Close at the top of the women's Lead competition, but there will be no repeat of Wujiang shared-gold drama in Indonesia
Looking at the finals start lists for the last act of the IFSC World Cup Bali 2025, a couple of things stick out. For the women, the two names at the top of the list seem very familiar, and for the men, it’s more a question of who is missing.
At the end of the Wujiang event last week, Great Britain’s Erin McNeice and South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun shared the top step of the podium, and in Bali they are again at the top of the standings. It’s a little different this time, however.
Both McNeice and Seo topped the semi-final route to progress to another Lead final, but this time its advantage McNeice who had the better qualification round. It means the British climber is in first and the South Korean in second, so no chance of what surely would have been an historic moment with a double-double gold.
After her climb Seo said: “I’m super happy to reach the top. After falling on the first route in qualis I was quite nervous today because it looked a bit hard and a super pumpy route, and at the end we had a dyno.
“I felt quite nervous before, but I went quite well in the last section. I just went for the jump and I got it, so super happy.”
In her first competition of the year, a fan favourite, Japan’s Mori Ai, is still in with a medal shot. Mori fell just short of the top on that dyno move Seo was worried about but still did enough for a final place in third.
Also coming up just shy of the dyno was Laura Rogora. The Italian had done more than enough though on hold 48+ for a final spot sitting fourth.
Despite only just making the semi-final in a four-way tie for 23rd position, young Flora Oblasser of Austria put it out of her mind and climbed to hold 38 early on in the round. As one of the first climbers out, the Austrian then had the long and agonising task of sitting and watching. As it turned out, her climb was enough for fifth position and another final appearance.
Everyone from sixth to 14th made hold 37+, but with qualification countback, the final eight was confirmed with Slovenian duo Rosa Rekar and Mia Krampl joined by Australia’s Oce Mackenzie.
Finishing in 21st position was Japan’s Kuzuu Mashiro who, in her second World Cup, made the semi-final for the first time which meant a personal best score. Still early in her World Cup career, don’t be surprised to see her in a lot more.
Full women's Lead results can be found here
Japan’s Yoshida Satone topped the qualification standings and kept up that form also topping the semi-final. His 36+ was the high point on the men’s route, and the Japanese climber is looking good for a Bali podium place.
Germany’s Yannick Flohé was next best on hold 35+ and is feeling a lot better in Bali than he did last week in Wujiang: “I think I did what I could even though I slipped in the end. I’m happy I’m safe into the final and I didn’t have to suffer and wait for people to fall like last time. It felt really good. I’m ready for the final.”
Talking about the semi-final route Flohé said: “We all thought it was relatively easy until the head wall, it looked quite juggy but turned out to be quite cruxy with some rest.
“There was a few uncomfortable moves to deal with and the pockets section below the head wall was way harder to deal with than we expected as there were some little jibs inside which made the pockets way worse.”
Fresh off the Lead podium in Wujiang are Spain’s Alberto Ginés López and Japan’s Neo Suzuki, and both stay in with another medal opportunity progressing in third and fourth position, respectively.
Japan once again has multiple finalists with Omata Shion moving into the final in sixth, with South Korea’s Lee Dohyun splitting the Japanese teammates in fifth.
Just like we saw yesterday with Speed, the home crowd of Indonesia love supporting their climbers, and they will have something to make some noise about in the men’s final when Muhammad Rizky Syahrafli Simatupang steps out onto the stage.
The Indo climber made it into the final in seventh position, one place above France’s Max Bertone who again makes a Lead final. Positions three to seven all hit hold 33+ with Bertone making hold 31+, which gave him a final place thanks to countback to qualification with Italy’s Filip Schenk just missing out on the same hold.
Another climber to miss out was the only 2025 World Cup golden winner so far in Boulder or Lead, Japan’s Anraku Sorato. Olympic champion Toby Roberts missed finals in China, and in his absence in Bali, its Anraku’s turn to miss out. He finished down in 16th position.
In their first semi-final appearances, South Korea’s Noh Hyunseung finished in 12th, Indonesia’s Putra Tri Ramadani finished in 17th and France’s Victor Guillermin was 19th.
Full men's Lead results can be found here.
News and updates about all IFSC events 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, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
