Lead at the IFSC Climbing World Championships Seoul 2025 to award their winners after Para Lead and Speed already crowned
The finals are set for the men and women as we step closer to crowning the 2025 Lead world champions in Seoul with a few twists and turns along the way.
For the men, it was Sam Avezou who shared the high point of 48+ with Lee Dohyun in the semi-final, but it will be the French climber who will be the last to climb in the competition due to his superior qualification round.
Lee’s appearance in the final will give the home crowd something to cheer and could help the South Korean to a podium spot, as they have already helped him get to where he is now: “I’m so happy. I was a little bit nervous, but I managed to concentrate on the route. It was really good conditions and a really good crowd. When I was exhausted on the wall I could hear the crowd shouting for me, and it gave me a bit of energy to go further.”
Looking ahead to tonight’s final, Lee said: “I just want to do my climbing and forget about the result. As long as I do my best, I’m happy.”
Defending champion Jakob Schubert has had an interrupted 2025 season but remains on course to claim another world medal after progressing into the final on hold 47+.
There will be three Japanese climbers in the final with Homma Taisei in fourth and Yoshida Taisei in fifth. Homma reached hold 46+ while teammate Yoshida reached hold 46+.
The first twist is that the third Japanese climber into the final will not be Sorato Anraku after he finished in 10th. It means that the only Paris 2024 medallist standing is Schubert after Toby Roberts exited at the qualification stage. Progressing in eighth was Neo Suzuki who reached hold 46.
Also on hold 46 was Spain’s Alberto Ginés López who will be hoping to regain his qualification and World Cup season form again for the final. The Spanish climber was seventh.
Maybe the story of the round was Giovanni Placchi. In the first half of climbers to try the semi-final route, after reaching hold 46+ the Italian had a long and nervous wait as climbers fell below his mark. Eventually he settled in sixth and booked a place in his first ever final on the world level.
Full men's Lead results can be found here
On the other end of the scale for the women is Janja Garnbret. Continuously in the final and on the world podium, the Slovenian double Olympic champion is once again the favourite.
Garnbret reached hold 51+ to progress to the final, just falling short of the top hold.
There was some symmetry between the men and women with a home nation climber in second and a climber lower down the order moving up.
Seo Chaehyun was the climber from South Korea on hold 47+ and Austria’s Flora Oblasser was the one who had to sit and wait after reaching hold 32+.
After watching climber after climber fall below her hold 32+ effort Oblasser said: “It’s amazing. I felt so good on the wall and I’m so happy that it worked out, especially after [IFSC World Cup] Koper.
“I felt like I had something left in the tank and I didn’t give everything, but I was also glad it was over because the season was far from perfect. Now I just want to have fun the final.”
Great Britain’s Erin McNeice and Seo have been at the top of the Lead World Cup all season and will go up against each other once again as McNeice reached hold 41 for third and a finals place.
Another climber having a good 2025 is USA’s Annie Sanders. The young American progressed into the final in fourth on hold 39+.
While Japan has the numbers in the men, Slovenia have them in the women with Lucka Rakovec and Rosa Rekar joining Garnbret to take a crack at the podium. Rakovec progressed in fifth on hold 39+ and Rekar was sixth on hold 32+.
Oblasser was seventh after the semi-final had finished and France’s Zélia Avezou completed the final line up in eighth from a hold 32 climb.
Full women's Lead results can be found here
Both the finals will crown the champions of the Lead at the KSPO dome later in the evening.
News and updates about the event 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, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
