handed the second place at the event to Adam Ondra (CZE) who topped the semi-final route and  tried to catch the European Champion Ramonet, but to no avail. In the Lead WC ranking, Schubert maintains his second place with 372 points, with Ondra at 340.

Anyway, thanks to his good performances in the Lead WC and to his victory in Bouldering , Adam Ondra was mathematically sure to win the overall (combined) WC ranking with 800 points, in front of jacob Schubert at 379 and Anma Sachi (JPN) at 264 while the Korean Jain added the gold medal in the overall WC to her Lead World Cup title thanks to 70 points more than Akiyo Noguchi (second). Third in the women's overall is Natalija Gros (SLO).

Congratulations to the winners and congratulations also to the French team for winning the Team Ranking for Lead (with a small advantage over Austria); but above all, thanks to all the athletes for their committment and their efforts!

Elena Corriero

Photos: courtesy of Albert Maas