There was a duo of first medals in the men’s Lead World Cup Bali headlined by Japan’s Yoshida Satone’s gold as Great Britain’s Erin McNeice made it two from two in the women’s.

With all eight finalists in the men’s Lead competition having never taken the top step of the podium, there was to be a new World Cup winner after the action had finished.

Taking the honour was Japan’s Yoshida who had looked like the man to beat all event. He came through qualification in first, through the semi-final in the same position, and then topped it off finishing in first after a hold 42 climb.

Talking after his win Yoshida said: “I was very confident after getting first place in the semi-final and I went into the final very positive. But it is so humid, even when I chalked up a lot it was so sweaty and I sometimes struggled, but I was still confident.

“I can’t quite believe I got the gold medal yet, I’m too excited.”

That gold was Yoshida’s first of that colour, and in silver medal position was France’s Max Bertone, who claimed his first World Cup medal of any colour.

Bertone had been the first to climb in the final and looked to be fighting all the way to hold 41. Little did he know that after another seven climbers that mark would be enough for a podium.

A climber to come close to that score was Spain’s Alberto Ginés López who made it to hold 39+, with the next closest climber at hold 30+, the Spaniard took bronze – his second in successive competitions.

The climber in fourth on hold 30+ was Germany’s Yannick Flohé who was a plus move ahead of fifth placed Lee Dohyun of South Korea.

After his two-climb silver medal in Wujiang, Japan’s Suzuki Neo couldn’t quite replicate the form and finished in sixth ahead of teammate Omata Shion. Suzuki reached hold 29+ but Omata slipped low down on hold 16+.

Dealing with a left shoulder problem, Muhammad Rizky Syahrafli Simatupang looked unsettled from the start and after a nervy opening few holds fell at hold 12. It was his first ever World Cup final though, so a personal best finish and a very loud cheer from his home crowd will live long in the memory for the Indonesian climber.

Full men's Lead results can be found here.

In Wujiang last week Great Britain’s McNeice shared a gold medal with South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun, and despite both topping the final route, and in a roughly similar time, on this occasion they were separated by their qualifications results, and it was the Brit who would stand alone in Bali.

Speaking about her time at the top of the final Lead route McNeice said: “I wasn’t too worried. I looked down at the clock and saw I had quite a lot of time and the top hold was quite good, but there is quite a lot of drag at the top of the wall doing a shoulder press after a hard route.

“In a way I believed I could do it, but tiny things make a difference. I could have slipped so I was just happy I was able to execute.”

With her win assured, McNiece said: “I’m so, so happy. I knew the route had two tops already, so it was stressful to come out and get the top, but I was happy to come out and get it.”

Although not being able to see the scores in isolation, McNeice could tell from the crowd reactions what she needed to do, although she got one small detail wrong.

Seo had topped to secure the 18^th World Cup medal of her career, but Japan’s Mori Ai hadn’t in her attempt.

Mori had made it to the top of the Lead wall, but her time had run out before she could secure the rope into the last clip to signify a topped route. Her score was 45 for bronze on her first 2025 World Cup outing.

Italy’s Laura Rogora finished in fourth on hold 42+ ahead of Australia’s Oce Mackenzie who was fifth on hold 39+.

Austria’s Flora Oblasser was sixth on hold 37+ ahead of the two Slovenian finalists – Mia Krampl and Rosa Rekar. Krampl was seventh on hold 34+ and Rekar was eighth on hold 31+.

Full women's Lead results can be found here

The next IFSC Lead World Cup will be in Innsbruck, Austria at the end of June while the next World Cup will be in South America for the first time ever with Curitiba, Brazil hosting the Boulder competition.

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.